Leaving Starbucks: Unchaining America

 I heard an interview with the mayor of Marion, Indiana on NPR the other day. He was proud to get a Starbucks to help revitalize his town, and other town’s folk were hoping they might see a Target, a Texas Roadhouse, and a Panera in the future as well.  I can understand the relief and/or enthusiasm of people to see such national brands promising to infuse new life into a depressed economy where jobs have dwindled. On the other hand, relying upon corporate chains could have other consequences as well.

Chain stores have taken over America.  We have been lulled onto a deep corporate sleep so that we see nothing but the same restaurants, hotels and stores wherever we go. John Archibald, a local columnist for The Birmingham News recently expressed dismay that The Olive Garden was voted “Best Italian Restaurant in Town” when there are locally owned Italian restaurants, run by actual Italian families that have a long tradition of authentic cuisine. I fully concur with his assessment.

Go to any shopping mall in America and you will find the same stores with the same look and feel.  This is not true Americana. Why should I travel a thousand miles to see the same strip malls and shopping centers that I left back home? Where is the local flavor?

As I write this, I am sitting in a little coffee shop located in a small shopping center, but I am not in a Starbucks or any other chain operation.  Forest Perk Coffee, located in Forest Park in the Piggly Wiggly Shopping Center, is a locally owned operation.  It may lack the spiffy shine and trendy décor of a Starbucks, but it is a one-of-a-kind spot. The floor is a cement slab with marks and scrapes incurred, no doubt, from previous tenants. The space may be a bit too large for the enterprise, but it has local character. Art from local artists adorns the walls. The menu is not one printed for mass distribution to dictate the choices for patrons across the country. It is a simple chalk board with today’s items written just this morning. This morning it was a great place to sit and read an essay by Robert Bly as well as do some writing. I'll definitely be back!

There is another coffee shop closer to where I live, Crestwood Coffee Company, that my wife and I enjoy patronizing.  It is not in the high rent district. It also has a not-quite-finished appearance, but it has its own character. You walk in there and you see a real community. You get a true snapshot of American life. Both of these shops brew and sell fair trade coffee from Higher Ground Roasters that is roasted locally. Crestwood Coffee Company is another place that you will definitely want to go back to once you've experienced it.

What can we do to unchain America? For one thing, we can support local independent entrepreneurs whenever possible.  Next time you want Italian food, instead of automatically thinking of some nationwide chain that has pumped millions of advertising dollars into TV ads to assure name recognition, take a few minutes to consider a locally owned restaurant.  Make a local coffee shop your stopping place rather than a prefabricated national chain. Try to do the same when you need household repair items, flowers, shrubs, or other purchases.

I’ll admit that the malls are convenient, but they are not Americana.  The really good ones try to fake Americana, but it is all fabricated in some corporate board room. We could lose our local identity, not through totalitarian governments, as was feared in the last century, but through our own lazy complicity with corporate giants and Wall Street financiers.  

I am not a paid celebrity spokesman for either Forest Perk Coffee or Crestwood Coffee Company. In all fairness, there are other local coffee shops in town. Check online or in the telephone directory to find other independent, unchained establishments.



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