Tag Archives: local

What makes a suburban store “hyperlocal”?

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Numerous independent stores operate within American suburbs. What might it mean if they pitch themselves as a “hyperlocal” store (heard on a recent advertisement)? A few possibilities come to mind:

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  1. The business is trying to emphasize that they are super local. If some brands or stores are global or national (think multinational corporations or national or regional chains), then other brands or stores are local or hyperlocal. This is not just local; it is really local or super local to emphasize that it is not national or global.
  2. The store offers goods or experiences only available in this one particular community. Perhaps the business connects with local themes, history, or spirit in ways that someone could not do if the store was in a different community. The store is hyperlocal because the stuff that can only be found there is connected closely to the suburb.
  3. Could this be a nod to hyperlinks? What if hyperlocal means that the store makes connections between local goods and themes? Or, going a different direction,
  4. The dictionary definition of hyperlocal is “limited to a very small geographical area.” This goes further than #1 above: the store serves not the suburb; it serves a smaller area within the suburb. The goods or experiences found therein serve a very particular place.

I am not sure what the store meant by describing themselves as “hyperlocal” but I find #1, #2, and #4 plausible. (The hyperlink/hyperlocal connection seems like a stretch.) If the goal was to stand out from other businesses that might say they are part of the community or serving the local community, hyperlocal might help.

“Visit your local IKEA store”

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A recent advertisement encouraged people to “visit your local IKEA store.” I get the general idea: I can go find what their latest deals at my closest store.

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However, the “local” part of it stuck with me. Do I have a “local IKEA store”? Here is why the term might not work well:

  1. There are two IKEA stores in the entire Chicago region of over 9 million people. One is closer to those living toward the north, one is closer toward those living in the southern part of the region. Thus, many in the region will have to take a bit of a drive to reach a store. These are not stores found in numerous communities. How far away from a residence is a “local” store?
  2. Local can imply local business or smaller in scale and size. All of these might be in comparison to big box stores that offer predictability and many square feet. IKEA is more in this latter category with stores that are large, found along major roads, and are surrounded by large parking lots. These are not local businesses; this is a global corporation with a limited number of stores and pick-up sites in the United States (see the map here). These are destinations, not local businesses near the hearts of communities.

I, like many others, will make a trip to IKEA in the future to look for items and have an experience that cannot easily be found elsewhere. But I will not consider it a local store as I travel down highways to the sizable building located among many other national and international retailers at a convenient nexus of sprawling suburbia.