Café de Change?

Posted on Tuesday 26th of September 2006 11:40:16 PM by Maximinus

Money exchange to the left of me,
Starbucks to the right;
Here I am stuck in the middle with you...

What's this, you ask?  Am I moonlighting as a (plagiaristic) songwriter and/or singer?  No, not at all.  I'm merely commenting on a strange phenomemon which I've observed of late.

I'm sure everyone's heard the addage "there's a Starbucks on every corner" - it started in America, but it's spread here - it certainly is difficult to find an area without a Starbucks in the central city.  After walking around town a fair bit recently, I've come to the conclusion that money exchanges are the new Starbucks.  There appear to be two or three varieties, but there's at least one anywhere you look - they seem to have an even stronger hold on central Christchurch than Starbucks.  Why?  Do the tourists really need to change money between every two other shops?  Surely not, since I've barely ever seen anybody actually in any of these exchanges, other than the staff.

So, I'll leave you with that one question - why?

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