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First, read this article by Mark Morford. Then think about the last time you went traveling to another state.
When I went down to Florida, it was erie that so many of the same sets of stores, in the same clusters, were along the highways, all housed in the same ugly, bland, yuppified architecture - square, pretentious, and stuccoed. Yes, it was nice knowing that you could find a certain class of goods in a big national chain, but the fact that the colors and decorations were the same 2000 miles apart was a bit, disquieting. Fortunately, the local restaurants were sufficiently unique, if you didn't try fast food.
The interesting thing about mom&pop operations is this: they're gone from the streets, they've moved to the internet. Between eBay and hosting providers that provide turnkey eCommerce, the small business truly can be national, or even global. So I guess the big box chains inherit the streets and malls, splattering a numbing homogenaity all over the (now identical) landscape. The real unique goods and services are on the net.
When I went down to Florida, it was erie that so many of the same sets of stores, in the same clusters, were along the highways, all housed in the same ugly, bland, yuppified architecture - square, pretentious, and stuccoed. Yes, it was nice knowing that you could find a certain class of goods in a big national chain, but the fact that the colors and decorations were the same 2000 miles apart was a bit, disquieting. Fortunately, the local restaurants were sufficiently unique, if you didn't try fast food.
The interesting thing about mom&pop operations is this: they're gone from the streets, they've moved to the internet. Between eBay and hosting providers that provide turnkey eCommerce, the small business truly can be national, or even global. So I guess the big box chains inherit the streets and malls, splattering a numbing homogenaity all over the (now identical) landscape. The real unique goods and services are on the net.
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