When I travel abroad, I sometimes see restaurants and retail stores that I could find at home. I see them in far away places; chain stores that have grown large enough to put outposts thousands of miles away. For the most part this homogenization of retail appalls me, but a small part of me must respect these retail spores.
I returned from Hawaii not long ago. I stayed in the heart of Oahu’s tourist district, Waikiki Beach. Along Kalakaua Avenue, a robust retail experience has bloomed with many shops. Most of the shops are chain stores that I could browse through at home in California.
As I walked down the avenue I heard a number of different languages being spoken: Asian, Nordic, European, and Indo-European. I wondered if these visitors had the same opportunity as me to shop in such stores if they were home.
What if they didn’t?
Perhaps there are those who do not have these shops in places they live. Or perhaps these individuals are enjoying a new experience even when it may be common back home. There’s another side too. What if they simply didn’t have the time to shop unless they were on vacation? Many of us don’t have the time to shop in our daily lives. We might look forward to a vacation that provides the opportunity. For these reasons, I stopped myself from believing that this retail homogenization is altogether bad.
When large, retail chains meet in a popular tourist area, then there is bound to be someone that hasn’t seen or had the time to experience such a shop. I understood this one evening when I returned to my hotel near Kalakaua Avenue. There is a well known restaurant near the gardens of the hotel. This restaurant exists in many cities on the mainland, and it was full of patrons. There was even a line to speak with the hostess.
I heard a number of languages as I passed through the throng outside the restaurant. These discussions seemed charged with excitement; whether they were about the food or the time spent in Hawaii, I didn’t know. What I understood was that perhaps these mega-chains do have value in far away places, and that our choice to use them is separate from the meaning they have to our many, different, and unique lives.
Copyright © Tyler Gant 2009
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