This is a slight subject—or, rather, two subjects—which I am somewhat forcibly conflating. But it’s not an unfamiliar topic for this blog, and I keep coming back to it because it’s so rich with semantic potential: specifically, it’s the organization and branding of public restrooms. The only major reason this cluster of photos gets bunched
Has anyone out there ever seen a big box store with an entryway like this? Following on the heels of my article about the Bozeman bank entrance, this one is comparatively small and humble: only two doors. In an era of mounting concern for loss prevention, these doors lack the visible security apparatus the customer
Midway through The Year of our Lord 2025, conventional retail continues its unrelenting retreat from the array of preferred American leisure activities. Simply put, fewer and fewer Americans “go shopping” for fun, at least when it comes to the time-tested paradigm of bricks-and-mortar malls and big boxes. The proof is in the pudding: more and
Several months ago, I did something I rarely do and took a hard line on a polarizing topic: allowing dogs (or other pets) into private businesses. I believed, and continue to believe, that dogs should not be permitted in coffee shops, gyms, hardware stores, grocery stores, or (God forbid) restaurants, unless they are a licensed
Though my articles rarely reflect a hot-off-the-presses event, here’s another exception to that rule, which I feel compelled to publish now (instead of three months from now) because, I fear, waiting that long will cause its significance to fade from collective memory. The event to which I refer is obvious from the title: the demise
As I plug away at a larger research initiative that is taking more time than I expect, I must scramble to reach my usual quota of articles for the month. So, while I continue to plow through that bigger article, I offer this mini-post as sort of a follow-up from a post I wrote a
Wake Forest, North Carolina isn’t exactly obscure. But it’s better known as the name for a university than for the town that (formerly) called the school home. This might not be the case much longer. It’s the suburb immediately north of the capital to the Tarheel State, and while Raleigh itself has enjoyed tremendous growth
Hot on the heels of the previous article, in which I explored how an Iraqi bakery (temporarily) replaced an old Quiznos, this time I touch on internationalism with a much, much larger retail footprint—an entire mall. The mall in question is Security Square, a few miles to the west of Baltimore city limits, at a
As I scramble to meet my quota of articles before the end of December and the end of 2024, I have to churn out a few more pieces of low-hanging fruit or I won’t get it all done. And so, with photos taken a mere two days before Christmas, I offer the best evidence I
This isn’t the first time I’ve covered a sublease within a gym or health club, hereafter referred to as a “physical fitness marketplace”. A few years ago, I noted how a physical therapy clinic had moved into a space within a larger health club—a glassed-in chamber that previously served as a racquetball court. This time,
This is a slight subject—or, rather, two subjects—which I am somewhat forcibly conflating. But it’s not an unfamiliar topic for this blog, and I keep coming back to it because it’s so rich
Has anyone out there ever seen a big box store with an entryway like this? Following on the heels of my article about the Bozeman bank entrance, this one is comparatively small and
Midway through The Year of our Lord 2025, conventional retail continues its unrelenting retreat from the array of preferred American leisure activities. Simply put, fewer and fewer Americans “go shopping” for fun, at
Several months ago, I did something I rarely do and took a hard line on a polarizing topic: allowing dogs (or other pets) into private businesses. I believed, and continue to believe, that
Though my articles rarely reflect a hot-off-the-presses event, here’s another exception to that rule, which I feel compelled to publish now (instead of three months from now) because, I fear, waiting that long
As I plug away at a larger research initiative that is taking more time than I expect, I must scramble to reach my usual quota of articles for the month. So, while I
Wake Forest, North Carolina isn’t exactly obscure. But it’s better known as the name for a university than for the town that (formerly) called the school home. This might not be the case
Hot on the heels of the previous article, in which I explored how an Iraqi bakery (temporarily) replaced an old Quiznos, this time I touch on internationalism with a much, much larger retail
As I scramble to meet my quota of articles before the end of December and the end of 2024, I have to churn out a few more pieces of low-hanging fruit or I
This isn’t the first time I’ve covered a sublease within a gym or health club, hereafter referred to as a “physical fitness marketplace”. A few years ago, I noted how a physical therapy