FRANCHISES WANTED
BY
JAMIE RAZO
THINH TRAN
CORYN ANDERSON
JOSE LOPEZ
During one of our group excursions through South Phoenix, we noticed that the South Mountain area doesn't have a lot of the restaurants that we are accustomed to in North Phoenix. For instance, Denny's, Applebee's, and Black Angus are all absent from the area. With all of the new homes being built in South Phoenix we were surprised that food chains weren't starting to build here as well. We know what restaurants and stores that we to utilize and became curious as to what places South Phoenix residents want to see built here the most. In order to find out the opinions of someone from this neighborhood are, we interviewed Lydia and Pauline.
Pauline, a grandma in her seventies, has lived in South Phoenix for over thirty years and has witnessed the changes occurring here. When we told Pauline what we were interested in she was nice enough to invite us into her home so that we could interview her. Fortunately for us Pauline's sister, Lydia, was there visiting and she was also willing to give us her opinion on the eateries in the area. Lydia is in her sixties, Hispanic, and has also lived in South Phoenix for thirty years. Currently, Lydia is working with ACORN, an organization for low to moderate-income families, to get better stores and customer service in South Phoenix. Pauline thinks that stores don't build in South Phoenix because the corporations believe that anyone who lives in South Phoenix is poor and can't afford to shop at their stores. Pauline believes that there is a certain degree of discrimination against the residents of South Phoenix. Lydia partly agrees with what Pauline had to say but believes that residents need to fight for what they want. Lydia believes that more people need to vote if they want to be heard. Lydia gave us the example of one of the only grocery stores in South Phoenix, Food City. Pauline and Lydia both agree that they would never shop at Food City because the store is so dirty and the food they sell is rotten. Both ladies would like to see more competition built in the area so they have a choice where they shop. Pauline and Lydia would also like to see restaurants built in the area so they wouldn't have to drive so far to go out to dinner.
Pauline and Lydia are only two South Phoenix residents voicing their opinion, however, if you were to ask any long term resident in this neighborhood they would probably agree with these two women. The residents of South Phoenix want and deserve a nice, clean place to eat at. After our interview with Pauline and Lydia was over, we discussed how profitable it would be for Denny's or Olive Garden if they were the first restaurant to build in South Phoenix.
For more information on ACORN click on: http://www.acorn.org/community/
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