Could Be Anywhere - North America

FTLComm - Prince Albert - November 28, 1998

The idea of a franchise business is to present the customer with a familiar setting and surroundings at every single outlet thus assuring them of consistent quality and menu options. Though this concept produces for the chain company uniformity, it also produces the paradox that being somewhere is the same as being somewhere else. The QuickTime VR panorama below was taken at 6:35 PM Friday night in Prince Albert yet, that same intersection might look the same in almost any other location on the continent, provided it was in the Northern portion of the continent, as the sheen on the street is caused by -7 Celsius temperatures. But in the picture is a Macdonalds, Burger Baron, Pizza Hut, Burger King and Tim Hortons, and yet another franchised business is under construction beside the Burger King. Behind the Macdonalds is a giant parking lot for the mall that sprawls the length of two blocks with its two anchors, WalMart on one end and Safeway on the other. Between those two are a series of yet even more franchised retail outlets. The only unique gem is in a strip mall on the East side of the parking lot is the best named pizza store anywhere, Science Fiction Pizza.