#corner stores

Hooray for small stores on the sidewalk, next to homes! Inman Park. Also, hooray for pretty brickwork.

Let's make sure that neighborhoods are *zoned* for corner stores. Making this kind of thing illegal, as it currently is in many places (even in the city) was a mistake.

Also, if you're interested in knowing why we made corner stores illegal, check out "Atlanta's War on Density," an excellent 2016 article about the history of our urban-design decisions.

Basically, 1940s-50s planners remade our urban spaces to accommodate heavy car flow (a decision clearly informed by class bias and racism, privileging people who could afford cars and suburban homes).

This place is adorable. Sandwiches, coffee, tea, ice cream -- Sean's is in Atlanta's Candler Park neighborhood at McLendon & Oakdale. I recommend having a long walk here on a spring day.

Once ubiquitous, small convenience and repair shops are slowly disappearing from city life in China. Urbanization and commercial megaplexes are driving out mom-and-pop shops and street vendors. Those still in business do not exist from a digital point of view: They have no website, no social media accounts, and an internet search reveals nothing. Nevertheless, these businesses are still very much in demand, especially in major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

Consumers are often frustrated, even heartbroken, when they realize their go-to repair shop is no more, that the person who always cut their keys or patched their bike tires or got the toaster working again is… gone. 

In collaboration with Central Ohio’s local NPR station, WCBE 90.5, Matter News is starting a podcast exploring gentrification in Columbus, Ohio, zeroing in on one story from Weinland Park. 

More from Matter News: 

“Cornering Stores is the story of Eden’s cornerstore and others like it that have been sued by the city for being “hubs of criminal activity,” an idea that goes to the heart of many changing neighborhoods....Matter News is launching an investigative podcast series that focuses on Eden’s small, now-demolished corner store in Weinland Park, formerly known as Natalia’s Carryout.”