Shop Local? Be Thankful for Chain Stores

Build For Tomorrow

Jason Feifer

Business, History, Technology, Entrepreneurship

4.7 • 573 Ratings

🗓️ 8 February 2019

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When chain stores were new, the reaction against them was fierce. Chain stores were accused of destroying democracy, of limiting freedom, of corrupting young people, and of being evil, evil, evil. But in reality, chain stores were innovating the way we shop -- and replacing a very bad kind of local business. Even if you love shopping local, this episode might just change the way you think about business. Get in touch! Email: jasonfeifer@gmail.com Twitter: @heyfeifer Web: jasonfeifer.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome to a world of infinite worlds, a world of adventure, possibility and happily ever afters.
0:07.6	It's all waiting for you at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.
0:11.3	Book selected 2026 packages by the 31st of March and get up to 25% off 14-day tickets and Disney hotels.
0:19.7	Offer available in most school holidays, including summer.
0:22.8	Book now at Disneypackages.co.uk. Selected 2026 arrivals in Disney resorts, conditions and
0:29.0	exclusions apply. This is pessimistsimists Archive.
0:37.7	I'm Jason Fiver.
0:39.8	The year 1998, the city, New York.
0:43.1	A man named Joe Fox comes to town to set up a location of Fox Books, a mega bookstore chain
0:48.1	that dominates the booming book industry.
0:50.8	This freaks out a woman named Kathleen Kelly, who runs a cute independent bookshop around the corner, called literally the shop around the corner.
0:58.1	But then the craziest thing happens.
1:00.3	Joe Fox and Kathleen Kelly log on to AOL, get chatting anonymously, and fall in love without realizing that their business rivals in real life.
1:08.3	And maybe you're wondering, is this the plot of that Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan movie, You've Got Mail? Yes, yes, it is. A movie from an era when bookstores were big business and you actually had to be told you had email. Could you imagine that today, by the way, the literal definition of hell would be to live in 2019, but have that guy following us around like, you've got mail.
1:27.8	I know, but I'm just...
1:28.4	You've got mail. Yeah, but let me just get... You've got mail. When does this gag stop being funny? You've got mail. Oh, yeah? Well, you've got a sharp decline in relevancy, so how about that? Anyway, I bring up You've Got Mail not because of the antiquated technology, but because of something that happens in the movie
1:44.7	that remains exceptionally current today. It's the relationship between Joe Fox's mega chain store
1:50.7	and the little indie store. There's this scene when Joe and his branch manager are opening the shop,
1:55.8	and they're talking about the reaction they're going to get from the crowd. As soon as I hear,
1:59.4	they're going to be lining up to pick at the big bad chain store.
2:02.8	That's out to destroy everything they hold here.
2:05.3	That's right.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Jason Feifer, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Jason Feifer and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.