Here's how gyms, salons and ice cream are changing America's Main Streets
Downtown areas across the U.S. are shifting from traditional retail stores to service-based businesses like gyms, spas, and restaurants. This trend reflects changing consumer habits as people prioritize experiences and personal services over physical goods.
Why it matters
This shift is fundamentally altering the economic landscape and social function of suburban Main Streets and shopping centers nationwide.
Change sprawls constantly across the storefronts on the postcard streets of downtown Ridgewood, New Jersey.
The big avenue, East Ridgewood, cuts across streets called Walnut, Chestnut and Oak, and then abuts the train station that connects this commuter suburb to New York City. It's a town where anything is reachable within five, 10 minutes of driving, and its center is the proverbial Main Street.
"Ridgewood has always been known as the place to go shopping," says Joan Groome, who has lived here since 1968, when she opened a ski shop above a family-run store selling gifts and art.
Over the years, Groome watched a wave of big-box chains sweep through Ridgewood and then a wave of banks. Local retail like hers strived and survived or went under; doors have shut on a beloved stationery store, a family-owned pharmacy, a hardware shop.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in