San Francisco to Chain Stores: Get Out!

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/corporate-accountability-and-workplace/san-francisco-chain-stores-get-out

“Whether you’re on the road or just cruising around town, your favorite McDonald’s menu items are never far away.” So boasts the McDonald’s Restaurant Locator, and a glance at a distribution map of franchises in the United States proves the point. Population centers burn brightly with the Golden Arches; even the sparsely populated Western states are adequately supplied by the nation’s 14,000-plus fleet of McDonald’s.

That reach is astounding, but not exceptional. Four out of five Americans live within 20 miles of our 11,000 Starbucks; 30 percent of American grocery shopping occurs at our 4,500 Wal-Marts. The most familiar element of the American landscape — excepting green highway signs and certain brands of automobiles — might be Subway, which has over 25,000 U.S. locations.

You could be forgiven for thinking, as Simon and Garfunkel sang, “Each town looks the same to me.” From Juneau to Jacksonville, we Americans share, as much as anything, a common commercial experience, a fractal pattern of retail at once comforting and mind-numbing. It stretches the powers of the imagination to think that eating and shopping options in the American city were once as distinct as fingerprints. The shift from mom-and-pops to chains has been one of the defining shifts in American cultural life, and counter-protests have been largely futile, with opponents pegged as sentimentalists standing in the way of progress and low prices.

That is changing. Dozens of American municipalities, mostly small towns with tourism in mind, have passed laws restricting the entry of chain stores. The biggest city to do so is San Francisco: in incremental steps punctuated by a ballot initiative in 2006, the California city famous for liberal activism has enacted the most influential anti-chain legislation in the United States.

[Flo Mingo]

1. Asheville was ahead of the curve on this

Before its transition, when most of downtown Asheville was vacant and deserted, a developer wanted to demolish much of the center of the city for a mall.

Luckily we had a forward thinking city council that seized the opportunity to redefine Asheville as a city committed to local businesses, artists and entrepreneurs. Now downtown is a shopping and culinary potpourri. Our river district has been converted from abandoned industrial buildings into a thriving arts community.

It is one of the things that defines Asheville as a must see American destination. (If you haven't, you should!)

We need more small and mid-sized communities committing to their own citizens this way.

[dipsydoodle]

2. Is that Asheville NC ?

The Home of Bluegrass.

[xchrom]

3. indeed. ntt

[dipsydoodle]

5. As far as I know Bascom Lamar Lunsford started that there.

Bascomb on fiddle. Not sure why they used the expression "his band" - such stuff was impromptu when he was filming especially grannies flatfooting on the porch. .

[Flo Mingo]

19. You're correct about Lunsford.

There's an annual festival in Mars Hill in Oct every year.Of yeah and Brewgrass, our annual Craft beer and music fest.

[Bluenorthwest]

16. Asheville as a 'must see'? Personally it is on the 'if I am forced to' list due to the anti gay laws

NC has enshrined. I try to avoid the states that nurture legal discrimination against others as NC does. What kind of 'arts' could they have, really, with bigotry ruling and Republicans in full charge?

[Flo Mingo]

20. The state is not the people

Yes, Raleigh has been taken over by right wingers but Asheville ifs one of the most progressive cities in the southeast. But to each his or her own add they say.

Peace

[PasadenaTrudy]

24. I love Asheville

I go all the way from CA to spend time there. It has a San Francisco vibe there that I like. And less traffic and pretty mts! My dad was originally from Clyde, NC

[Flo Mingo]

25. Clyde?

Love Clyde and the Old Grouch's Army Navy store!

[PasadenaTrudy]

26. Yep!

My grandad had a farm there waaay back when. My dad was born there in 1921! I went back a few years ago and found the land. Now there's houses on it. We are Penlands, so our history is deep there

[DirkGently]

35. Asheville is refreshingly bereft of hideous chains.

I'm sure it helps tourism that downtown isn't one long blob of Taco Bells.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

4. Wish people could write. A bunch of fixed brick & mortar is NOT a "fleet".

Kudos to SF for putting the brakes on big chains.

However, the best way to block chains is to convince people to buy responsibly. Start with "Think globally; EAT locally". Eat at local restaurants, not big chains.

Another thing is the idiocy of people traveling to tourist destinations and eating the exact same burgers and fries and tacos and pizzas that they eat at home.

[tclambert]

6. What is the group noun for McDonald's? A Murder of McDonald's?

Swarm? Gang, horde, pod? Oh, here it is: infestation.

[Auggie]

14. I thought it was a Puke of McDonalds

[brooklynite]

7. Try and pry the Apple Store from my cold dead hands...

[Nye Bevan]

8. I think the Apple Store is too hip to count.

Last edited Wed Sep 4, 2013, 11:15 AM - Edit history (1)

This kind of thing is directed more at the likes of McDonalds and Walmart, places that attract poorer people. Chains like Apple Store and Panera Bread that richer urban hipsters like will still be welcomed with open arms.

[Gormy Cuss]

28. First off, Apple is a local brand here. The city welcomes locally owned chains.

The city also doesn't ban or prohibit national chains from leasing space. They just make it difficult for the chains to come in and obliterate the local business landscape.

