Target or Ye Olde Drug Shoppe?

Remember when all towns did not look alike? Every corner did not have the same dozen franchise stores in the same strip malls? You could drive for more than five miles without coming across a Starbucks or a McDonalds? Towns had character back then. Gosh, am I sounding old or what? I will admit, when driving into a new town, or visiting friends, it is good to know where the local Target is, or that I can grab a familiar burger late at night if their food was weird and we didn't eat much of it. Still, when I think about trips I have enjoyed, and some of the best, but less obvious things I like about the beach, or any vacation destination, it is the uniqueness. It is not knowing what is in Randy's Drug Store or if the Hungry Bear burgers are good that make the experience less like home and more like vacation. Most of us like, even prefer, the "mom and pop" stores, on some level, but the convenience and lower prices of the big names are a bigger draw. Strange times we live in.