The Daily covers the closing of Decker Drugs in their article this week: “Drugstore closes due to high rent, competition“, documenting the latest victim of the slow continued gentrification of the State Street Area as high-volume restaurants and fast food chains replace locally-owned and independent businesses. I don’t think it’s quite time to despair: Cafe Ambrosia is a new small business, and Famiglia seems to have gone out of business.

Also, lest anyone was fooled, Potbelly Sandwich Works is an aggressively expanding fast food chain with over thirty nearly identical stores. In their own words, they’re looking for “‘urban’ suburban locations”, “‘hot,’ ‘hip’ or ‘funky’ neighborhoods” to expand. And yes, although they started as a small business, the anonymous “young couple” that started the first Potbelly has been replace by this guy.