I've written about this issue in the past (here, here and here), and really believe that it speaks to a really critical issue today. With the advent of the experience conversation comes the inevitable advent of the copycat experience. Until all experiences get blended together in such a boring, homogeneous way, that the whole idea of experience becomes lost. It’s really critical for companies (and in this case, places!), to truly understand their story, so that the experiences they create will be authentic to who they are and compelling and relevant to their audiences. Very difficult to do in an age where it’s a whole lot faster to just copy what someone else has done! But, look around and you’ll see the remains of many companies that simply copied what other people had done without creating a unique element to their product or service. It doesn’t always pay in the long run!
Clone Town. "The only shops that can make money are the clothing shops, with their horrendous markups, " says David Haywaid, the only old-fashion ironmonger (hardware store) left in Shakespeare's birth town, Stratford-Upon-Avon, as reported by Lizette Alvarez in The New York Times. David's neighbor, Stewart Ashfield, a.k.a. Barry The Butcher, agrees: "Stratford has changed out of all recognition ... We've been damaged by these chains ... What's been lost is the personal touch." Used to be there were 12 butchers in Stratford, but now there are just two. The rest of the town's "high streets," look like they could be anywhere -- "ubiquitous cellphone shops ... coffee chains ... typical clothing stores ... and the cookie-cutter restaurants." Advocates say this has happened because it's what shoppers want: "People like to know what to expect when they go into a shop or a restaurant," says Nick Gladding of Verdict Research, www.verdict.co.uk.
However, a new report refers to places like Stratford, www.stratford-upon-avon.co.uk, as "Clone Towns," and questions whether so much sameness is a good thing: "In the case of Britain, and especially England, there is a huge sense of identity investment in the image of towns and cities, and the notion that this sort of bland, gradual effacement of character is taking place has taxed people at a deep level," says Andrew Simms of the New Economic Foundation, www.neweconomics.org, author of the report. "It makes life boring," he adds, "It makes our communities boring places to be." So stultified are shoppers in Stratford that they suddenly are excited by David Haywaid's brand of merchandising -- his "shop is so old-fashioned that it is now a draw in itself, luring nostalgic out-of-towners who pine for 'something different.'"
But shops like David's, according to a 2002 report, are "closing at a rate of 50 a week, along with 20 traditional pubs a month," done in by "high rents; customer demand for cheaper goods; and corporate muscle." As a result, some local governments are beginning to offer incentives to support local merchants. Such concern is also manifesting itself in London, where The Mercers' Company, www.mercers.co.uk, a "powerful landlord," is "offering discounts" to "independent shops" around Covent Garden, www.coventgarden.uk.com. "Unless you take some constructive action now it will resemble the U.S.," says David Bishop of the Federation of Small Business. "We're a long way from that, but it is a real danger," he says. (I have to say, our offices are in Soho and you can certainly see the truth to what's being said here. Now people go to Nolita to get the excitement and uniqueness that you once got in Soho. David) A copy of the New Economic Foundation's "Clone Town Survey" is posted at: www.neweconomics.org/gen/news_clonetown.aspx.
pd
Posted by: matteo_ | September 15, 2005 at 12:32 PM