I noticed something awhile back. In the previous state I lived in I was near a Target, a Starbucks, a Safeway, and an AMC Theater. Now in my current state I'm near a Target, a Starbucks, a Safeway, and an AMC Theater. Before it brought me comfort to know there were familiar stores around me where I could get whatever I wanted. Now I'm starting to ask myself if there is a difference between the towns we live in outside of their names.
If I were to go into nearly any Safeway they all look fairly the same, which I suppose is the point. My first real job was as a bag boy at a grocery store called SuperValu. It wasn't a great store, but in my home town it was the only store. I had many fond memories of that place. I'm sure most of which are painted by nostalgia more than anything else. And for a long after I had moved away that store remained the same. Then somewhere along the way it go converted into a Safeway. The old store that I loved was gone. It had been replaced by a generic grocery chain. Standing inside of it I couldn't tell that I was in my old home town or in my current one. It made me a little sad to think that part of my history's character had been wiped away for the sake of conformity.
It's not just the grocery store either. In town there are all sorts of new box stores. Lowe's, Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Barnes & Noble, Gamestop to name a few. I don't have a problem with any of those stores, well maybe Wal-Mart, but that's a discussion for another time. Growing up I remember wishing we had more stuff like other larger cities. Then when I moved away I lived in a pretty large city and realized that all the choices really didn't make things any better. It was just more nothing. I don't live in my old home town anymore so I'm sure my opinion doesn't really matter all that much to people who just want to be able to pick up an HD TV at a reasonable price without traveling 360 miles to the next town or ordering it online. Still when I go to visit I can see how the town is desperately trying to be like everywhere else. So is that where things are going? Are towns and cities going to become so similar that you can no longer tell the difference between where you are? The mall in Seattle has the same exact stores as the mall in Miami.
I think it's part of the reason why I like going to certain places that have things that are unique. San Francisco has Fisherman's Wharf and Chinatown. Seattle has Pike's Market. Chicago has Millennium Park. Boston has well the maze like streets of Boston. Sure those places also have Targets and Starbucks, but they also haven't become some generic box store community that's lost all sense of what makes the town unique.
Look around your town. What do you see? Can you tell the difference between your block and the next? Or the next twenty? At this rate you'll drive across the country and it will be like you never left home.
