Western-Style Supermarkets Threaten Traditional Indian Vendors
Travel Blog • Michael Yessis • 05.22.07 | 2:04 PM ET
Local markets where Indians—and many travelers—have traditionally purchased their food staples are losing about 40 percent of their business to Western-style supermarkets, according to a BBC story. And that’s before Wal-Mart and Tesco move in with markets of their own next year.
“Change is simply part of the human condition,” Preeti Aroon writes about the developments at Foreign Policy’s Passport blog. “Cars put horse-cart makers out of business. Now, Indian IT workers get U.S. jobs that have been outsourced, and use their earnings to put their fellow Indian vegetable sellers out of business. Shift happens. But today change seems to occur at an ever faster, dizzying pace—not over generations, but within lifetimes. Perhaps it is occurring too fast, but no one seems to know how to put on the brakes.”
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