Well I’m sure by now you’ve heard the “not another Starbuck’s, Barne’s & Noble, McDonald’s etc. etc.” grumbling…yeah I’m beginning to have mixed feelings about it too…you know, that love hate relationship. Lately there have been quite a few info sources making comments about how many traditionally unique neighborhoods in this city have been taken over by the chain stores and the general opinion is that this is not a good thing unless of course it happens to be the gentrification of a less than desirable neighborhood. The problem is this usually happens in the neighborhoods that are great to begin with and it is especially devastating to the ones with a sense of community but then again that depends on how open or closed minded they are. Now, a mix between the one of a kind unique places and the megachains is not I bad thing I would say, but when everything starts feeling sterile and generic something is lost. That’s how I feel in suburbia…it’s generic, sterile…i don’t feel lost but somehow it doesn’t capture that warm sense of community.

Recently I read a brief blog post on blogging.nyc about how the chains are always good for when you “just gotta pee”. And I completely agree, I’ve had many of those occasions and frankly I prefer the Starbuck’s or fast food chain because you know that sterile environment…it comes in very handy. Not only that, it’s true I don’t feel the moral pull to stop and buy something. I do usually justify it by saying I do go there often enough that I’ve paid my dues. And the opposite is also true, i feel a tremendous moral obligation to stop and buy something if I walk in to a more one of a kind sort of place, i will actually hold it until i find something more familiar…funny huh…the generic has become the familiar.

Why is that? Well I think it may be because when you don’t grow up with a sense of community at home let alone your neighborhood the thing that is missing or broken is the relational factor. It is this factor that makes me initially uncomfortable when walking into a place where everyone seems to know each or belong. Of course, once you’re part of the “in” crowd nothing compares. The relational factor comes in when you are face to face with the process of getting to know complete strangers…are you inclined to trust or distrust? I would venture to say that if you grow up in a relatively healthy context (regardless of specific personality) you would be lean towards the former and breaking the relational barrier is probably no big deal. What the megachains provide is a sense that it doesn’t matter if you relate or not…”alli lo que cuenta es el cash!” (what matters there is your cash)

You may not initially get my drift if you are a mega relational extrovert (or have in someway learned this skill and now happen to be a pro) but just think of when you leave your comfort zone…think of going to an unfamiliar part of town or even the country or better yet a foreign country…how comfortable do you feel walking into the local hangouts? Don’t get me wrong, those are the places that if you somehow break into are the most fulfilling and rewarding as far as traveling experiences go, but given the nature and diversity of us humans I can say with certainty that there will be places where you just feel lost…and then suddenly you see a….la la la la STARBUCK’S…finally you get a sense of familiarity generic as it may be and you are once again thankful for the good old megachains. They’re like a middle man for you and me…the trailblazers that break ground in foreign places giving us clues as to where we might want to hang…or NOT. They’ve already done the work of scoping out the terrain.

I feel this exact same way about Trader Joe’s, they have a way of placing their stores in the kind of neighborhoods i particularly find very appealing, of course this only matters when you want to or need to leave the place of familiarity and move. Let me try to make this a little clearer, the opposite would be a concentration of cheap liquor stores or “adult” shops…in my mind that says steer clear away. Good thing no one is complaining about “not another Apple store” in the neighborhood because let me tell you, and not just ’cause I’m married to an Apple geek, I want to be in that general vicinity. Now the MickyD’s, I’m quite happy staying as far away as possible…unless of course I need to pee.

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