Sunday, June 1, 2008

Theme Day: My Local Corner Shop

My local corner shop. Wow, that's a phrase I don't hear anymore in my town. Suburban migration, car culture, and strip malls replaced the traditional idea of the "corner shop" decades ago. But you know what, the pendulum is swinging back to the corner again, very slowly, at least in the downtown neighborhood. Mast General Store is one of a number of shops that have moved in to rehabbed historic buildings downtown. Mast has clothing, shoes, sporting goods, kitchenware, furniture, and an old fashioned candy department that I find hard to resist. But I chose Mast because of its positive impact on the city, and its community involvement. If you enlarge this photo, you'll see the "Soles 4 Souls" charity drive in the display window. Downtowners are still hoping for a grocery store, and the way things are going, they have reason to be hopeful.

7 comments:

Jim Klenke said...

I like your post. General Store seems almost as rare as corner store. I am going to have to check to see if soles for souls is in our area.

Jane Hards Photography said...

I think yours is one of the few posts that seems to be bucking the trend, and re introducing smaller local shops.Old fashioned candy department, or sweet shop as I would say did it for me. Who could resist

Kim said...

Knoxville Girl, Mast sure does a nice display window! I would pop in for sure, it's so inviting. And, I'm wearing a pair of those shoes featured in the window even as I write this. It's nice to see a market involved in community life (featuring a charity). Those are the kinds of places we all need to patronize more so that they stay in business for a long time to come.
Great post!
-Kim
Seattle Daily Photo

USelaine said...

Their window is lovely! I used to live in downtown Sacramento, and groceries were what I had to travel furthest for.

iBlowfish said...

Very interesting post, and this display window is good choice for this month theme.

Chuck Pefley said...

Great choice! We're experiencing a great deal of urban core migration in Seattle with many hundreds of condos being built. Consequently, the same rebirth of small shops to serve the enlarging local population is happening here.

Rosie said...

What a great blog you have here; so well written.
As I read your article it sounded like you were describing a shop in the historical novels I read... lovely!