Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Invasion of the chains

We live in a city that prides itself on all of our mom and pop shops. They are everywhere. They are charming, unique and usually have everything you need (although you might have to visit 2 or 3 rather than going to 1 big box store).
Realistically, Lakewood is covered in chains. We have Einsteins, Donatos, Burger King, Subway etc etc and thats just on one small portion of one street. Panera opened today and Five Guys and Dunkin Donuts aren't too far behind. I admit I will go to all three of them (we actually had breakfast at Panera this morning), but I do feel a little bit like a traitor to my city. I'm glad Lakewood is growing. At the same time, its kind of sad that all of them are moving in and will probably attract more. I don't know that I view these three restaurants as a huge threat like a Walmart or a bigger name restaurant like Fridays or Outback would be. Maybe thats how they get you. They start small then before you know it, you're over run with big names. I'm hoping Lakewood wont change too much with these additions. We just have to remember the coziness of Peppers, the pub chips at Buckeye Beer Engine or the 5lbs of bacon (ok, maybe not 5lbs, but its a lot) on the cheeseburgers at The Drink.

Play time after breakfast this morning:

2 comments:

Prasti said...

aaahhh!!! i know. aaron and i were talking a/b the whole panera thing. and have you seen the great clips just down the street from crazy mullets? i'm with you...i hope lakewood doesn't sell out. i'm really happy to take the drive over to rocky river to go to target, or panera, or chick-fil-a.

Connie Krebs said...

Totally agree!!!! While I am excited that Lakewood is growing, I am not sure whether it is the kind of growth that is good for the city.... and I too noticed the Great Clips across from my dear Mullet... sigh... maybe we all need to write the city!