and they all make a good living selling stuff to each other…
We’re a county seat and have a downtown barbecue joint with its smoker right out by the curb, so that’s pretty substantial.
The UK equivalent of this test could be, Is there a Poundland? (Yes, we do have one).
Poundland’s original idea was that everything cost £1 - a gimmick that isn’t really sustainable, but they kept it going for a surprisingly long time. Back in those days, somebody launched a competitor called (I kid you not) 99p World. That tells you plenty about the British psyche. [end of sidetrack].
A couple of decades ago, a test of this sort would have been Is there a Woolworths? But they went bust (in the UK) and, interestingly, many of the stores were taken over by Poundland. I thought there was a nice symmetry about that: started as a dime store, ended as Poundland. [end of this sidetrack as well].
j
Somewhen in the Universe, all shops become shoe shops, and civilization collapses. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy informs us that this may be about to happen, or has already happened…
We have the same thing. We have various dollar stores, where everything cost a dollar (although now they’ve raised their price to $1.25). But there’s a regional chain called the 99 cent store. I don’t know if they’ve raised their prices to $1.24.
All ya can be is thirsty in a town with no cheer.
–Tom Waits
Or cell phone stores.
In my opinion, in the U.S., if your town has even one third-wave coffee roastery, you are in a town of substance.
This thread reminds me of a particular corner I used to work near. It was on my way to 99% of the lunch places I went to.
At that corner, there were eight asian restaurants within one block. Three nicer Chinese restaurants, at least two counter service places, a Japanese restaurant, a Thai place,and I don’t remember what the 8th place was.
I know a place in Somerville where you can see two Home Depots. (Homes Depot?)
I think they’re planning to tear one of them down to put up a Starbucks.
When you can see one Waffle House from another, you’re in a town of Southern Substance. And a greasy sort of substance it is.
It is interesting that you explained with a link what going to hell in a handcart means, while what I would have needed is what a Town of Substance is. Tried an internet search and got very astray.
So, without letting ignorance get in the way of my musings (von des Zweifels blässe nicht getrübt is the standard translation of sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought, just boasting with Hamlet to hide my ignorance, you get the general idea) today in Strasbourg there was a place from which I saw a score of beggars. The pandemic has been hard to this town. Would you say it is a Town of Sunstance?
In one of those life coincidences you notice once in a while, this week the Economist has been waxing lyrical about Waffle Houses, something I only noticed because I had never heard of them and did not understand half of the dishes they serve. Well you are the second mention I notice. Ever. I also liked the picture, it reminded me of this painter whose name just escapes me, you’ll know who I mean if you click on the link.
It’s funny, I can remember when Wal Marts were for towns too small to have a Target or K-Mart. My how times have changed.
And in a thread by Treppenwitz it is only fitting that I remembered the painter after the edit window was closed: Edward Hopper, of course.
Ah Sorry about that. A Town Of Substance is:
A place where you can see three vape shops from a single spot, see one waffle house from another, has two home depots… 
Regarding
It’s not a nice development, but I was actually thinking along the same lines. In central London’s shopping areas, beggars space themselves out with remarkable regularity. It can’t possibly be an accident - so, returning to the Going To Hell In A Handcart theme, maybe a town of substance is somewhere where the beggars are well organised and properly spaced out.
And… I guess I owe you an explanation. I’d say that a Town Of Substance is one of significant size and amenities. It has pretty much all the major chains and utilities. It may well be an urban center serving countryside and smaller towns nearby.
If anyone wishes to improve on that, please do.
j
Some people might say “a real city.”
Three Trader Joe’s stores turns your town into a city!
BTW, the thing with the beggars, I saw that in Dublin too, in 2008/2009, during the so-called subprime crisis. I am not talking well organised Rumanian panhandlers (now I may have lost most US readers), but local beggars sleeping rough.
These posts are back to back and reminded me that, in fact, Woolworth became a shoe store chain (Foot Locker).
And Nordstrom was a shoe store for decades before adding women’s and men’s clothing in the 1960s.