Clone town is a UK term for a town where the High Street or other major shopping areas are significantly dominated by Chain stores. Ilfracombe High Street, Devon, England High Street, or the High Street is the generic name (and frequently the official name) of the business street of towns or cities in the United Kingdom . ... Chain stores are a range of retail outlets which share a brand and central management, usually with standardised business methods and practices. ...
The creation of clone towns is a controversial issue. Detractors argue that the creation of clone towns robs regions of their local colour by replacing smaller local businesses with branches of identical chains. Furthermore, many UK towns have relatively small High Streets for their population and, if all available retail space is occupied by chain stores, meaningful competition is eliminated per se without potential competitors even having a chance to enter the market, threatening Free enterprise as a whole. Ilfracombe High Street, Devon, England High Street, or the High Street is the generic name (and frequently the official name) of the business street of towns or cities in the United Kingdom . ... Capitalism generally refers to in philosophy and politics, a social system based on the principle of individual rights, including property rights. ...
Supporters, however, argue that chain stores have grown big because their products are desirable to large numbers of people, and thus their arrival in towns provides convenient access to the products that the population might want. Furthermore, because they are wealthy businesses they are more likely to consume large amounts of local services and to employ local people, thus energising the local economy.
In its report, CloneTown Britain, the NEF says that once distinctive towns are now losing their character.
In a sample of random towns and cities the NEF found several which had achieved clone status - such as Guildford in Surrey, Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk and Gloucester.
Sheila Terry, the town manager of Birkenhead, which is criticised in the report, told BBC News 24: "National stores are very important.
Clonetown is a UK term for a town where the High Street or other major shopping areas are significantly dominated by Chain stores.
Clonetowns are formed as a natural result of the economic expansion of the largest chain stores.
Notably, in spite of having the highest property prices in the country, London is not even close to becoming a clonetown: 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.
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