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Clone town is a global term for a town where the High Street or other major shopping areas are significantly dominated by chain stores. The term was coined by the New Economics Foundation (NEF), a British think tank, in the 2004 report on "Clone Town Britain".
Contents
A survey conducted by the NEF in 2005 estimated that 41% of towns in the UK and 48% of London villages could be considered clone towns, with the trend rising.
Controversy
The NEF report argued that the spread of clone towns is highly damaging to society because of the removal of diversity:
The converse argument is that large chain stores have grown so big because their products are desirable to large numbers of people and so their arrival in towns provides convenient access to the products that the population might want. It is argued that providing locals with easy access to popular products that they want should be a higher priority than ensuring that people travelling between multiple towns experience variety. Furthermore, because they are wealthy, businesses they are more likely to consume much local services and to employ local people, thus energising the local economy.
The NEF report also notes that the creation of chain stores and supermarkets has been in part a response to the consolidation of retail land ownership in the UK. Retailers are forced to consolidate to have any leverage over landlords that have already consolidated.
Other commentators have raised concerns regarding the loss of "sociability" offered by traditional shopping: "the demise of the small shop would mean that people will not just be disadvantaged in their role as consumers but also as members of communities – the erosion of small shops is viewed as the erosion of the 'social glue' that binds communities together, entrenching social exclusion in the UK".
Examples
The 2005 survey rated Exeter as the worst example of a clone town in the UK, with only a single independent store in the city's high street and less diversity (in terms of different categories of shop) than any other town surveyed. Other extreme clone towns in England include Stafford, Middlesbrough, Weston-super-Mare and Winchester. Although not included in the NEF survey, many provincial towns in Scotland are considered to have similar characteristics.
Notably, despite having the highest property prices in the country, London is not even close to becoming a clone town: even in the central areas of the city, a huge diversity of businesses exists, largely as a result of the city's relatively large size and cosmopolitan population.