Change may be the only constant in life, but change doesn’t occur at a constant pace. There are days when a place seems to be frozen in time, and days when the familiar landmarks and local institutions have all the permanence of sand castles.
Lately, changes have come hard and fast in Concord, with more on the way. St. Peter’s Church on North State Street is gone and the Friendly’s Restaurant a block away closed, the lines of children bouncing in anticipation at its ice cream window just a memory. Plywood covers the windows of the gas station/convenience store opposite Concord High and the pizza joint, once the site of Phil & Larry’s, one of a dozen or more locally owned neighborhood stores replaced by chains, is also closed. In a few months Concord’s Sears, like scores of its counterparts around the country, will close, leaving just JCPenney as the emptying mall’s sole traditional anchor store.
A community mourns most the loss of places that, as well as providing laudable goods or services, were serendipitous meeting places, places that help people preserve their connections to one another and thus build and maintain community. Communities mourn the loss of local businesses and only rarely the disappearance of cookie-cutter chain stores. Missed most are the places where there was “a there there.”
People with tenure in the city still shake their heads wistfully and share memories of Louis’ Diner, Janet’s Doughnuts, Star Hot Dog, Concord Theatre and the Cantin sisters. Concord Drive-In, Kimball School, Ruby and Mitch of Phillip’s Continental Lounge, Diversi’s Market, Quality Cash, later Millstream Market, and the end of Tony’s famous kebabs, French’s Toy Store, Cinema 93, the theater and the video store, the cozy Sandwich Depot and its woodstove, plus local places that we, but not time, have forgotten.
A few iconic places still exist. We won’t name them for fear of leaving some out, but you know what they are. Patronize them. Go out of your way to shop local. It keeps the money in the community and treasured places in business. Online shopping has put tremendous pressure on brick and mortar retailing, far more pressure than the change that saw national stores like Sears and JCPenney move from Main Street to malls on the outskirts of town. The businesses that prosper will be those that provide what online retailers can’t: person-to-person contact, ambiance, superior knowledge, customer service and the possibility of a chance encounter.
America’s romance with fast food also appears to be coming to an end. Businesses based on paying workers below survival wages can’t find help. A new preference for healthy, locally grown food and a more authentic culinary experience, think food truck versus drive-up window, has many chains on the ropes. That’s creating opportunities for new, more interesting businesses.
Lament, as we do, the loss of favorite haunts, but take heart in the community anchors that remain. The swirl of change makes steadfast institutions, the city’s parks, libraries, trails and gathering places, all the more valuable. New places will open. Most will go by the wayside, but some will become the local landmarks whose passage residents will lament a half-century or more from now.