Hello everyone,
Very interesting thread about Walmart. I lived in San Francisco for many
years. One of the things out there was trying to keep the feel of a city wih
stores that had eye level stores to keep a feeling of the community that it
supported. The dot com boom really trashed a lot of this. I remember many years
ago when the Gap came to the Haight Ashbury neighborhood and everyone began to
shudder. There is some legislature out there about how much saturation an area
can take from chains-pharmacies, coffee shops, clothing stores and other places
that come in and wipe out the local businesses- especially the ones that have
been there for many years. The real estate in SF is astronomical- the minute a
chain- and I won't mention them- we all know who they are- came in, the real
estate became prohibitive per square foot for a smaller business to move it. It
also created a situation where many businesses that had been around for decades
were pushed out by greedy (or to be more tactful- opportunistic) landlords.
Your local independent coffee shop was pushed out by the one that is
everywhere- and the corner property is lost to small businesses forever. It
does not reverse.
I see it happening here all over the place- a downtrodden area gets some
artists or alternate living arrangements and in the next few years- boom- loft
condos for a fortune. In some ways this improves an area- in others, it is just
a business cycle. This is happening all over the country- there are no more
"downtowns"- just boring malls with the same exact stores in every locale.
In urban centers- Manhattan, San Francisco, Chicago- there is a
suburbanization process going on. Between the coffee shops, home improvement
boxes and large scale chains- it is the same as areas like ours. What happens
when these stores that belong in malls die? What happens when malls die-
www.deadmalls.com .
Sometimes smaller scale stores open in areas that are run down or go
upscale in areas where there is real estate to afford them. This is what parts
of Grand Avenue are and other shopping areas in the Twin Cities. It is not
WalMart, but kind of a "boutiquing" of shops- not basic stores, more for
entertainment shopping. This goes on in large cities also- South Street Seaport
and other areas that are just for tourists.
Another change is how downtowns are not for the people that work or live
there- they are for suburban entertainment-any major city has its area with
sports bars for the weekend big city visitor to visit.
I am curious to see how this will unfold in the next few years. Like
someone said, this is all a cycle. My friend Lou and I walk around Manhattan
and wonder how many Duane Reade drugstores, cell phone stores and Starbucks
(one across the street from the other) even Manhattan can absorb. We think it
is about real estate and no longer about goods- China manufactures for the
world now. Tarriffs are about to be lifted on clothing and textiles that have
been in place since the 70's- wonder how that will impact Target/WalMart/ Kmart
etc---- wasn't it stated in the business sections that the Kmart-Sears merger
was more about Sears real estate than goods and selling of them?
I think it is just so sad that people do not have some sense of a
downtown/shared community space besides a mall to congregate. I know we all
share community with each other- it is just harder and harder. It is not
nostalgia driven to me- it is just about smaller scale.
I have no answers, I am not a business person, nor am I a fan of corporate
giants. I am willing to spend a bit extra for the hardware store, drugstore,
and other local businesses.
It just isn't enough- quantity sales is what keeps businesses around and
smaller places can not do it.
I am curious about those WalMart holiday sales figures. I also wonder what
happens to all the excess junk they do not sell- more fodder for another
discussion.
Have a good safe New Year,
Jackie
Midway Heights
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