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Comment by DevKoala | Hacker News Reader

In which sense is the USA homogenous?

Language, currency, jurisdiction (to large extends), media…

An American from Idaho will be able to communicate, trade and watch the same tv as someone in Vermont, whereas a person from Malawi will not be able to do any of these things with a person in Guinea

You're comparing a continent with a country. A person in Canada has very little in common with those in Mexico and/or Panama, etc. The same could be said about most continents.

I was answering the question how the USA are considered homogenous, not how the Americas are.

GP is saying that if you're comparing to the US, it would make more sense to compare to e.g. Ethiopia (a single country with several ethnical groups and languages) than compare Malawi to Guinea (two different countries, thousands of miles away from each other)

Vermont and Idaho are also thousands of miles away from each other, a distance not achievable within Ethiopia's borders. I think people are missing the point, so to make it clear, in the US, you can move from Los Angeles to New York (not even extreme ends of the country) and experience the same culture, language, TV shows, cell phone, etc. at both ends. That would be the same as moving from Madrid to Moscow, or Lagos to Khartoum.

Sure but if you consider that you could say the same about e.g. Moscow/Vladivostok or Sao Paulo/Manaus or Sydney/Perth, it doesn't seem like homogeneity is that unique or impressive of a characteristic for an expansive country. IMHO it's more notable to point out that there's a language barrier between Toronto/Quebec despite them being only a few hours away from each other, a form of heteregenereousness that is also present in many countries in Africa, whereas in the US, there's a relatively high level of homogeneity even taking into account highly international places like Chinatowns because of the melting pot effect.

As someone from Scandinavia I was surprised to to find out that there is even homogeneity in brand names. In Scandinavia if you from Denmark to Norway, you will likely stop shopping at Netto and instead shop at REMA 1000, if you travel to Iceland, you might find your self shopping at Nettó again, but it is a whole different chain (more likely you will shop at Bónus). In the USA you will probably shop at Safeway in New York, just as you would in California.

In comparison all of Scandinavia has a similar population size as the New York metropolitan area.

Actually, the one example you've picked there (grocery stores/supermarkets) is quite a bad one. There are very few national supermarkets in the US. Ironically, Whole Foods Market (now owned by Amazon) is as close as any to this title. Safeway may once have been widespread, but in terms of stores bearing that brand (as opposed to be owned by the company), there are not many Safeways anymore.

Instead, there are regional supermarket chains, some of which branch out a little into areas where they are not the dominant store.

Examples:

Albertsons: mostly in the western states

HEB: Texas only

Publix: southern states (all the way down to Key West)

Piggly Wiggly: hard to describe, but mostly a stripe running up through the midwest

Fairway: NYC, NJ and almost nowhere else

Now, had you written that about, say drug stores, it would be more true. Everywhere you go it will either be a CVS, Rite Aid or Walgreens. There are independents, but these 3 dominate the entire country, with some regional focus, but always a national reach.

And there are regional brands in many areas - just below Subway and McDonalds you’ll find things like Culver’s or Jack in the Box or In-n-Out - regional. Gas stations and restaurants are often regional, especially as cuisine varies.

Of course you can find McDonalds everywhere but you’ll find those in Europe, also.

I think the main thing that makes it feel superficially homogeneous is the shared language - which is now even more shared since the advent of Hollywood and national entertainment.

Trader Joes has a pretty wide presence across the country (in 43 out of 50 states). And while they're not supermarkets per se, Walmart and Target have also got into groceries in recent years. There's also Costco in a similar boat.

Trader joes is the best example of homogenous because they sell mostly their own brand cross-country, so local stock doesn't dictate what is available on the shelf. The prices remain static across most of their stores as well (for most items) which is a HUGE reason why New York and Cali folks love shopping there.

Is Walmart not a national supermarket?

While Albertsons itself might be mostly in western states, the parent company owns plenty of other chains in other states, e.g. Safeway or Jewel-Osco. These chains all run the same promotions, carry the same generic brands, etc.

Thanks. I didn't realize that the parent company of Safeway had gobbled up Albertsons as well. Good to know.

It was actually the other way around. :)

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