Question! – Is family shoe store common in the whole country?

 When I was in China, Nike, Adidas, Converse, Timberland and so many other American brands have their exclusive stores even in many small towns, not mention to cities. The products are not cheap – actually, they are much more expensive than local brands – but people like those stores. First of all, customers who have specific aims can find the products they need quickly. Then, shopping in these stores make people feel good, because not everyone can afford foreign merchandise. Last, these stores guarantee the quality.

Things are so different in America. I'm always confused when I go shopping. In Northampton, there are few brand shoe stores, but stores that sell different brands and types of shoes altogether. It looks like what the picture is saying – family shoe store. Sports shoes and high heels are next to each other. Canvas shoes and boots are showed on the same shelf. Similar things happened when I went to the Holyoke mall and the Hampshire mall.

At first, I thought it was because we are living in a town, not a big city. Those big chain store companies hadn’t expanded their domain in these small towns. So I spent some time in Boston’s downtown during the fall break and tried to figure out if I was wrong. To my surprise, even there, I didn’t find exclusive stores. There are some stores that similar to family shoe store, and I could recognize a pair of vans, which is also expensive in China, was mixed with other much common shoes. Things went a slightly different on the Newbury Street. There are some exclusive stores, but still, not too many.

I feel like the exclusive stores are easily to be recognized, especially with the help of TV ads. The stores themselves can even be regarded as ads. The decorations, the light colors, and the well-designed plastic bags are all delicate ads, telling people their original concepts and American design. All these things are involved in people's daily life. And, compared to ads on TV, these stores are really fascinating. No wonder many people are familiar with those brands, and have few ideas about the domestic shoe brands. I have to admit that I also WANT to learn about these companies' culture when I see these stores. While in America, I don’t know how people think about “brand”, so I’m wondering if it is because American people don’t care about brands. And, what are the situations in bigger cities or in different states? For me, I prefer exclusive stores, because finding shoes I want there is much easier than struggling in a family shoe store.