Everyday Capitalism
Last year, we often hung out at this cute little bar near our campus in the evenings. A few of us even had the benefit of having our birthday party there, and as a result, the bar turned into one of the nostalgic places I can recall whenever I want to talk about my life as a first-year Master's student. However, nobody is safe from the claws of Capitalism these days, and our beloved bar had to move to a smaller location in the same area, which is, to some degree, heartbreaking. The former spot is currently becoming a "Manner Coffee," and for those who haven't lived in China before, Manner Coffee is the Chinese version of “Starbucks”, which was actually founded in Shanghai, the city I live in. You might ask, "What's the issue with supporting local brands?" My answer is nothing but "I HATE FRANCHISE/CHAIN BRANDS!" When I enter the area, the first thing I see is either Burger King or McDonald's/Starbucks (depending on which side of the area I am on), and further along, multiple Chinese franchises.
In my hometown in Iran, Mashhad, franchises or chain brands are not a huge deal. I think Iran's unique economic and political situation (aka getting sanctioned from left and right while having a radical religious regime controlling the country) made it fairly impossible to have such a thing. I know some cafes in the capital kinda count as a chain, but overall, the whole branding thing isn't as big a deal as in China.
The same goes for cinemas in Shanghai. Every time I book a ticket, I know I'll struggle to find a cinema in a hideous mall that has everything in it. Sure, it's perhaps reasonable for the city to concentrate everything in the same zone, but there are certain places, such as cinemas and galleries, that I really don't see a point in having them in a gigantic mall. My anti-mall approach in terms of cinema, however, has been quite successful as I found 国泰电影院 (Cathay Pacific Cinema) in downtown. While its seats aren't the most comfortable, it is an actual cinema with a charm I haven't found in anything similar to it in Shanghai. I genuinely hope they don't replace this one with some bizarre mall, the same way they replaced our bar with a freaking Manner Coffee.