buckshot.jones
commerce and community
This corner of the city used to be bustling. On one corner was a legendary local office supply company called Silver’s. The other corner saw a series of merchants offering their wares. The businesses attracted people and people were attracted to the businesses and the area flourished. Then one day Silver’s sold out to the big box retailer Office Depot and they shuttered the wicked cool Silver’s store because it did not fit their cookie cutter store format. Another creative and stimulating enterprise sacrificed at the alter of logistical efficiency. Silver’s closing left a hole in the area and eliminated a reason for people to visit and, in time, the other businesses faded away, too.
It is not Office Depot’s fault. Like all businesses, big box retailers are fulfilling their nature and their nature is to dominate their market at the lowest cost possible. As consumers we reward this behavior by filling our carts in giddy excitement over our savings, never giving thought to what we have lost. You see, we may have found low prices but we achieved them at a high cost. Opportunity for new entrepreneurs is reduced as the big boxes consume all markets in their path. They deliver these prices in a bland experience of big selections with painfully little difference. It is all the same stuff, offered in the same presentation with clerks wearing the same golf shirts. Only the little logos on their shirts tell you whether you are in a Best Buy, Target or Wal- Mart.
The football field superstore does not support a community and foot traffic the way our old world of store front, mom and pop, retail districts once did. They add to the isolation and stifle the creative spark of hanging a shingle and opening a business. While the Internet offers small businesses a path to compete with the giants, an online community is not the same as a real world community. Technology and economics are leading us down a path where we are becoming more connected with more people and isolating us all at the same time. I am not sure I like it.
commerce and community
This corner of the city used to be bustling. On one corner was a legendary local office supply company called Silver’s. The other corner saw a series of merchants offering their wares. The businesses attracted people and people were attracted to the businesses and the area flourished. Then one day Silver’s sold out to the big box retailer Office Depot and they shuttered the wicked cool Silver’s store because it did not fit their cookie cutter store format. Another creative and stimulating enterprise sacrificed at the alter of logistical efficiency. Silver’s closing left a hole in the area and eliminated a reason for people to visit and, in time, the other businesses faded away, too.
It is not Office Depot’s fault. Like all businesses, big box retailers are fulfilling their nature and their nature is to dominate their market at the lowest cost possible. As consumers we reward this behavior by filling our carts in giddy excitement over our savings, never giving thought to what we have lost. You see, we may have found low prices but we achieved them at a high cost. Opportunity for new entrepreneurs is reduced as the big boxes consume all markets in their path. They deliver these prices in a bland experience of big selections with painfully little difference. It is all the same stuff, offered in the same presentation with clerks wearing the same golf shirts. Only the little logos on their shirts tell you whether you are in a Best Buy, Target or Wal- Mart.
The football field superstore does not support a community and foot traffic the way our old world of store front, mom and pop, retail districts once did. They add to the isolation and stifle the creative spark of hanging a shingle and opening a business. While the Internet offers small businesses a path to compete with the giants, an online community is not the same as a real world community. Technology and economics are leading us down a path where we are becoming more connected with more people and isolating us all at the same time. I am not sure I like it.