[fasttense]

9. This may be illegal under many of the WTO treaties signed by the US

All those trade agreements the US has signed on with the WTO strictly forbid this kind of boycott. Wal-Marts, McDonalds, and other corporations have a right to sell their crap anywhere they want in the US under numerous WTO trade treaties the US has signed off on. San Fran and others will probably get sued by one of those corporations they banned. And the corporation will win. The WTO tribunals are all rigged in favor of the corporation.

And simply encouraging people to buy local is also illegal if any government, from federal to local, decides to spend any money promoting local over international corporations.

Many a trade lawyer is betting on who will be the 1st corporation to file against the US for promoting buy America and buy local (like farmer's markets). WTO agreements specifically prevent this.

But the US has ignored other agreements like the "NO Torture" Geneva convention. So, the US could just ignore these agreements with the WTO. Then the US would be liable to trade sanctions. But really? What country would cut its own throat by agreeing to NOT ship to US markets. Actually if the WTO enforced trade sanctions against the US, it might just be the best thing that ever happened to the US.

Now you see why so many protest the WTO meeting and how the WTO effects you everyday life.

[loudsue]

18. Thank you for bringing that up, fasttense. So true about these "trade agreements"

that are destroying the voices of the people all across the globe. Our politics have shifted from a democracy to governance by the corporations. THAT is where our tax dollars are going....to support the global corporations that really determine the destiny of a country.

[Xithras]

32. Nope. The beauty of SF's law is that it technically "bans" nothing.

First, it places no restrictions at all on several commercial districts, so technically ANY company can move into SF. They're just limited as to WHERE they can move.

Second, even in the rest of the city, there's no actual "ban". The law simply says that chains with 11 or more stores are required to go before the planning commission and be subject to a public hearing before they can move in. 75% of stores that go through this process are approved. When they are declined, it's typically because of major neighborhood opposition, or because the retailer has picked a location that is problematic for some reason (traffic patterns, parking, and pedestrian access being the biggies).

San Francisco's solution was simple and legally defensible.

[fasttense]

33. Hmm, it might hold up at a WTO tribunal.

But then again, I would NOT want to be the trade lawyers defending this policy in front of a corporate tribunal. 98% of the time the tribunals finds in favor of the corporation. If the corporation can say it lost profits because of the SF law, then its got a foot in the door.

I hope SF wins on this one but.....

[grilled onions]

10. Cafe, Eats, Good Food

Those were the words a kid in my generation learned first on the vacation trail. Many were not fancy and some were not much beyond decent but some had the best hot beef sandwiches,fried chicken and homemade pies in the land. We had "roadhouses" which were commonly named taverns out of town and often had family style dinners and again specialized in wonderful fried chicken, real potatoes and often local vegetables. I can't imagine being as excited seeing yet another "arches" down the pike!

[bemildred]

11. Yep, I avoid franchises whenever possible.

You still have to check, but your chances of getting something you are willing to eat are much improved with local businesses, they have to rely on their own reputation.

[bemildred]

12. And it keeps the money local (more likely anyhow). nt

[xchrom]

13. yes. a greater share of your dollar spent in a locally owned business stays in the community. nt

[tecelote]

15. Wouldn't it be great to see a McDonalds close...

because local restaurants took away all of their business!

[Zorra]

17. Traveling around the the US became a lot less fun when

most of the country became a homogenized corporatized eyesore.

[marmar]

21. It's got plenty of flaws, but San Francisco is still the light, in this country at least.

nt

[The2ndWheel]

22. McDonald's was at one time a small local business

Always interesting where people draw their own personal lines between what should be local and what should be more universal in scope.

[Nye Bevan]

27. I assume that if these "local businesses" that SF loves so much

expand and get too big for their britches, SF will kick them out.

[Gormy Cuss]

29. Nope. SF embraces Bay area chains.

La Boulange is a successful chain of bakeries in the city, locally owned and grown until its recent sale to Starbucks. The new ownership doesn't mean that the chain is getting booted out either.

Apple, based in Cupertino, has a flagship store in Union Square. It's expanding that space.

[raouldukelives]

23. See ya Chevron! nt

[Jesus Malverde]

30. lets see

we have target, bed bath and beyond, costco, best buy, mcdonalds, burger king, taco hell, in and out, nordstoms, macys, neiman, all the lux stores like louis vitton, the largest chain of strip clubs - deja vu, we had a bunch of circuit cities - they closed., radio shack,

Pretty much every national chain is represented, what is restricted is their density and number. I think the only chain that really seems locked out is walmart and home depot. Melissa Mayer walmart boardmember and city favorite is probably working hard on that.

[mulsh]

31. Does this mean Whole Foods and Trader Joe's will have to close or move to Colma?

Last edited Wed Sep 4, 2013, 02:49 PM - Edit history (1)

Just an Oaktown home boy being snarky, too many people in SF lovest them stores.

I remember when Starbucks bought a local Coffee shop chain in SF in the 90's. man talk about a Starbucks on every corner. There were three with in a block of my office at Freemont and Mission. Something about the former coffee shops having to honor their leases.

Good luck neighbors.

[proverbialwisdom]

34. K&R.