“So what’s wrong if the country has 158 neighborhood California Pizza Kitchens instead of one or two?” Virginia Postrel inquires in her In Praise of Chain Stores essay (Postrel 348). In rebuttal, I plan to answer her question with more reasons than one. However, the responses I intend to offer apply not only to the CPKs of America, but for all the national retailers, big box stores, chain stores, and the like. National retailers destroy the local character of small towns. Chain stores should be limited to only run in a few highly populated urban areas. Furthermore, the costs saved in the convenience and familiarity of chain stores do not outweigh the negative economic impact and damaging effects that they can have on a community’s well-being. Postrel develops her support of national retailers throughout the essay, offering the opinion that it isn’t the stores that give places their character, but instead, aspects like the terrain, weather and culture that do (Postrel 347). While terrain, weather and culture can set apart regions, such as New England from The Deep South, and Southern California from the Midwest, it’s the community that gives each town their own special character. A community consists of the residents, their restaurants, hardware stores, pharmacies, ice cream parlors, farmers markets, and so on. These places, and the interactions that occur daily at each establishment, are the fabric that differentiate them, and create the breeding ground for diverse characteristics to flourish. While Postrel argues that wildly different business establishments across America in the past is a myth , it’s actually not necessarily that the products that varied from store to store, but more the aforementioned factors that truly set ... ... middle of paper ... ...he amount of a certain retailer’s establishments constructed within a certain amount of mileage. For example, a Wal-Mart on the north side of town and the south side of town is excessive. There is no question that chain stores have a detrimental effect on the measurable character and community of small towns. Not only are residents effected economically and collectively, but the character of the area is also threatened or compromised. In conclusion, we should all take a step back and see how we can give back to our community by leveling the playing field for local businesses. The first step in doing so is to realize the negative influences chain stores impose on small towns. Works Cited Postrel, Virginia. “In Praise of Chain Stores.”Model Essays: A Portable Anthology. Eds. Jane E. Aaron and Ellen Kuhl Repetto. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2013. 345-49
Harry Gordon, as a good entrepreneur, invested about £400,000 in a business opportunity never noticed before. In 1906, while spending his holidays in London, he noticed the absence of department stores adapted to the latest selling ideas used in America. Promoting shopping for pleasure rather than necessity and named after its founder, Selfridges & Co. became an exciting shopping experience, enabling people to experience new releases whether it was an aeroplane displayed in the store or the opening of the biggest bookshop in the world. “I am prepared to sell anything from an aeroplane to a cigar.” (Harry Gordon Selfridge, 1910)
Over the past 20 years, the nature of the American retailing market has changed dramatically, going from Mom and Pop's boutiques to mega retail stores like Wal-Mart. Especially in the last decade, Sam Walton's discount stores have proliferated in almost every city across the United States and Canada. But the opinions about the effects of Wal-Mart in small towns divide the rural population in two groups. Through economic, cultural and social arguments, the anti-Wal-Mart activists and the advocates defend their point of view about the expansion of the store in small communities.
Over the years, the American department store has developed and evolved as not only a commercial business but also a cultural institution. While it has weathered many storms and changes since its inception and throughout history, its most predominant enemy has been a change in the lifestyle of the American people (Whitaker, 2013). As the customer’s needs and wants have shifted, department stores have struggled to keep up with demands. It has been argued that the decline of the department store has been ongoing for the last 50 years (Whitaker, 2013). This dissertation aims to understand how the department store has historically played a role in consumer culture and spending, and additionally, how this has evolved and changed in today’s retail market. Although department stores may not be able to take all the credit for inventing modern shopping, they certainly made its conventions and conveniences commonplace. They set a new standard for the way the consumer should expect to be treated, the type of services that should be provided, and the convenience that should attend the process of acquiring the necessities and niceties of life all in one place. They made shopping into a leisure pastime. This environment meant shopping was a means of freedom to look around, pick up objects with no obligations to buy. As one historian remarked, department stores: “encouraged a perception of the building as a public place, where consumption itself was almost incidental to the delights of a sheltered promenade in a densely crowded, middle-class urban space” (Whitaker, 2006). Although this perception and view of the department store has changed over the years, this paper aims to follow the trail of how and why that happened.
Mayer, M. L. (1989). 1949-1989: retail reflections. Journal of Retailing, V65 n3, p 396. JAI press, Inc.
