Brands take over local shops. Do the benefits outweigh the drawbacks?

The ever present effects of globalization can be felt all around the world, and the most obvious one appears to be the rise of multinational brands, vast in their size and with significant power and wealth. However, while having its own benefits, this trend has been causing significant issues for small local businesses, as they are actively being replaced by joints owned by such brands. The goal of this essay is to explore the reasons why international brands replacing smaller businesses is ultimately a detrimental phenomenon. To begin with, brands replacing local shops causes significant harm to national identity. As brands are mostly the same, no matter what region they are in, finding the true experience of those regions becomes quite the challenge. A great example of that is Rome, the cultural center of Italy. When the aspiring tourist thinks of Rome and Italy in general, they imagine deep and intricate history, delicious food, their incredible pasta in particular. Nevertheless, when seeking a nice cafe to go to and relax in the evening, if they went to a Starbucks, it would not be any different than what they have in their home country. That, in turn, would not provide the full experience to the customer, as food is such a significant part of their culture. That Starbucks joint is occupying space that could be used by an Italian chef or barista, who could give their own flair to the place while serving authentic food and coffee, something a tourist, as well as a native to Rome would equally enjoy. Another issue is the lack of personality in those brands. While it is surely a great feeling to buy something desirable from a known brand, it still would not carry nearly as much weight as a purchase made from a person putting their heart and soul into making the very best product possible. When someone buys clothes from Uni Qlo, for instance, it could be the most fashionable collection of that season. Nonetheless, after some time, the trend changes and all that is left is some clothes bought at a store for no other reason than to have something made by that company. On the other hand, if instead the same person buys a handmade sweater by some local shop owner, even after that fashion trend shifts, they would still have a sweater made by someone, an item both the customer and the seller greatly care for. That sense of personal connection could never be matched by a purchase from a faceless company. It could be easily proven by putting on something made by a local seller and walking into their store. It is almost a guarantee that they would appreciate it more than the employees at Uni Qlo would. Despite the stated drawbacks, there is an important argument that supports the spread of international businesses. As those companies grow and they attempt to establish and sustain the best reputation for themselves worldwide, they put drastically more effort into quality control, making sure that the end product is perfect and will cause no issues for the buyer after they make their purchase. That gives a sense of trust and security to the customer when they buy something, as they expect it to be issue-free. However, despite being true to an extent, it could also be said that no matter how sophisticated that quality control may be, there are still going to be faulty products, and while with a local store, replacing such items is a matter of asking the owner, when it comes to big companies, it becomes an unnecessarily complex endeavour with paperwork, professional verification and approval required, all just to replace a scarf that has a hole or a weird stripe of color in it. To conclude, while it is definitely true that the overall quality offered by multinational brands is higher than that of small local businesses, there is still room for error, and the damage done to national identity, the lack of personality in those companies, as well as overly complicated return policies when the product in question is faulty only serve as proof that the replacement of local businesses with joints owned by large brands is an overall negative trend, and people should be encouraged to offer more competition to these companies.