Grade A(merica) Homogenized...
Once upon a time in America's not too distant past, there used to be a regional flavor to the towns and cities that varied depending on where you traveled. While each town and city may look the same from afar, on closer inspection, they varied. Each town had its own series of banks, drug stores, restaurants, grocery stores, and so forth, most of them independently owned and operated. Because commerce existed in this way you could be reasonably certain that something you purchased in Columbia, South Carolina for example was something you possibly could not buy in Detroit, Michigan or in Denver, Colorado.
This does not apply to all things of course. For example, anyone in the United States in 1978 could walk into their local grocery and purchase a bag of Doritos. They could stop in their local drug store and pick up a bottle of Pepto-Bismol to soothe an upset stomach (after eating an entire bag of recently purchased Doritos). They could go into their local record store and buy the newest LP by Journey or Teddy Pendergrast. Before they went shopping or ran their respective errands on a Saturday afternoon, they would have stopped into their local bank (where they most likely received their stable, fixed-rate mortgage) to make a withdrawal from their checking or savings account. Even though they purchased nationally available brands supporting those corporations, they also supported their local merchants: independent grocers, pharmacists, bankers, mechanics, and other merchants.
Today, with a few exceptions, that is no longer possible. Independently owned grocery stores, record shops, pharmacists, bookstores, and so forth are going (or have gone) the way of the passenger pigeon. When you go grocery shopping, you do it at Albertson's, Safeway, or Wal-Mart Supercenter. You make home improvement purchases at Home Depot or Lowe's. You buy your home entertainment goodies at Best Buy. You get your over-the-counter and/or prescription drugs at Walgreen's or CVS. Even restaurants are not completely immune from the homogenizing effect of corporate consumerism. Plenty of cities across the United States have an Olive Garden, Chili's, T.G.I. Friday's, or Applebee's.
Thankfully restaurants and other places that serve food and beverages are reasonably safe from corporate homogenization. I'd hate to see Gray's Papaya, Billy Goat Tavern, Voodoo Doughnuts, or Ray's cloned hundreds of times so it seems like I never left Chicago when I travel around the country.
This does not apply to all things of course. For example, anyone in the United States in 1978 could walk into their local grocery and purchase a bag of Doritos. They could stop in their local drug store and pick up a bottle of Pepto-Bismol to soothe an upset stomach (after eating an entire bag of recently purchased Doritos). They could go into their local record store and buy the newest LP by Journey or Teddy Pendergrast. Before they went shopping or ran their respective errands on a Saturday afternoon, they would have stopped into their local bank (where they most likely received their stable, fixed-rate mortgage) to make a withdrawal from their checking or savings account. Even though they purchased nationally available brands supporting those corporations, they also supported their local merchants: independent grocers, pharmacists, bankers, mechanics, and other merchants.
Today, with a few exceptions, that is no longer possible. Independently owned grocery stores, record shops, pharmacists, bookstores, and so forth are going (or have gone) the way of the passenger pigeon. When you go grocery shopping, you do it at Albertson's, Safeway, or Wal-Mart Supercenter. You make home improvement purchases at Home Depot or Lowe's. You buy your home entertainment goodies at Best Buy. You get your over-the-counter and/or prescription drugs at Walgreen's or CVS. Even restaurants are not completely immune from the homogenizing effect of corporate consumerism. Plenty of cities across the United States have an Olive Garden, Chili's, T.G.I. Friday's, or Applebee's.
Thankfully restaurants and other places that serve food and beverages are reasonably safe from corporate homogenization. I'd hate to see Gray's Papaya, Billy Goat Tavern, Voodoo Doughnuts, or Ray's cloned hundreds of times so it seems like I never left Chicago when I travel around the country.
Comments
"The only way you could tell you are leaving one community and entering another is when the franchise chains start repeating and you spotted another 7-Eleven, another Wendy's, annother Costco, another Home Depot... [T]he new monuments were not office towers or monuments or city halls or libraries or museums but 7-Eleven stores." - Wolfe
Last year there was a loud public battle between some local developers in Seattle and a neighborhood historic preservation society. As usual, the developers wanted to tear down a building and put up a row of overpriced soulless condos. The preservation society took them to court at the last minute to stop demolition. The rub is that the site they were trying to save was a Dennys :-)
The zeitgeist seems to be a balancing act between our morbid obsession with the past, and an untenable fear of the future.