Many of you reading this article may remember a time when towns across the country had their unique identity. If you were on a road trip, you didn’t know what to expect to find in any town you stopped in. That was the excitement of road trips.
Many more reading this article may not fully understand the above paragraph. Sure, we still recognize different dialects across the country, but that sweet gal with the southern accent in Atlanta serves us the same fried chicken that the sweet Boston gal serves us in Massachusetts. She just serves us in a different accent, but the chicken is the same.
Many more reading this article may not fully understand the above paragraph. Sure, we still recognize different dialects across the country, but that sweet gal with the southern accent in Atlanta serves us the same fried chicken that the sweet Boston gal serves us in Massachusetts. She just serves us in a different accent, but the chicken is the same.
Prior to about the late sixties and early seventies, towns were defined by their unique businesses. The fried chicken in Atlanta was different than the fried chicken in Boston. Experience taught us that the fried chicken in Atlanta was an excellent, must-have, meal, but in Boston, skip the fried chicken and order their must-have pork chops, instead.
What happened in the late sixties to early seventies that led to the southern gal serving the same fried chicken the Boston gal serves?
To explain the answer to that question would take a graduate thesis from multiple disciplines to explain. In simple terms, people moved out of the cities and gave rise to suburbs. Starting in the late sixties to early seventies, businesses responded to the growth of suburbs by introducing a new shopping concept – the mall.
To explain the answer to that question would take a graduate thesis from multiple disciplines to explain. In simple terms, people moved out of the cities and gave rise to suburbs. Starting in the late sixties to early seventies, businesses responded to the growth of suburbs by introducing a new shopping concept – the mall.
The new concept expanded and improved on the big city concept of a main shopping district in downtown. Back in our grandmother and great-grandmother’s day, the mall was Main Street of the nearest big city. As people left the cities and suburbs grew, developers packed up the big city shopping districts and brought them to the suburbs.
Malls were instant hits with consumers. For the first time, one could do all of their back-to-school or Christmas shopping in one place without having to go to the nearest big city. They could even grab a bite to eat or a coffee to drink while shopping without leaving the building. Ample parking meant no more walking several city blocks or taking a bus to the shopping district.
Malls were also very expensive real estate. Developers needed commitments from big box stores before constructing the building. With the big name anchor stores book ending the real estate, rent per square foot in between the anchor stores skyrocketed. Local Mom and Pop stores couldn’t afford the rent for a kiosk much less a storefront.
As the flight to the suburbs grew, many big box stores followed, but the CEOs realized their success didn’t depend on being attached to a mall. All they needed to do was build in a rural area near a mall and people would come from miles around. It was a shorter and easier trip for the locals than going to the big city’s shopping district.
Many would argue that growth is good even if it means losing prime forests and farmland to mega shopping centers and the housing developments that inevitably spring up for miles around the new shopping district.
But there is a dark side to the growth. Nationally owned stores rely on consumers wanting the same thing en masse. Over the decades, they have trained consumers to expect consistency and shun the unexpected inconsistency.
Joe’s Burgers might be good today, but tomorrow another cook might mix the ingredients slightly differently and it might not taste the same. McDonalds pre-packages everything so the burger in Los Angeles tastes the same as the burger on Delmarva and they taste the same every day regardless of who is cooking them.
At Joe’s Burgers, Sue might be cooking today and her burgers aren’t quite as good as Joe’s, but she makes an awesome homemade crab cake sandwich. When Sue is cooking, you order a crab cake sandwich instead of the burger. Try getting a homemade crab cake at McDonalds. McDonalds doesn’t care that crab cakes are a local staple. They offer you a fish filet sandwich made of who knows what kind of fish. Joe’s burgers might serve up a slice of Smith Island cake for dessert. McDonalds never heard of such a thing so all you’ll get is a boxed slice of apple pie massed produced on an assembly line.
The homogenization doesn’t stop with food. Delmarva’s unofficial symbols are the blue crab and blue heron. Shore Gardens offer garden ornaments with these Delmarva themes. Go to a Home Depot or Lowe’s and try to get a blue crab ornament for your pond. Blue crabs don’t have a national appeal so you most likely won’t find these uniquely Delmarva items in those stores. Instead, you’ll find the same garden gnomes and angels that every Lowes or Home Depot across the country sells.
The convenience and cheap prices of big box stores is an overwhelming draw for the average consumer. Most of us shop at the Walmarts, Targets, Lowes, and Home Depots or eat at the McDonalds, Burger Kings, Red Lobsters, and Olive Gardens because we know what they have and what we will pay. We’re not risking our money by spending it at an “unknown” little store.
Those shopping habits of sticking to the big box stores comes with another high price. The little stores that did offer variety and uniquely different items go out of business. Some day, when you want something different than the same food or want something that isn’t a made-in-China item that everyone else has, there is no little store left. Your community and everything that defined your community has morphed into Anytown, USA.
Here’s a challenge if you do not believe the big box stores are making all of our communities the same. When you’re in a big box store, pay attention to what they sell. Other than brand names and prices, is there really any difference between what Lowes and Home Depot sells? Or Walmart and Target? Take a walk down the carpet aisle, for example. Are the style, colors, patterns, and quality of rugs really different between the two stores? Can you find any locally themed patterns for that perfect welcome mat on your front step?
When you’re done comparing what the big box stores offer, take a look in your home, your neighbors’ homes, your relatives’ homes, and your friends’ homes. Is there any real difference in the style, type, and quality of the house and most items in it? Can you guess which store some of the items and fixtures in the home were probably purchased?
When you’re driving around, take a look at people’s yards. Are there unique plants and bushes in the landscaping and gardens? How about unique lawn or garden ornaments?
The more you pay attention to how much of the same things we all have, the more you’ll realize how the big box stores are homogenizing our communities and even our individual homes.
