Could commercialization close the small ice cream stands in the future?

FORCAST: Kimball Farms, Jim's Ice Cream Barn, