Yes, the retail landscape is rather bleak: many strip malls have taken on the appearance of ghost towns, car dealerships are shuttered or replaced by independent used car peddlers, big box store parking lots are less than 1/3 full -- even on Saturdays.
Yet the phenomenon really doesn't upset me at all. I do feel for those who have lost their jobs or businesses because of it, and I wish them well. Yet it seems like a small price to pay for Americans to come to their senses.
A few less stores might mean a few less worthless trinkets exchanged as gifts or gathering dust in our houses; a few less new car dealerships might lessen our chronic compulsion to purchase the newest symbol of our "success;" a few less trips to the big box stores help us realize that the 24-pack of deoderant, even if it is on sale, is just something else to store on our already overflowing shelves.
Wishful thinking, perhaps? Is consumerism too ingrained in our culture to overcome? Is frugality simply a fad?
I detect a bit of self-righteousness in the parents who've been quoted lately that they see no need to buy brand-new school supplies for their kids when they can "make do" with supplies laying around the house or (gasp!) use the same backpack Junior used last year. Why is this such a novel idea? Why is it only now "cool to conserve?"
And don't get me started about "consumption" as in the waves of new restaurants that spill onto the landscape. The economy has slowed that tide as well, and I say good riddance. We really don't need a White Castle in our town. No, we really don't.
Goodbye Linen's & Things, Pier One, Baker's Square. We can get along just fine without you. Maybe better.
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