#the employees know who I am cause I'm the girl that does their homework there

[jelly-o630]

I live in a boring-ass suburb right outside of a city that has all the actual fun things to do in it but it's still a good twenty- thirty minute drive to do anything there which is not something I want to do every single time I feel like going out so I've been exploring my boring ass suburb and it turns out THERE ARE A TON OF THINGS TO DO HERE TOO THAT AREN'T JUST GOING TO THE MOVIES, we have a boba shop, several small boutiques, an Italian catering restaurant (that still does normal delivery for smaller orders), so many parks, a bookstore, like three antique shops and a lot of other places that I would have never discovered had I stayed in the mentality that that my boring-ass suburb was well... boring

And it was pretty great for a while

Now

the locally owned theatre was bought out by a chain and they got rid of the arcade in the front, replaced it with a bar

two of the small boutiques have closed their doors (while you can still shop online for one of them, it's not the same)

the Italian catering place only does pizza deliveries now cause not enough people were ordering their other menu items

one of those antique places is getting emptier every year cause not enough people are renting space there anymore

and now this morning I discovered that my favorite place in town- a small cafe with barely any parking out front, prices that were too high for me to justify getting one item from there more than once a month (like 7 bucks for a single cupcake), and the best frosting I have ever tried on any dessert in my life (and I've had pastries in Spain, New York City, Guatemala) just permanently closed their doors cause the owner died

and we have a new target being built that will include a strip mall that already has chain stores planned to the square foot

I'm really scared for what we have left