Chain store
[4] In the U.S., chain stores likely began with J. Stiner & Company, which operated several tea shops in New York City around 1860.
Dozens of other grocery, drug, tobacco, and variety stores opened additional locations, around the same time, so that retail chains were common in the United States by 1910.
[6] Isidore, Benjamin and Modeste Dewachter originated the idea of the chain department store in Belgium in 1868,[7][8] ten years before A&P began offering more than coffee and tea.
[9] Under Isidore's (and later his son Louis') leadership, Maisons Dewachter would become one of the most recognized names in Belgium and France with stores in 20 cities and towns.
Nevertheless, most codified municipal regulation relies on definitions of formula retail (e.g., formula restaurants),[16][17][18] in part because a restriction directed to "chains" may be deemed an impermissible restriction on interstate commerce (in the US), or as exceeding municipal zoning authority (i.e., regulating "who owns it" rather than the characteristics of the business).
[27] Restaurant chains locations are often found near highways, shopping malls and densely populated urban or tourist areas.
From 1909 Lyons began operating a chain of teashops which became a staple of the High Street in the UK, and at its peak, the firm numbered around 200 cafes.
These efforts include community-based organizing through Independent Business Alliances (in the U.S. and Canada) and "buy local" campaigns.
A variety of towns and cities in the United States whose residents wish to retain their distinctive character—such as San Francisco;[31] Provincetown, Massachusetts and other Cape Cod villages; Bristol, RI;[32] McCall, Idaho; Port Townsend, Washington; Ogunquit, Maine; Windermere, Florida and Carmel-by-the-Sea, California—closely regulate, even exclude, chain stores.
[33] For example, there could often be a restaurant owned by McDonald's that sells hamburgers, but not the formula franchise operation with the golden arches and standardized menu, uniforms, and procedures.
