Pineapple Express: Someone Is Wrong on the Internet?

[Staffan]

Why does an auto-maintenance garage need to look like Starbucks? Why does the local FedEx need to look like an Apple Store? It's not because of the consumer--it's because the shareholders demand it.

Shareholders and executives should be kept as far away as possible from running companies. Leave it to the employees who actually know how the business works.

 

[The Soloist]

I always found the 80s McDonalds very ugly and tacky. No nostalgia for that.

Architecture is prone to fashion trends. Companies that want to look up to date follow these trends. Customers can tell by looking at a store how long ago it was built. For a mom & pop shop, to look like an 80s store is fine, but a major chain it's a bad look. People think they are in difficulty, on the decline, unable to afford renovations. Renovating 'proves' the business is healthy.

My 84 year old parents were complaining last week that the Tim Hortons in their area look old and needed to be renovated. They don't go there anymore. They go to a brand new local chain of coffee shops.

 

[Ryujin]

I always found the 80s McDonalds very ugly and tacky. No nostalgia for that.

Architecture is prone to fashion trends. Companies that want to look up to date follow these trends. Customers can tell by looking at a store how long ago it was built. For a mom & pop shop, to look like an 80s store is fine, but a major chain it's a bad look. People think they are in difficulty, on the decline, unable to afford renovations. Renovating 'proves' the business is healthy.

My 84 year old parents were complaining last week that the Tim Hortons in their area look old and needed to be renovated. They don't go there anymore. They go to a brand new local chain of coffee shops.

I'll bet that you parents also lament the loss of simple coffee chains, with how the acquisition of Tim Horton's resulted in the Starbucksifying of the chain. Many folks that I know started going to McDonalds, for simple coffee, and gave up on their local Timmie's.

 

[The Soloist]

I'll bet that you parents also lament the loss of simple coffee chains, with how the acquisition of Tim Horton's resulted in the Starbucksifying of the chain. Many folks that I know started going to McDonalds, for simple coffee, and gave up on their local Timmie's.

My father said Tim Horton's used to have an automatic renovation program after a number of years but it was scrapped after the acquisition. They go to a local coffee shop in the small mall near their senior home.

 

[Mannahnin]

Pizza Hut, like a lot of brands, occasionally seems to get ashamed of its own branding and run away from it. (See also the interior McDonald's now looking like a generic Starbucks.)

All of these companies should ignore the consultants telling them that if they were more generic, they'd make more money. I'm skeptical that it works in the short run and in the long run, you're chipping away at what people love about your brand.

How many people can vividly remember going to a Pizza Hut back in the day, drinking out of the textured red cups, having a plastic pitcher of soda for the table, over which hung a faux Tiffany lamp?

FWIW, the Googie/Populuxe/Doo-Wop/Fantastical architectural styles were important for creating or increasing interest in fast food places in a growing, car-centric culture. It’s perceived as not as effective or practical right now, but I’m not sure that’s based in hard data.

Old Pizza Huts with the faux-Tiffany lampshades and so forth, I think were part of the design trend which gave us TGI Fridays, and sprang out of fern bars?

Phil Edwards has a recent video I watched this week on this whole design trend of kitschy restaurants and the generational shift.

 

[Ryujin]

My father said Tim Horton's used to have an automatic renovation program after a number of years but it was scrapped after the acquisition. They go to a local coffee shop in the small mall near their senior home.

Yup. It was just to keep the places clean and in good repair. Simple, clean, and fast. The new design feels too much like an '80s "fern bar", to me. i used to start my day with an extra large tea and either a couple of oatmeal raisin cookies, or a frosted cinnamon roll, at Tim's. That stopped after the acquisition, but long before type 2 diabetes. Too many people lined up and waiting for their egg, sausage, bacon, kale, and salsa breakfast wrap, with a double fat half caff vanilla latte.

 

[Ryujin]

Old Pizza Huts with the faux-Tiffany lampshades and so forth, I think were part of the design trend which gave us TGI Fridays, and sprang out of fern bars?

Phil Edwards has a recent video I watched this week on this whole design trend of kitschy restaurants and the generational shift.

Bonus points for making a "fern bar" comment while I was making my "fern bar" post

 

[payn]

Im just glad the "brick-a-brac" era is gone. You know where the walls and ceiling are decorated in junk ready for the trash hauler. Some dives might have done these things and it was quaint and neighborhood-ish, but the corpo chain was depressing.

 

[Ryujin]

Im just glad the "brick-a-brac" era is gone. You know where the walls and ceiling are decorated in junk ready for the trash hauler. Some dives might have done these things and it was quaint and neighborhood-ish, but the corpo chain was depressing.

One thing that I do miss, is the local restaurants with the signed pics of famous visitors. They seem to have all but disappeared.

 

[payn]

One thing that I do miss, is the local restaurants with the signed pics of famous visitors. They seem to have all but disappeared.

We have a classic Italian steak house in St Paul. Its been open for at least 60 years. Not only a few famous signed pictures, but lots of local teen highschool/college sports team photos, local families of notes, etc.. Its a really nice blend of notable folks with local community. The decor is kinda Vegas (no windows, lots of boths with red leather and velvet and brass poles) and pretty inviting.

It has become sort of a senior citizen hang out as the regulars have aged. While they still make a really good steak some other things kinda bug me. Like instead of a scoop of sour cream or pad of butter, they have the hospital cafe packaging and the salad... The salad is I kid you not just iceberg lettuce and a single cherry tomato. Yes, thats right, no carrot or radish or cheese or anything else. Dole mixed bag salad would be an improvement. The old timers seem to love it though. /rant