Assignment 1.3
Ben Ward
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Captain Marden’s, the fish market I worked at this summer, is in the center of a suburban town in Massachusetts. It’s on the main street (Linden Street), right next to the local middle school, and next to the busiest traffic light in town. Additionally, the local elementary and high school are no more than a 10 minute walk. Further down the street includes a shopping center with several small businesses, restaurants, and grocery stores. Traffic is always prevalent but especially at times when school starts and ends.
There are several households that surround the area. These houses have pros and cons attached to them. The pros include walking distance to many stores and the schools. The cons include a lack of privacy (if there on the main road), and substantial traffic. Also, these houses are on a much smaller piece of land than households further from the center of town.
The shopping center downtown attracts people from all walks of life. Students from elementary to high school like to hang out with their friends. Common destinations for students include Starbucks, Qdoba, CVS, Sweetgreen, and California Pizza Kitchen. Common destinations for adults include restaurants like the Cottage, the Linden store, and again California Pizza Kitchen. Additionally, there is a Roche brothers which is the most visited grocery store in town.
There is one open space right next to the 2 most popular stores, Starbucks and Sweetgreen. In terms of sitting, the open space has ledges, movable chairs, and a few benches. The area is surrounded by trees and flowers to provide a nice setting. A nice piece of architecture welcomes pedestrians as they walk in. The piece of architecture is hard to describe but it overarches a small part of the square. It has no function, but just something interesting to look at.
Returning to the fish market,
I have noticed significant gender and age gaps. It is important to note that
the suburban town is excessively wealthy and that the store is only open from
8am to 6pm (many customers can’t come in on weekdays because of work). First
off, the majority of customers are senior citizens and practically all
customers are above the age of 40. Additionally, there are significant gender
differences in customers. For example, the majority of customers that come in
on weekdays are women. The employees have told me that most of these women
don’t have jobs and that their husbands make a lot of money. This fits the
stereotype of the 50’s suburban nuclear family. Generally, the only men that
come into the store on weekdays are senior citizens and a few men coming in
near closing time. Women vastly outnumber men on weekdays. While on the
weekends, it’s a mixed bag between age and gender.