# Which Industries are not (yet) Chains? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 11, 2008, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-industries-are-not-yet-chains/459676 "2008-08-11T23:14:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-industries-are-not-yet-chains/459676/1 "2008-08-11T23:14:10Z")
Fast food, “casual” dining, most forms of retail shopping, hotel accommodations, and a host of other industries have at least one nationwide chain representing them. Which industries remain strictly (or mostly) local? The ones I can think of are: **Fine Dining** : I am currently unaware of any chain dining establishments that are strictly shirt-and-tie, high-dollar, haute cuisine. One or two celebrated chefs may own eateries in several cities (such as Gordon Ramsay), but it’s unlikely that there will ever be a black-tie, table-service, fine-dining establishment with the same name and same menu in every city the way there is now with Applebee’s, Ruby Tuesday’s, etc. **Construction and Related Industries** : Construction, and also peripheral industries such as electrical work, concrete pouring, plumbing, etc. are strictly local as far as I can tell. RotoRooter is a notable exception, but as far as I know even Roto Rooter only performs one or two specialized services and isn’t an all-around plumbing service on par with what a local contractor can provide. Are there others? ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-industries-are-not-yet-chains/459676/2 "2008-08-11T23:27:21Z")
Law firms? ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-industries-are-not-yet-chains/459676/3 "2008-08-12T00:17:04Z")
There are some expensive steakhouse chains that may meet your criteria - Ruths Chris, Smith and Wollenski, etc. There’s also McCormick and Schmick’s Seafood, which isn’t cheap. Fine Art doesn’t seem to have a national presence, unless you consider Thomas Kincaide fine art. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-industries-are-not-yet-chains/459676/4 "2008-08-12T00:18:13Z")
Moving thread from IMHO to General Questions. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-industries-are-not-yet-chains/459676/5 "2008-08-12T00:20:47Z")
Moderating a message board. Strictly local. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-industries-are-not-yet-chains/459676/6 "2008-08-12T00:25:43Z")
As far as I know, tobacco stores are pretty much on a local basis. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-industries-are-not-yet-chains/459676/7 "2008-08-12T00:28:35Z")
Dry cleaners? ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-industries-are-not-yet-chains/459676/8 "2008-08-12T00:41:54Z")
[QUOTE=HeyHomie] **Construction and Related Industries** : Construction, and also peripheral industries such as electrical work, concrete pouring, plumbing, etc. are strictly local as far as I can tell. RotoRooter is a notable exception, but as far as I know even Roto Rooter only performs one or two specialized services and isn’t an all-around plumbing service on par with what a local contractor can provide. Are there others? [/QUOTE] Many of the upper level contractors for heavy construction work may only have one office but may have projects in several states if not several countries at the same time. Granted they hire local contractors to do the actual work but it the big company has its name and money on the project. Until fairly recently my biz (computer repair) was pretty much all independent or BB/CompUSA but over the last few years a few chain outfits have popped up like Computer Troubleshooters and Computer Geeks. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-industries-are-not-yet-chains/459676/9 "2008-08-12T00:54:06Z")
[QUOTE=yabob] Dry cleaners? [/QUOTE] [Martinizing.](http://www.martinizing.com/AboutUs.aspx) ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-industries-are-not-yet-chains/459676/10 "2008-08-12T00:55:11Z")
Porn shops? ---
**Author:** ![brickbacon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@brickbacon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brickbacon)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-industries-are-not-yet-chains/459676/11 "2008-08-12T00:59:12Z")
[QUOTE=HeyHomie] **Fine Dining** : I am currently unaware of any chain dining establishments that are strictly shirt-and-tie, high-dollar, haute cuisine. One or two celebrated chefs may own eateries in several cities (such as Gordon Ramsay), but it’s unlikely that there will ever be a black-tie, table-service, fine-dining establishment with the same name and same menu in every city the way there is now with Applebee’s, Ruby Tuesday’s, etc. [/QUOTE] As someone else mentioned, there are a few of these. [QUOTE=HeyHomie] **Construction and