The 'Third Place'

It is intriguing to look at the audience Glenn Reynolds is writing for in An Army of Davids. He is clearly directing this chapter to the middle class of the United States. While most of the Starbucks, Barnes and Nobles, and Borders are relatively new phenomena, so is the distinction of a middle class. America is the land of the self made businessperson and a beacon for a new start. However, these new stores were created to cater towards the middle class citizens who have the extra capital to relax on their comfy couches, eating and reading the day away. When I looked at the stores he mentions as our new ‘third places’ they are relatively high priced shops.
With a community fostered around high priced retailers you lose the people in the community who do not have the money to purchase items from these stores. Even if Glenn argues that they do not have to buy anything to just ‘hang out’, there is still a pressure from the store to purchase something. I think the reason Guinan’s does so well is that it caters to the entire community no matter their income. Since I am not a resident I know there may be people it does exclude, but from what I read they have a large range in customers. Governor Pataki can come in and sit around chatting with the patrons and think nothing of it; I cannot imagine that happening in a Starbucks.
If the community begins to form in these stores and moves away from the mom and pop shops and bars then I think it will drive a greater rift into our communities. We already have distinctions in the size of our houses, number of cars, and clothing, in a place like Guinan’s we lose those distinctions. “The General” Frederick Osborn and Jim Guinan are clearly from different economic backgrounds, but they can come together and help each other in the name of the small community business. It would be hard to find that same connection with a corporation. I do understand where Reynolds is coming from in his belief that our society is moving towards these new ‘third places’, but I am also worried about what that will mean for divisions in our society.