h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I would like to start a campaign against the uniformisation of towns. Not only in Britain are all High Streets becoming the same, but the chain stores are spreading like computer viruses and making it hard to recognise whether you're in Wroxham or Wuppertal. Woolworths, McDonalds, Sock Shop, ... these are three that you will certainly find in High Streets in Germany. In each country there are more identical twins.

It would be nice to start list of places (shops, cafes restaurants, pubs) which make a town different. OK I will admit there might be slight differences, like in one place you go slightly downhill from Marks to Boots and in the other flat or even uphill, and the Post Office is on the left of Woolworths rather than on the right, but basically the components are interchangeable.

Two examples of individuality that I would like to mention to start with is Heffers in Cambridge, England, and The Tea Shop (can't remember its exact name) in the Kornmarkt in Speyer, Germany.

Globetrotters should try and avoid chain stores when shopping in strange towns.

moin. ich hab keine probleme damit, in uniformen "innen"städten (womit in d-land meistens nur die fußgängerzonen gemeint sind) zu leben, entlangzulaufen und vielleicht auch mal einzukaufen - da kannst du dich wenigstens nicht verlaufen - one map fits all... oder so. es ist doch wunderbar, mit geschlossen augen direkt zu wissen, daß nach 500 metern "new yorker", um die ecke der "karstadt" mega store und da hinten "runners point" die neuesten ausbeutungsmodelle ihrer sportschuhe feilbieten. von den ganzen fastfood-stuff möchte ich lieber schweigen, hier sind hin und wieder regionale essgewohnheiten doch noch davor, daß du die nächste würstchenbude genauso schnell findest wie "bei dir zu hause". da müßten noch verbesserungen in der stadtplanung um sich greifen... . nun gut, ein kleiner eintrag zum diskutieren - and perhaps the next time even in perfect langenscheidt-englisch... greetings and venceremos! m.korsakov

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And in principle I agree. Not to mention the Body Shop. Arrggghhh! And at least M&S has closed most of its German Operation (even though I cheered the most when it opened in Köln) but then.... where would I buy custard creams and vintage cheddar.... don't ask me to give those up...... ppllleeeaaassseeeeeee!
So, we're boycotting international chains (so Kaufhof, Karstadt etc. are ok?) which means no more C&A, Body Shop, M&S, Woolworths, Sock Shop, Tie Rack, WHSmiths (can't do it, I'm afraid), Boots (can't do that either)......??? Pity there isn't a Sainsbury's here (so I could have 2nd thoughts about boycotting that too).

OK - if you put it that way. But there are several towns with "British shops" (Mannheim for example, and Karlsruhe) but of course they are more expensive.

There are comforts in knowing where you are, but it just shocked me that (e.g.) Bath and Cambridge, both extremely historic and individual towns, had rows and rows of the same shop windows, dominating the centre of the town and almost making them indistinguishable.

Now that is something which must be stopped. And I can, unfortunately, add other otherwise beautiful towns to your list: York, Chester, Windsor etc. etc. It's all part of the eat MacDonalds, drink Coke, wear Gap........ aarrggghhh!

America is the land of chain stores and franchises, but somehow Austin has managed to keep a large number of independent shops. Here are a few I regularly visit http://www.amysicecream.com
http://www.wheatsville.com and if you scroll down to the bottom of this page, you'll see a pic of the Avenue B grocery, which is like something out of The Waltons http://www.centralaustinhomes.com/hydepark.htm It's currently run by a bloke called Ross, who is sometimes in a good mood, sometimes not, and at luchtime you can't get in the place for people buying their lunchtime sandwiches. Sadly, shops like this are few and far between, yes, there are several Starbucks here, and the building I work in was the very first Wholefoods store, which has now become yet another national chain. http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/company/ I have the hardest time stopping my wife from going to places like Home Depot, Shoe Express, Randalls, you know, those places that look more like a warehouse than a shop. It's what she was brought up on, and I consider it to be my current project to ween her off those, and towards businesses that don't report their annual turnover in billions.

That is one helluva lot of information (I'll look at the sites later). Have you told the people who are collecting this sort of thing about this? Some weeks ago there was a call for speciality shops. They are listed here: http://www.h2g2.com/A346790

I remember reading that entry a few weeks ago. None of them are really 'specialist', although as ice cream parlours go, Amy's is pretty special. Wheatsville is simply a whol;efood store that is also a co-operative, and Avenue B Grocery is the American equivalent of the British corner shop, still much in evidence when you go north of Watford. Maybe I'll put up Amy's and see what the editors say.

Amy's sounds so fantastic - it made my mouth water. Have you tried the Grasshopper flavour?