There was a time quite a while ago, where all the local small shops got destroyed by the supermarket chains. For many years it looked very bleak as more and more shops closed and many small villages have had no local specialties anymore. It looked like that’s the way to go. Which is very boring and disturbing.
About a decade later, we had lots of the same type of small shops serving eastern European food at cheap prices, then we had a big growth in Thai food outlets. We never actually got as diverse as our neighbors in Germany, which we always envied for the different type of food you could afford.
But that was mainly food related. You did not really notice the change happening.
But luckily we were greeted with an influx of creativity and people who made their living by actually being inventive and service local communities with a twist and also being the small and fast trendsetters.
Today we have more diversification than ever, you discover all over the places very exciting places with new approaches and also new types of businesses. It is amazing and just pure joy to see this happening. We have now more little shops than ever before and these provide a refreshing lifeblood to many different neighborhoods.
Yet there is also the big change of shopping behavior, which forces a lot of old types of shops to close and give up. Most expensive shop locations are taken over by either luxury brands or cheap fashion and shoes. It will take another big push to actually make it happen that in the main venues of the cities, a conglomeration of individuals with special shops and workplaces interspersed will create the new way cities will work. All thanks to the internet, the future is bright as long as we have enough individuals that take the risks and constantly adapt and build new things.
Great things to come. Great things to explore and make available to others for them to discover again and enjoy. Great time to be a local Guide!
All the Best
Ed Corban