Corner Stores, Libraries, and Cafés
My wife and I often forget something when we make our weekly grocery shopping trip, and usually don’t realize it until we’re halfway through a recipe. Several times, we’ve forgotten more than one ingredient, but only realized the second (and even third) missing ingredient after we went out and purchased the previous ingredient.
I’m revealing this rather embarrassing tendency because I have a feeling we’re not the only people who forget eggs, milk, sugar, and other common ingredients. What might be different, though, is that for the last few places we’ve lived, we have been within a couple of blocks of a corner store. Each trip (while embarrassing when checking out with the same clerk) was fast and easy. We didn’t have to drive anywhere, either. Corner stores have been a livesaver, and I can’t imagine living far from one again.
Besides the obvious convenience, corner stores have secondary benefits. The corner store we live less than a block from now (pictured) serves as a landmark for our little micro-neighborhood. It’s where the bus stop is. The sidewalk in front of the store has benches and people are often sitting there. It’s well-lit, which is important because it’s open until midnight. It’s a little beacon of community on a street with small houses and apartment buildings.
I think a corner store can be more than just an independent store. Two of the corner stores we’ve lived next to have been Walgreens. One was a Trader Joe’s. The one we live next to now doubles as an organic grocery store. I get the sense that many true, independent corner stores have been overtaken by chain drug stores, convenience stores, and larger grocery stores. The ones that do remain have found a niche, like organic groceries. Even though we love the charm of our local, independent, organic store, we used to live directly across the street from a Walgreens and loved it, too. I could go to the store, grab something, and be back in less than five minutes. It still seemed to serve as a lively place in our immediate area.
My corner store
Right next to the Walgreens we lived across from was a local branch library. The library served a larger area than the Walgreens, but was yet another center to our community. Libraries are good neutral spaces; people from every walk of life use them. Libraries are probably my favorite type of civic building, and I miss being so close to one now.
It seems to me that local libraries and corner stores really add something to a neighborhood. They create gathering places that serve everyone. I’m not a coffee drinker, but I think cafés probably serve a similar function, too. Cafés are useful places for people to meet, and most cafés see quite a bit of traffic throughout the day. They are centers of activity, like corner stores and libraries. I think there could be arguments made for other types of establishments like these that serve a large number of people and fit into a neighborhood setting (ice cream parlor? hair dresser? diner?) but those three stick out for me as big ones.
I’m not sure what to do with this observation about these establishments, except to suggest that city governments and planners be aware that these places really make a neighborhood. Cities should occasionally allow the conversion of residential lots into commercial ones for the purpose of establishing corner stores and cafés. Most of the customers will arrive from nearby, so traffic wouldn’t increase significantly. Most of the time these places are located on one of the busier roads in the area, anyway.
Libraries are different than corner stores and cafés because city governments control them directly. Here I would make a radical suggestion — do away with large central libraries. I understand that they are often sources of pride for cities, but I think the resources would be better spent spreading the books around. These central libraries are often located downtown, and while downtowns have been growing in population, the size of the library is typically wildly disproportionate to the number of people living nearby. More libraries would likely equal more daily visits, which is one of the missions of the library system in the first place.
Ultimately, the best thing to do is try to live next to one or all of these community centers and patronize them often. The more support they get, the more likely the idea will be replicated. This won’t be a problem for my wife and me; we’ll still forget the eggs and milk.