Posted Aug 22, 2017, 8:04 PM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 3,017
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Quote:
Originally Posted by llamaorama
I guess I must be hopelessly middle class because I like a mix of chains and local places. Some chains are useful or good(there's probably a reason why they grew), while I of course always like interesting local places too. Having a few chain stores might be a sign a neighborhood is healthy, because national companies are willing to take a chance on it. Having too many chains on the other hand suggests a lack of entrepreneurial opportunity.
It depends on the types of chains, too. There's the stalwarts, like CVS, Starbucks, etc, there upscale ones that suggest wealth, like the Gap, low end ones that suggest poverty like Ross Dress for Less, etc.
You have to ask why a chain got so popular to begin with. Case in point, Starbucks is actually pretty satisfactory in regions where indie coffee shops were not common before, like say, small town Texas. People liked it enough that it expanded to meet demand.
The chains I don't like are the "brand portfolio" restaurant type places that were invented in a boardroom, had money thrown at them, and owned by some private equity firm subsidiary with a goofy name like "AlteriX Dining Dynamics". The ones that back in the 1990's would have rusty tubas on the dining room walls for "flair". You know exactly what places I am talking about.
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I can't relate. As a matter of preference, I can't stand chains with the exception of CVS\Walgreens and Home Depot. For clothing retail, I'm preferring to do all my shopping online than in a store for cost and convenience reasons. Anything that doesn't fit right I end up giving as gifts or returning to seller.
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