I do not live near "Beautiful Downtown Burbank" (as the great Gary Owens called it) but I fear for it. What's going on there, as described in the video below, is happening all over this country. It's the squeeze-out of non-chain businesses being replaced by cookie-cutter corporations.
I'm not totally against the changes. I can think of small businesses not far from me that I'd be happy to see replaced by a Costco…and if I owned a lot of land, I'd want to maximize my income from it. But I think we all lose when it becomes impossible for a small business to exist anywhere. Take a look…