Strength Test

This short post is an unsolicited compliment to a great site called Strong Towns.

I am not that old...but old enough to remember the major phases of retail business in America.

When I was a little kid (in the 60's), my Mom took me shopping. I went with her on all her local errands. She took me to the:

• Bakery
• Pharmacy
• Barber
• Butcher
• Grocery
• Fish Market
• Dry Cleaner
• Hardware Store
• Shoe Store

And all of these places were in what we always called the "down town". You parked on the street, usually in a diagonal space (herringbone), and walked to the various store fronts. Every store was owned by a family...by someone you knew and who knew you.

I am not trying to make a bid for sentimentality. This post is not about nostalgia.

As I got older (70's and 80's), things changed and we entered the world of franchises and malls. I remember thinking it was real exciting to wander thru the indoor pedestrian malls and enjoy the air-conditioning and the dazzle of the window displays. The mall was way more than just shopping...it was about eating, entertainment, and above all socializing.

And now...my health club is in a declining mall. I go there quite often and I have tracked its precipitous decline. It is 80% dead. What remains are the service businesses (hair salons and the gym) plus a small batch of dubious retail store fronts, like vape stores, eyebrow trimmers, phone case repair, and an antique consignment place.

The malls killed the downtowns. Amazon killed the malls. Are we about to see a downtown redux?

If you only read one thing on the Strong Towns site, make sure you check out the Strength Test. We are not all urban planners and sometimes the jargon of that profession can be daunting, but this strength test is just ten questions and really, you don't need to know all the answers...it is sufficient to just think about the questions. You'll quickly get a sense of the philosophy that the site's author is promoting and you'll know more about your own town and whether (or not) it is strong.

Strong Towns is a brilliant site with a great and timely message for America.