Segregated Shopping

Ethnic neighborhoods may be diversifying, but shopping centers are as segregated as ever, as reported in The Economist (1/24/09). Queens, New York, for instance, "is now one of the most ethnically diverse communities in the country. More than 140 languages are spoken there, and more than a third of the population is foreign-born." Schools are also more integrated than ever before. The retail situation is something else again, however.

If you were to take the 7 subway line to the 74th Street stop in Queens, you might think you were in "a South Asian neighborhood. There are shops selling saris and Indian jewelry … Yet nearby flats are mostly occupied by immigrants from Central America. The shops are patronized by South Asians who travel into the neighborhood." Irvine, California, an L.A. suburb, is only one-third Asian. But that population tends to shop at the local H-Mart in the Diamond Jamboree shopping center, where they can buy their favorite Asian specialties.

L.A.’s Koreatown, meanwhile, "is largely, and increasingly, Hispanic. Yet businesses catering to Koreans are thriving." This type of shopper segregation does have its limits, however: "Latinos also go to Gap, as well as to Asian supermarkets like 99 Ranch." And H-Mart carries American brands as well as Asian foods. Their patrons perhaps "are not so much clinging to their parents’ and grandparents’ ways as creating a new culture that is both pan-Asian and American." ~ Tim Manners, editor.