In the same way a shopping mall is anchored by its large clothing stores, a neighborhood is anchored by its small, locally-owned businesses. Here’s an excerpt from a column by Verlyn Klinkenborg in today’s NYTimes that captures this sentiment nicely:

This looks like a scene that has been rehearsed many times — a haircut and a manicure on a quiet Tuesday afternoon. But it is much more important, a spontaneous moment of confidentiality and divulgence. The facing mirrors gather the scene up and cast it back and forth, lessening it in scale with each reflection all the way out to infinity, which is somehow still in the same shop on 43rd Street.

Read the whole column here.