Zooming in Zooming Out – Ralph’s

Ralph’s Discount City was a convenience store, located on Chambers street in New York. Eventually the store went out of business for many reasons primarily dealing with the fact that the neighborhood changed overtime and there wasn’t as many people in the area. Chambers is considered a very popular area, for it is right next to city hall and many people work in that area. In 2006 chambers street was congested, as it was populated with up to 147,000 people. However, as time went on many of the offices, that ideally held up to more than the average family size, turned into condo buildings and apartments. This caused the population size to shrink to around 6,000. The drastic drop in population size had a major toll on the success of Ralph’s Discount City. Ralph was no longer able to sell cheap merchandise and keep up with the demand of his customers, while still managing to profit. As offices transformed into apartment buildings the demographic of the area changed as well. Instead of having primarily White Americans who were nearby workers, and 75 percent of the population in 2006, the customer base evolved to include many African Americans and Asians.  When the store was up and running the neighborhood was regarded as a neighborhood you could find work. After all, 84 percent of the population graduated with a bachelor’s degree from college and 92,000 people in the neighborhood were employed – today this percentage has dropped to 70 percent.

Ralph’s Discount City offered a variety of products that people of all ethnicities and religions needed. He offered medication, food, house supplies toilet trees, office supplies and many other convenient items that nearby workers in the area could possibly use. The store was located on the block of City Hall which brought a tremendous amount of people into the area. Many of his customers were state and federal workers. Ralph even made sure to have  a yogurt shop, a photo processor, a pharmacy, and a coffee shop all within his store! At one point Ralph’s Discount City was the largest one store for selling cigarettes in Manhattan. Many of his customers were in their 40s and were White Americans. Ralph sold his products at competitive prices and met the demands of his customers. After all, he was competing with big retail companies that were not far from his store. The role of this store was to make the lives of nearby workers and residents easier by providing a variety of products they may need on any given day. Ralph accomplished his goal, but as the neighborhood evolved into a more family oriented one there were less people likely to purchase from him. Today more than half of the population in that area is married and and about half of the housing there are family households – this percentage has been increasing since the time Ralph’s Discount City closed.