Homogenization

I can go to Las Vegas, and eat at the Atlanta Bread Company. I can return to Atlanta and enjoy Seattle's Best Coffee. I don't blame corporate greed. People come up with an idea, and if it's a good one and properly executed, it multiplies on its own or by imitation.

Last week, I thought I was introducing my son to Five Guys (burgers and fries), a chain exploding in the Atlanta area that was founded in Washington D.C...except my son ate there on his one visit to D.C. a year ago with my dad. And so it goes... As each chain opens a location ever closer to my house, I suppose I'll have the world at my fingertips.

When I was young, one of those favored spots to stop when otherwise being forced to ride along on parental errands, was Wingard's Rexall Drugs. It had a fine comic book selection, but it was somewhat out of the way, and we didn't go often. Drinkard's Drugs usually won out, which was okay as it had the superior Matchbox car selection, in a fine carousel display, back when they were sold in boxes.

Anyway, in our search for non-homogenous lunch retreats at work, we came upon the Rexall Grill in Duluth, Ga. It's a meat and potatoes kind of place and popular among locals, with a nostaligic glimpse of the past, which, of course, are possibly traits which will lead to a franchise. (Sorry, Cracker Barrel, you're too corporate).