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Editor's note
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On a whim, I recently ‘walked’, using Google Streetview, from my childhood home to one of my favourite spots, a jetty on the Swan River in Perth, to see if I could still find my way. I could, although the houses were much grander than I remembered. But an important stop along the way, the milk bar – where the shopkeeper knew us well enough to buy produce from our garden knowing we’d splash out on treats in return – had gone. And it’s not the only one.
Today Louise Grimmer and Gary Mortimer explain how when neighbourhoods lost their milk bars, they also lost a daily point of connection for locals. But all is not lost. In some areas, they write, the humble corner store is making a comeback.
So the milk bar isn’t dead yet, but department stores may be.
This week retail experts pronounced our once great retail empires Myer and David Jones are in a “death spiral”. In the US, New York’s iconic Barney’s chain has filed for bankruptcy protection. The problem isn’t just to do with competition from online, say Jason Pallant and Sean Sands. It’s also to do with the hollowing out of the middle class.
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John Watson
Section Editor: Cities + Policy
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Top story
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When neighbourhoods lose their corner stores, they also lose a place where people meet and feel like part of their local community.
Susan Fitzgerald/Flickr
Louise Grimmer, University of Tasmania; Gary Mortimer, Queensland University of Technology
As neighbourhoods lost their milk bars, they also lost a daily point of connection for locals. But all is not lost. In some areas, the humble corner store is making a comeback.
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Barneys, Madison Avenue, New York. Department stores that were once the pinnacle of middle-class aspiration are losing out to discount shops and luxury retailers.
www.shutterstock.com
Jason Pallant, Swinburne University of Technology; Sean Sands, Swinburne University of Technology
Department stores are collapsing. The internet is part of the problem, but so too is the hollowing out of the middle class.
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Don’t mourn 8chan, but don’t think online extremists aren’t already taking their hate elsewhere.
Shutterstock.com
Renee Barnes, University of the Sunshine Coast
We should celebrate the 'deplatforming' of the 8chan message board, linked to the El Paso shootings, as a win for the fight against online hate speech. But its removal does not mean the fight is over.
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Politics + Society
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Simon Chapple, Victoria University of Wellington
A survey of New Zealanders' attitudes towards religious groups, taken after the Christchurch mosque shootings, shows they trust Buddhists most and Evangelicals least.
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Mark Pearson, Griffith University
Australia's metadata laws offer weak protection to journalists, but they don’t offer any to academics conducting confidential interviews.
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Anthony Forsyth, RMIT University
The decision confirms the steady march of employer control over workers' private views and activities, supported by courts and tribunals over many years.
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Shanthi Robertson, Western Sydney University; Henry Sherrell, Australian National University
Associating all bridging visas with 'scammers' and 'illegal migrants' misses the bigger picture of the role bridging visas play in our changing immigration regime.
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Health + Medicine
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Cynthia Mathew, University of Canberra
While some viruses make us sick, others can fight against bacteria, or protect us from more harmful viruses.
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Deborah Lupton, UNSW
It's time characters on TV reflected not only women's experience of heart disease but those of men from diverse backgrounds if we want to prevent more people dying from heart disease.
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Arts + Culture
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Paul Giles, University of Sydney
In her creative and critical work, Toni Morrison sought to remap the contours of American literature and culture.
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Environment + Energy
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Trevor H. Worthy, Flinders University
The newly discovered _Heracles inexpectatus_ stood nearly a metre tall. And its fossil bones sat undiscovered on a museum shelf for more than a decade before its hefty status was finally appreciated.
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Dan Weijers, University of Waikato; Nick Munn, University of Waikato
New Zealand's dairy industry is arguing consumers are being misled if the term "milk" is used for plant-based products such as almond or coconut milk, but consumers are savvier than that.
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Columnists
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Featured jobs
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University of Melbourne — Parkville, Victoria
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James Cook University — Townsville, Queensland
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RMIT University — Melbourne, Victoria
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La Trobe University — Hamburg, Hamburg
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Featured events
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245 Punt Road , Richmond, Victoria, 3121, Australia — Niagara Galleries
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ATC 101 Lecture Theatre, Advanced Technologies Centre, 401-451 Burwood Rd, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Victoria, 3122, Australia — Swinburne University of Technology
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Learning and Teaching building, 19 Ancora Imparo Way, Clayton campus, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, 3800, Australia — Monash University
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UNSW Sydney, Kensington, New South Wales, 2052, Australia — UNSW
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