Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The turnaround of restaurants and bars here is amazingly fast. When one fails, another one springs up. The same street will have very different storefronts each year. Is that supposed to be a positive thing? Sounds pretty unstable and a terrible detriment to developing an actual neighbourhood.
Not generally. The good stuff will stick around. The stuff that isn’t as good wont. Most cities are about change, and while nostalgia is great, cities that look the same as they did 20 years previously usually are not successful cities. The reason is simple. Cities tend to attract younger folks. As the generation of people they attract changes, the tastes they need to cater to also changes.
I'm lucky that when my family came to America, it was still possible (and, more importantly, probable) to open a small business and build enough up to send your kids to college, expand your business, etc. Now, in order to be successful, you have to buy the property your shop is in too as a hedge against a downturn in business (more important in places with seasons when foot traffic declines), which reduces opportunity to entrepreneurs with fewer resources.