August 31, 2007

Discount Stores, Le Carrefour opening in Amman - transforming our cities:

(Le-Carrefour discount store at City Mall - photo by Emad Salameh)

Discount stores have benefits on the communities and economy, but, it also have it’s disadvantages.

When these stores opened in Amman back in the late 80’s lead by C-Town and Safeway, they had a big impact on the local businesses substituting the shopping experience from the traditional shopping of small local grocery stores Baqala and markets to bigger exported discounted stores.

One of the biggest discount stores is Le-Carrefour, like Wal-Mart and K-Mart they destroyed communities, and whipped out stores. This is accomplished through their policies of importing goods that have been produced under slave-labor conditions overseas. Often, our country gives tax incentives, for the right to be destroyed.

Discount stores reflect the deadly implementation of our country to the imperial

Rome model, and our countries existing condition. Unable to produce physical goods to sustain it’s own existence, our country, like Rome, sucks in imported goods from around the world, using the dollar, that our currency is attached to, that is over-valued by 50%-60%.

Amman has been transformed from a producer to a consumer society. Throughout the history Arabs produced new value that contributed to the mankind’s advancements. We consume goods that others produce, which discount stores markets. Discount stores dictate, through it’s demand for low prices, that it’s suppliers outsource their production to foreign nations, further ripping down our countries battered domestic manufacturing and agricultural capabilities, in a self feeding process.



related posts:

Building what and why Amman?

From an out of place architecture to an out of place identities.

"The Transformers"


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