so I want to take a trip. but I do NOT want to go to anywhere in the world that has been taken over by Walmart’s and whatnot…
I went to Mexico the last time, was driving around… bam… giant Walmart. why… why does everything need to look the same, sell the same junk.
is there a list of cities, countries that are still… good that haven’t been visually infected with corporate American trash stores?
Germany. Even the “big” supermarkets are tiny and they’re all German owned.
I remember Walmart tried to go into Germany and failed because they didnt understand the culture there. Greeters turned most people off for example.
Actually, Walmart’s “corporate culture” violated German labor laws. And they couldn’t compete with the German chains who were already established either.
Germany does have hypermarkets and those might be what the OP means.
Not in Baden-Württemberg. You’d have to go to France.
Here’s a hypermarket in Rottweil, BW:
But yeah, it was difficult finding an adequately horrible-looking hypermarket in BW, indeed! Most of them managed to look kind if niedlich :) I mean, most hypermarkets in Baden-Württenberg are located in surroundings such as this one:
Even though that house is super ugly, the surroundings make a surprisingly big difference in the overall atmosphere!
yeah just giant slabs of concrete with a huge building filled with stuffs… same thing really.
maybe I just don’t like this modern world lol
But they are much less prominent in Germany than in USA!
And typically Mediterranean people prefer buying their groceries in small corner shops that usually have some vegetables on shelves on the street in front of the shop.
This is a common view in Portugal and southern Italy. And to a reasonable extent in France as well. In Spain not so much, though!
yeees, I want to buy from someone, not something. It drives community which feels nonexistent
That is so true. There is a surreal feel of knowing where your money is going. I love buying at the market here in Malawi than in these slightly more formal shops. The till attendants do greet but yeah they lack the enthusiasm of a vendor selling their merchandise.
amazing news, thank you! I’ll checkout Germany and plan a driving route to Netherlands or something. doesn’t seem that far of a drive tbh. (I drove 7 hours 1 way just for an Xmas party a few weekends ago. lol… 14 in total for a 5 hour party). I know, absurd for Europeans to think about :P
European motorways are a nightmare. It might not look that far on the map, but I’d rather drive from Boston to Brooklin ME on the i95 than from Karlsruhe to Freiburg on the A5.