A2: Business

Writing on the Huffington Post, Karen Stabiner lauds Ann Arbor and Carmel, Calif., for not allowing retail chains on their main streets – she apparently hasn’t been to town recently to see the Starbucks at Main & Liberty. Stabiner writes: “When Clint Eastwood was the mayor of Carmel, California, the city banned franchises on its main street, and Carmel, like Ann Arbor, Michigan, became something of a living museum. Both cities celebrated the individual entrepreneur and held the chains at bay. You could strike up a conversation with a local purveyor of coffee, of ice cream, of all sorts of retail treats. Borders Books had an Ann Arbor outpost only because it was born there; the rest was local.” [Source]