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Most rural people are very anti gay and would probably never allow a homosexual couple to enjoy peace in their midst. So if you are a company and you hire a very talented homosexual engineer and he gets ran of out town by the locals, how does that help your business?
Nobody is going to run you out of town. They're not going to tar and feather you and ride you out on a rail. People who believe homosexuality is a sin will tolerate you. However, you'll also have to tolerate their views that homosexuality is a perversion that God abhors. I'd say in almost every case it is best for all involved if homosexuals remain in urban areas like Sodom or Gomorrah.
I agree that the malling of America has killed some small town downtowns--but not all, by any means....it takes the right business mix, adequate parking, walking ease and a concentration of houses nearby to encourage walking and strolling for downtown's to thrive these days--and local citizens and local small town government to align to create support and zoning that allow small town downtowns to thrive...one program is the Main Street Program, and there are others who will lend a hand and advice and templates to use to design/revive vibrant downtowns..
If you don't like your current downtown, what can you do to help organize an effort to revive it??
There are thriving downtowns that are lively that are within the shadow of big box stores--their secret seems to be in offering a certain something that's lacking in the big box malls...a good, local, bakery, a great bookstore--new and used, an exciting mix of locally-owned cafes, pubs and restaurants, coffee shops/tea rooms, green areas, benches, outdoor seating--in other words, small town charm that's lacking in the malls...we all long for this and have a memory of this, but we also have to work together to have it and support it...
In the small town I mentioned, many people were upset when the last grocery store / meat market closed their doors.
The most vocal were the ones who never patronized it.
Another small town near me has no cafe.
The community organized a citizens group to decide what was lacking in their town
#1 was a cafe.
Most of the members of that citizens group never patronized the last 3 owners who tried to make a go of it.
Sometimes community members of small towns send--"mixed messages"
Very good point. I see and hear about that issue in some small towns. There are other towns with people who are good about buying from and supporting local businesses.
It's sad to say, but there is no bringing back the small towns that people remember from the 50's - unless you're a bona fide tourist town, and then it's all just artifice anyway.
The interior of the country, the "small towns," have been moving further and further away from an agrarian and cottage industry-based model of commerce, and has been doing so so for decades.
Middle class consumers can justify and afford driving a distance on interstates to reach urban and suburban areas to do their shopping. This isn't changing.
So:
10 years from now, Here's what you WON'T see in the downtowns of cities in the 5,000 - 20,000 range.
That said, here's what you're going to see more and more and more and more of:
1.) "Antique" stores (the kind that don't sell actual antiques)
2.) Organic food/boutique grocers
3.) Lots of faux bistros/"trendy" coffee and tea diners (with finger sandwiches)
4.) Galleries selling locally-made art, pottery and jewelry
5.) Specialty wine shops (shoppes)
6.) UPSCALE resale shops/consignment boutiques
7.) Specialty hair salons with aesthetician/massage services
With this model, it's no small wonder why small governments cannot directly justify pumping huge development dollars into downtown strips. Even the most "revitalized" of smalltown downtowns seem to mostly support what some deride as "trinket stores."
It's gotten harder to find a genuine pulse in smalltown downtowns. What's keeping them afloat are quirky coffee shops, throw-on-the-dog salons, beaded jewelry shops and boutique grocers. I'm not totally knocking that type of commerce; it's just the focus of commerce has really changed in small downtowns, and a lot of it doesn't come off as very sincere. There's too much of a fake tan/whitened tooth smarminess to it all that noone over the age of 45 "gets."
But how many yoga mats are you going to sell in, say, downtown St. Peter, Minn.? How many jewelry boutiques do you need? At some point, the Wal-Mart out by the interstate will find a way to sell trinkets, yoga mats and "organic food" cheaper than you can. And it'll be on to the next gimmick for you to portray yourself as a "tourism and arts-based downtown."
It's sad to say, but there is no bringing back the small towns that people remember from the 50's - unless you're a bona fide tourist town, and then it's all just artifice anyway.
The interior of the country, the "small towns," have been moving further and further away from an agrarian and cottage industry-based model of commerce, and has been doing so so for decades.
Middle class consumers can justify and afford driving a distance on interstates to reach urban and suburban areas to do their shopping. This isn't changing.
So:
10 years from now, Here's what you WON'T see in the downtowns of cities in the 5,000 - 20,000 range.
That said, here's what you're going to see more and more and more and more of:
1.) "Antique" stores (the kind that don't sell actual antiques)
2.) Organic food/boutique grocers
3.) Lots of faux bistros/"trendy" coffee and tea diners (with finger sandwiches)
4.) Galleries selling locally-made art, pottery and jewelry
5.) Specialty wine shops (shoppes)
6.) UPSCALE resale shops/consignment boutiques
7.) Specialty hair salons with aesthetician/massage services
With this model, it's no small wonder why small governments cannot directly justify pumping huge development dollars into downtown strips. Even the most "revitalized" of smalltown downtowns seem to mostly support what some deride as "trinket stores."
It's gotten harder to find a genuine pulse in smalltown downtowns. What's keeping them afloat are quirky coffee shops, throw-on-the-dog salons, beaded jewelry shops and boutique grocers. I'm not totally knocking that type of commerce; it's just the focus of commerce has really changed in small downtowns, and a lot of it doesn't come off as very sincere. There's too much of a fake tan/whitened tooth smarminess to it all that noone over the age of 45 "gets."
But how many yoga mats are you going to sell in, say, downtown St. Peter, Minn.? How many jewelry boutiques do you need? At some point, the Wal-Mart out by the interstate will find a way to sell trinkets, yoga mats and "organic food" cheaper than you can. And it'll be on to the next gimmick for you to portray yourself as a "tourism and arts-based downtown."
But how many yoga mats are you going to sell in, say, downtown St. Peter, Minn.?
Depends on what the college students and professors wanna buy, hah...seriously, though, I lived there for four years of undergrad, and as a small, liberal arts college town, it supported several businesses that the same size town without a college would likely not have been able to make a go of. The Woolen Mill, the Swedish Kontur imports shop, the hippie-dippy food co-op (which I loved), and the independently run, non-chain coffee house (which I also loved) come to mind from those days.
I get what you're saying, though. It's just that a small liberal arts college town isn't in exactly the same boat, retail option-wise, as your average small town that doesn't have that same subset of consumers as potential customers.
Last edited by TabulaRasa; 06-16-2009 at 07:30 PM..
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