Record Stores, Used Bookstores, Cat Cafes, Camera Shops, Computer Stores, A weirdly cheap brunch place that is also a gay(?) karaoke bar, Thrift and Consignment Shops, A doo woop shop, Salons, shops that sell boba tea
These are things you can find on a vibrant commercial corridor in a midsized American city
But something tragic happened to these places, many of them no longer exist! They died in the 70s alongside the urban cores of the city's they inhabited, never getting the chance to be graced by boba tea and cat cafes. This had many causes but the main ones were of course the cause of many of the problems in America, Suburbanisation.
You see with the Rising popularity of the automobile and the growing distance from city centers there was less of a need foe stores to exist in neighborhoods so the ones that remained in urban neighborhoods quickly fell on hard times as a declining customer base started moving out to suburban big box chain stores that were better suited to serve suburbanites because why would you drive into the city to get a new dress when you could go to that new mall just 3 exits down the interstate
For the commercial corridors that survived the worst years of suburbanisation, they had to pivot away from meeting the every day needs of people and move towards more niche things like are listed above because while it is hard to run a grocery store in competition with Kroger, it is easier to compete with the other 3 local instrument stores in town or the singular Cat Cafe. Giving rise to the eclectic mix of shops you see in modern commercial corridors.
If you want to see if a commercial corridor serves the neighborhoods it goes through or people from other (usually richer) parts of the city, look for neighborhood amenities that you would need if you lived there but you wouldn't travel to see, these could be a local tax service, a liquor store, doctors office, or any number of minor services. Also look to see if the shops have housing above or behind them, if they do, then it is more likely to serve the community as the people who own the store are more likely to be a clear part of their community
If you think you know which specific street I am writing about, try guessing because that place consumes my mind
Its actually not in Chicago (for once)
