New Orleans is a unique place, but that doesn’t mean it will always be that way.
The powerful force that is corporate America has homogenized cities across the country, and a quick look around will show that New Orleans is slowly but surely following suit. If you need proof, go to the corner of Louisiana and St. Charles Avenues and look at the Borders bookstore that they hid in a funeral home building built in 1883.
The corporate dream is to make every square inch of the world as predictable as possible, and if you think about that, it sounds more like a nightmare.
Picture your hometown. Does it have a Best Buy? A Borders? A Target? There is little doubt that it has at least one Wal-Mart and several McDonald’s. This sameness isn’t an inherently evil thing.
Having the same stores in every city means that you can take full advantage of their goods and services no matter where you go, and you can be constantly guaranteed the same level of quality. However, the “Sametown, USA” syndrome isn’t an inherent good either.
It should seem obvious that every dollar spent in corporate America is one that is not spent supporting the quirky shops that give a town its character. Luckily, New Orleans has held out better than most cities. Here we still have options and the ability to pick the independents over the corporations.
Because the independents are not supported by national and international safety nets, they must care for customers more. As a result, the independents have far superseded corporate America in true customer care.
That is something that should be valued above the black and white consistency of corporate America.
Let’s say you want a book. Sure, Borders has computers with full archives of their store inventory, and all the books you can order through their system. But when was the last time you went into Borders, approached a salesperson and said simply, “I want a book”?
I said this to the man behind the counter at Maple Street Book Shop. Unlike the blank stare I probably would have received from the “flavor of the week” employee at Borders, his eyes lit up as he began asking me all sorts of questions to see what book I might like.
Eventually, after establishing my love of Vonnegut and my general curiosity about far off places, we settled upon Paul Bowles’ book, “The Sheltering Sky.”
Here was a well-read man who loved his job, and, because of this he did not just provide his services as a cashier; he more importantly acted as a friend helping another friend find a good book and a new author.
I will take that service any day over a bookseller who doesn’t care.
Replace Borders with Maple Street Book Shop; replace Starbucks with Zotz and the Neutral Ground; replace Urban Outfitters with the Gnome. That is the sort of quirky treatment that we should value and it is only found amid the independent shops that make New Orleans unique.
New Orleans is worth saving from the predictability of the United and Corporate States of America, and we can do it. Every dollar that leaves your wallet is an indication of your demand, and if you don’t demand that New Orleans stays quirky and independent, it won’t.
Zach Lombardo can be reached at [email protected]
