Chain Stores = Cookie Cutter Commercial Areas

I'm tired of seeing a Lowe's and Home Depot on every corner. They're both great stores, but they're just too big and seem to plant themselves in the worst locations. Let me give you two examples:

Lake Worth - This is the city I live right next to... our land is technically Fort Worth, but we have the lake in our backyard... Lake Worth. It's a very small suburb with a low population, and it has a big hill that overlooks the Lockheed plant and Carswell AFB and has a beautiful view of the lake, when you think about how flat most of this area is. Except for an IHOP at the top of the hill... the rest of the hill was mainly trees and a habitat for wildlife. On foggy days, the hill looked mystical... almost like you were in the hills of Ireland. Lowes decided to build their store RIGHT in the middle of that hill.. where you could see a view of the lake. That's tacky! Lake Worth's main street is already inhabited by dumpy looking strip stores, and to add to all of that, they're going to take up most of the only hill they have with a freakin' LOWES. Yeah... so it'll make going to Lowe's more convenient for some folks, but it'll take away from the land in that area. Lake Worth does not seem to give a crap about what their city looks like. Everything is dingy, borderline trashy, and has no style or taste... and it shows in the way they've allowed the construction of lackluster stores in their city.

Carswell Air Force Base - I don't understand the sense behind this one at all. Right next to one of Carswell's radars, a Lowe's is being built... it's like right on the edge of the Air Force Base, in a not very crowded area. WTF?? :)