The Enormity...Of Our Stores

We did a little shopping tonight. As family members perused through the almost countless things to buy at the store, I casually looked up.

If you can almost see the vanishing point while you're in a building...

That's a big building.

The store in question? Walmart. It's probably an average Walmart. There's sections for food as well as automotive. It has a garden center and a pharmacy. There's a bank, a nail salon, a Subway Sandwich shop, and a tire store. It is, in a word, enormous. I wondered, how did we get to this point?

The existence of these, and other, stores say a lot about our culture and our evolution. They exist because we've not only allowed them to be built, but demanded them. Even though this store is in America, it's really a world-wide concern. Countries, shipping routes, trade deals all have had to be involved in order for me to buy a t-shirt for $3.88.

I know books have been written, university classes are taught on how a store so big came to be. Still, as I took a break from shopping and glanced up, the thought of this mammoth source of commerce is staggering. It's truly a modern marvel.