Related Industries** : Construction, and also peripheral industries such as electrical work, concrete pouring, plumbing, etc. are strictly local as far as I can tell. RotoRooter is a notable exception, but as far as I know even Roto Rooter only performs one or two specialized services and isn’t an all-around plumbing service on par with what a local contractor can provide. [/QUOTE] RotoRooter provides tons of services to commercial and residential clients. I also believe both Home Depot and Lowe’s also provide installation and repair on many of the products they sell. For some of the other things you mention, there are many regional chains, and umbrella organizations that connect multiple local providers. [Here](http://www.mrelectric.com/franchising/why.aspx) is an example of a nation electrician. [QUOTE=yabob] Dry cleaners? [/QUOTE] [Zip’s](http://www.321zips.com/locations.php) and OXXO Cleaner’s are two that come to mind that are in the DC area. Tons of franchise industries are listed [here](http://www.franchiseopportunityguide.com/oxxo-care-cleaners.html) . ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-industries-are-not-yet-chains/459676/12 "2008-08-12T00:59:37Z")
**Brothels**. AFAIK all legal brothels in the US are in Nevada (& Rhode Island 😕 ) and they’re all independently owened and operated. I don’t know what the situtation is in countries with withspread legalized prostitution is. Does Australia for example have a chain of multiple brothels operating under the same name? Ditto for escort agencies. ---
**Author:** ![Caffeine.addict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@Caffeine.addict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caffeine.addict)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-industries-are-not-yet-chains/459676/13 "2008-08-12T01:24:23Z")
[QUOTE=brickbacon] RotoRooter provides tons of services to commercial and residential clients. I also believe both Home Depot and Lowe’s also provide installation and repair on many of the products they sell. For some of the other things you mention, there are many regional chains, and umbrella organizations that connect multiple local providers. [Here](http://www.mrelectric.com/franchising/why.aspx) is an example of a nation electrician. [/QUOTE] Home Depot and Lowe’s just farm it out to a someone else. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-industries-are-not-yet-chains/459676/14 "2008-08-12T01:40:08Z")
Supermarkets are a surprising exception to national chains. There are a lot of big regional chains and some chains like WalMart that sell groceries along with other commodities. But no supermarket chain like Krogers or Publix or Safeway or Wegmans has achieved the kind of market penetration that chains like Blockbuster or Best Buy or NAPA has. ---
**Author:** ![UncleFred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f0a364/32.png) [@UncleFred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleFred)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-industries-are-not-yet-chains/459676/15 "2008-08-12T01:56:25Z")
Hospitals? ---
**Author:** ![UncleFred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f0a364/32.png) [@UncleFred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleFred)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-industries-are-not-yet-chains/459676/16 "2008-08-12T02:04:42Z")
Golf Courses? Landscaping Services? Bowling Alleys? ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-industries-are-not-yet-chains/459676/17 "2008-08-12T02:13:44Z")
[QUOTE=UncleFred] Golf Courses? [/QUOTE] [http://www.troongolf.com/](http://www.troongolf.com/) ---
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-industries-are-not-yet-chains/459676/18 "2008-08-12T02:14:26Z")
[QUOTE=Scarlett67] Porn shops? [/QUOTE] [Adam & Eve](http://www.adamevestores.com/index.asp?page=franchising) (warning - site has sound, but is otherwise completely SFW.) I don’t know of any franchise head shops or tattoo studios. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-industries-are-not-yet-chains/459676/19 "2008-08-12T02:18:10Z")
[QUOTE=UncleFred] Bowling Alleys? [/QUOTE] [Here is at least one chain of bowling alleys.](http://www.amf.com/corporate/index.htm) I know this because we have one in my town. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-industries-are-not-yet-chains/459676/20 "2008-08-12T02:27:17Z")
[QUOTE=Lamar Mundane] There are some expensive steakhouse chains that may meet your criteria - Ruths Chris, Smith and Wollenski, etc. There’s also McCormick and Schmick’s Seafood, which isn’t cheap. [/QUOTE] Thank you. I had heard of those places but had forgotten about them. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-industries-are-not-yet-chains/459676.md?page=2)