The Corner Groceries Of Paris. Vanishing Before Our Eyes.
It has been said that in business the only thing that is inevitable is change.And indeed, the pace of change seems to be accelerating all around us.There are still many cities like Paris,New York and San Francisco that pride themselves on their unique character and independent nature.Yet even there, pieces of the past are being chiseled away forever at faster and faster speeds.These changes have completely changed the way we shop for food for better or for worse.
The past is fascinating to us.We are unabashedly attracted to things old.To glimpses of a world that is disappearing before our eyes no matter what small aspect of culture, whether profound, artistic or not that they may represent.They are little time warps,cosmic pinholes that allow us to view something that is going, going and soon to be gone.
The grocery world is a rapidly changing industry,undergoing technological advances in distribution that allow for easier access to more goods at better prices but sacrifice individual entrepreneurial enterprises as the price of admission.While there are gourmet/local reactions to the Walmart/Carfour/Tesco/Auchan world of 60,000 square foot plus mega-stores and hypermarches in the form of farmers markets and new upscale stores, their impact is small in terms of their ability to reach the mass of consumers.
When the worlds chain stores had finished destroying small town downtowns by building massive shopping centers on the edges of town, they came back to the city centers to with new clean mini-market chains like Franprix and Simply.With tight control over the channels of distribution.they made sure that no euro was left unturned.The results are sterile,but dependable and clean and cheaper.
Times were certainly once very different when it came to food shopping.While not everyone shopped at a butcher for meat, a bakery for bread and a small store for the rest, most shopping was done at the corner store.These stores were the definition of local shopping.They served a neighborhood demographic that consisted of blocks, not square miles.They were on your corner.You walked to them.Knew the shopkeeper and he might have extended credit to you.
Corner groceries in Paris were not that different from those in San Francisco or New York except that many of them had much better looking displays of fruit and flowers.They ran the gamut, from those that were actually quite beautifull to cluttered stinking disasters. These stores were also the entry point for minority cultures who were emigrating.Palestinians in San Francisco, Koreans in Los Angeles and New York and a wide variety of Arab shopkeepers in Paris.They employed their cousins and families and kids routinely played in the aisle.
When you are on vacation rental in Paris and you want a carton of milk or a beer from that corner marche late at night, take a moment and look around before you leave.It may not be there on your next visit.
I am not saying that these changes are horrible.Many of the old shops were ridiculously expensive and in classic Parisian style,indifferent to a customer or just plain rude.Many were filthy. The new mini stores are clean efficient and better priced.The point here is to slow down.To remember a look,a feel and a way of life that is going away for good as you spend time walking the streets of Paris.
The past is fascinating to us.We are unabashedly attracted to things old.To glimpses of a world that is disappearing before our eyes no matter what small aspect of culture, whether profound, artistic or not that they may represent.They are little time warps,cosmic pinholes that allow us to view something that is going, going and soon to be gone.
The grocery world is a rapidly changing industry,undergoing technological advances in distribution that allow for easier access to more goods at better prices but sacrifice individual entrepreneurial enterprises as the price of admission.While there are gourmet/local reactions to the Walmart/Carfour/Tesco/Auchan world of 60,000 square foot plus mega-stores and hypermarches in the form of farmers markets and new upscale stores, their impact is small in terms of their ability to reach the mass of consumers.
When the worlds chain stores had finished destroying small town downtowns by building massive shopping centers on the edges of town, they came back to the city centers to with new clean mini-market chains like Franprix and Simply.With tight control over the channels of distribution.they made sure that no euro was left unturned.The results are sterile,but dependable and clean and cheaper.
Times were certainly once very different when it came to food shopping.While not everyone shopped at a butcher for meat, a bakery for bread and a small store for the rest, most shopping was done at the corner store.These stores were the definition of local shopping.They served a neighborhood demographic that consisted of blocks, not square miles.They were on your corner.You walked to them.Knew the shopkeeper and he might have extended credit to you.
Corner groceries in Paris were not that different from those in San Francisco or New York except that many of them had much better looking displays of fruit and flowers.They ran the gamut, from those that were actually quite beautifull to cluttered stinking disasters. These stores were also the entry point for minority cultures who were emigrating.Palestinians in San Francisco, Koreans in Los Angeles and New York and a wide variety of Arab shopkeepers in Paris.They employed their cousins and families and kids routinely played in the aisle.
When you are on vacation rental in Paris and you want a carton of milk or a beer from that corner marche late at night, take a moment and look around before you leave.It may not be there on your next visit.
I am not saying that these changes are horrible.Many of the old shops were ridiculously expensive and in classic Parisian style,indifferent to a customer or just plain rude.Many were filthy. The new mini stores are clean efficient and better priced.The point here is to slow down.To remember a look,a feel and a way of life that is going away for good as you spend time walking the streets of Paris.
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