The central argument of fast food nation by Eric Schlosser is that the large restaurant chains and corporations and their demand for unification have given these chains too much power over America’s food supply, economy, and society. Also the way that these corporations operate is now the framework for today’s retail economy. Small businesses are going bankrupt because of the franchising that the large companies are pursuing.
I feel it’s important, maybe even my duty, to support local food outlets. Not only do they contributed to economic growth, but they provide healthy options for me and my family. Communities need to be a part of the process. If there is no community support, these business are likely to fail.
“The Corner Store” by Eudora Welty, Welty is very descriptive when discussing the store that was in her hometown. Throughout the essay, she creates a dominant impression by her use of sensory details such as touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing. Welty attempts to create a description of the store that demonstrates a friendly old fashion atmosphere which in paragraph eight she expresses with the use of the sensory detail sight. The author uses the sensory detail sight when she describes the store in great detail. For example, the barrel that held the cold drinks, the color of the water, the soda flavors, and her favorite soda that only exists locally. Then she continues by describing Mr. Sessions always prepared in front of the barrel to
To conclude Variety, Familiarity, and history are reasons why chain stores have not made Augusta boring in my opinion it kind of gives Augusta some kind of uniqueness, chain stores are everywhere “When those kids grow up, they’ll remember the food court as happily as an older generation recalls the diners and motels of Route 66 not because of businesses’ innate appeal
Rose, Phyllis. "Shopping and Other Spiritual Adventures in America Today." Language of Composition. Boston; New York: Bedford/St. Marten’s, 2008. 479-481. Print.
Simi Valley, California currently have three Walmart 's that are lined up across the city. Why should it not be placed in certain areas? It can defeat the cities culture or historic monuments. Walmart does not have a good reputation and everyone knows that it is cheap. What does this do to the city? It lowers their reputation. Some places try to keep Walmart out such as New York City. Many people in New York City hates the idea for working for Walmart. They have to much respect and dignity to work for Walmart. That’s what makes New York City so unique and different then other cities. They try to keep big companies out and persist with the New Yorker culture. It 's nice to see a speck of the American dream still lit, but America can only see the American dream when all the cities light up. Only then it will be
For Oliver’s Market among the five Competitive forces, pressures associated with the threat of new entrants into the market are the strongest one. Because Wal-Mart and Target had announced plans to develop regional supercenters in the Sonoma county region. They are strong candidates for entering the market, because they possess the res...
Whenever we go out shopping or relaxing at malls, we actually don’t see or recognize any effects of malls as we mostly go there for these two reasons. Malls are an integral part in the lives of America. They are shopping centers that have created a lot of buzz in many writers. This is because we have more malls in America than high schools. Malls have received praises from people like James J. Farrell, Jon Pahl and George Lewis who view malls as not only shopping centers but also as places that provide a reflection of the American culture and serve as centers of pleasure and entertainment. In contrast, William Kowinski and David Gutterson criticize malls for just being an artificial environment that creates disorientation among American shoppers. In my opinion, malls are just magnificent commercial buildings that create a sense of false dreams and imagination.
During the Great Depression, while the competitors were cutting costs and reusing outdated designs, Kress was expanding and building more elaborate stores than their previous ones. The architecture was referred to as an “emporium” evoking an elegant atmosphere more suited to a fine cloth or furniture store in New York rather than the five & dime stores dotting small town America. Many wonder what the driving force was behind these design decisions, especially during a national time of economic recession. Perhaps simply to outpace the competition, but perhaps more importantly Samuel Kress was an avid art collector and a proponent of public art enhancing a community. In this way the Kress legacy of the brand became more than a retail business, it became a symbol of small town civic pride.
Goss argues that developers and designers of the built environment, specifically shopping centers and malls, use the power of place and understanding the structural layout of the space to boost consumption of the retail profits. Shopping centers are separated from the downtown area of shopping, either by distance and/or design. These establishments emerge for many to be the new heart and location for public and social life. In his article The "Magic of the Mall": An Analysis of Form, Function, and Meaning in the Contemporary Retail Built Environment, Goss also argues that the regulation of the spaces within the mall creates an atmosphere of "community" rather than one that is "public". This article’s main argument is that developers manufacture an illusion of doing more than just shopping when designing malls and shopping centers.
The survey offers insight into shopper partiality toward each store identifying the general attitude for the respondents toward each shopping area. Survey results were captured through a telephone based survey of 150 local residents conducted by the Archimedes Group, Indiana, PA (Weiers, 2008).