Read the text about corner shops and then, do the exercises below.

Zdzisław Dudek, Zuzanna Kościuk Corner Shop Nostalgia

Consumer behaviours seem to be changing constantly. Crowded big shops or shopping malls have lost much of the appealappealappeal they used to have just a few years ago. There is a somewhat nostalgicsomewhat nostalgicsomewhat nostalgic return to shops known as sklepik osiedlowy in Poland, or convenience store in the U.S., in England commonly referred to asreferred to asreferred to as corner shopscorner shops [corner shop] (British English)corner shops.

Many of them survived despite the popularity of discount retailersdiscount retailers [discount retailer]discount retailers and the buy in bulkbuy in bulkbuy in bulk trend. One of the reasons may be locally sourced productslocally sourced products [locally sourced product]locally sourced products. After all, there’s nothing quite like fresh produce and goods unavailable anywhere else. It’s simply an experience that big shops cannot hope to fake, even with their promises of “fresh” or “organic” fruit and vegetables.

Corner shops always have the attraction of personal touchpersonal touchpersonal touch. People enjoy the familiarityfamiliarityfamiliarity with which the shop assistant can remind them what them have forgotten to buy again. Perhaps, they may not offer buyers many stock discounts here, but customers can always count on a refundcount on a refundcount on a refund if the goods are faulty. And should they want to return them, it’s only a short walk back to the shop. Isn’t that yet another reason to shop there? There’s no car or public transport required. It’s just a customer, the shop owner they know, and the knowledge that they won’t be met with ever‑impersonalever‑impersonalever‑impersonal, if not outright cold, corporate customer service treatment.

In fact, when in a supermarket, one thing customers are definitely deprived ofdeprived of [deprive of]deprived of is friendliness. Buyers can hardly expect small talk concerning new deliveriesdeliveries [delivery]deliveries. Instead, they feel the anonymity of retail workers stocking the shelvesstocking the shelves [stock the shelves] (verb)stocking the shelves with newly advertised discounted goodsdiscounted goods [discounted good]discounted goods that they are supposed to buy in huge quantities. That is to say, customers often feel as if they're standing in the waystanding in the way [stand in the way]standing in the way. Some may find it appealing, but in the digital era, a lot of people do, in fact, crave genuine human contactgenuine human contactgenuine human contact. Being just another face amongst a crowd of complete strangers is not something they want to be reminded of when shopping.

It seems then that it's not just a matter of nostalgia, but, above  all, a craving forcraving for [crave for]craving for belonging to a place – to feel safe in an equally safe and familiar environment. This is what makes people return to the warm world of convenience storesconvenience stores [convenience store] (American English)convenience stores and their cozy atmosphere that many have already begun to believe are a thing of the pastare a thing of the past [be a thing of the past]are a thing of the past. Should you ever want to be reminded of how it feels to be a part of the community, go and visit your local corner shop. It’s even better than you remember.

1 Źródło: Zdzisław Dudek, Zuzanna Kościuk, licencja: CC BY-SA 3.0.