Well, Steve, it's certainly starting to happen here in Australia, to a degree anyway. We don't have stand alone Hypermarts like Walmart, but we do have an ever increasing number of Shopping Centres (or "Malls") dominating the main roads through our suburbs. And increasingly, these Shopping Centres all look the same. They all have a department store from one of only three big retail companies (David Jones, Coles Myer or Woolworths), a supermarket (owned by the same people who own the department store) and a whole host of franchised retail outlets, from bookstores, to record shops, clothing even coffee and cake. Franchising is huge in this country and it is fuelling a massive change in our retail habits.
In every suburban shopping centre the small retailers aren't just "hidden", they have have all but gone; the small coffee shop has closed, replaced by Gloria Jeans (or Starbucks), the independent music shop is long gone, and in its place HMV or Sanity, the owner-operated book shop has made way for Collins Books, the sandwich shop is now Subway.... and on it goes.
Even the Shopping Centre owners are few in number (Gandel, Centro and Westfield and Lend Lease own over 92% of all suburban Australian Shopping Centres between them). Whether the centre is Southland, Dandenong Plaza, Chadstone, Fountain Gate or Bayside Frankston; all south east Melbourne, all within 25-30km of each other; the shops are pretty much the same. There is nor real point of difference between them, not special reason to go to one over the other; they all look the same; they all offer the equivalent, but limited choices.
