Main Street
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- For the Sinclair Lewis novel, see Main Street (novel).
-->High Street or Main Street is the generic street name (and sometimes the official name) of the primary retail street of an urban area, especially a village or town, in many parts of the world. It is usually a focal point for shops and retailers in the city centre, and is most often used in reference to retailing.
Main Street is commonly used in the United States, Canada, some parts of Scotland and also in some countries in central Europe (e.g. Slovakia and Czech republic). High Street is the common term in the British Isles. In Jamaica as well as North East England and some sections of Canada, the usual term is Front Street. In Cornwall (and also in some towns in Devon), the equivalent is Fore Street.
In some larger cities, there may be several Main Streets, each relating to a specific neighborhood rather than the city as a whole.
American cultural usage
In the North American media, "Main Street," or the interests of small businessmen, is sometimes contrasted with "Wall Street" (in the United States) or "Bay Street" (in Canada), symbolizing the interests of corporate capitalism.
"Main Street" is part of the iconography of American life. Examples include:
- In the United States, the Army and Air Force Exchange Service, the outfit that operates the PX and BX stores on military bases, chose the name "Main Street USA" for its food courts.
- The novel Main Street, a critique of small town life, was penned by the great American writer Sinclair Lewis.
- Two Walt Disney Company amusement parks, Disneyland in Anaheim, California, and the Magic Kingdom in the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, both have "Main Street USA" sections immediately at their front. Such areas are designed to look like the main street of a small town.
Preservation and Main Street
[Main Street] is the name of a community revitalization program begun by the [National Trust for Historic Preservation] in the late 1970s. The core of the Main Street philosophy is the preservation of the historic built environment by engaging in historic preservation. Main Street focuses on a holistic approach to revitalization based on the "4-point" approach of design, promotions, economic restructuring, and organization. Originally targeted at small, traditional downtowns, the program now encompasses sections of large urban centers.There is some controversy as to whether or not applying the "Main Street Approach" to a downtown results in the actual preservation of a cultural landscape. While many buildings are, in fact, retained rather than demolished, Main Street communities tend to take on a homogeneous appearance of beautified streetscapes that over-emphasize the 19th or early 20th centuries. In some cases, stylistic elements are introduced into the landscape that never previously existed, thereby creating a false sense of history.
International equivalents
- In the German cultural and language bloc in Central Europe (Austria, Germany, and Switzerland), there is a "Bahnhofstrasse" (literally, "railroad station street") in many towns and cities. In some of them (notably Zurich), Bahnhofstrasse is the actual equivalent of Main Street. Another common name for the main street is "Hauptstraße" (literally, "main street"), mainly in towns where the railroad station never played an important role. Sometimes, the term is prefixed with the name of the surrounding town to avoid ambiguous street names (as in "Ottenser Hauptstraße" and "Hummelsbüttler Hauptstraße" for Ottensen and Hummensbüttel, both are now part of Hamburg, Germany)
- Hong Kong officials, under British rule, usually translate Chinese Ching Kai (正街) or Tai Kai (大街) as Main Street. These main streets were usually the largest street of a village or town.
- In England, the terms "Market Street" or "Market Place" are often used to designate the heart of a town or city, as is the more common High Street(certainly in newer urban developments, or towns or cities which were not original market towns).High Street is often the name of a fairly busy street with small shops either side, often in towns and villages.
- In Sweden, almost all towns and cities have their own main street, a street called "Storgatan" (literally, "The big street"). They are typically surrounded by stores and restaurants, and open for pedestrians only, where no vehicles are allowed.
British Isles
High Street is the most common street name in the British Isles. According to a survey by the Halifax there are 5,410 High Streets compared to 3,811 Station Roads and 2,702 Main Streets.The term "High Street" is often used to describe common stores found on a typical high street, to differentiate them from more specialist or less common outlets. For example, someone might refer to "High Street banks" or "High Street shops".
Starting at least 10 centuries ago, the word high gradually evolved to also mean something excellent or of superior rank, as evidenced in high sheriff and high society. It was applied to roads as they improved, and the word highway has been recorded from the early ninth century. "High Street" began to be used to describe the thoroughfares containing the main retail areas in villages and towns.
In recent years, although the term "High Street" is still used to refer to commerce, shopping has begun to shift to purpose-built out-of-town shopping malls and supermarkets. However compared to the United States town and city centre shopping remains widespread. The town centre of a British town of any size combines a group of outdoor shopping streets, one or more of which may be pedestrianised, with an adjacent indoor shopping centre.
The large presence of chain stores on High Streets repeated in settlements around the UK is part of the clone town theory.
See also
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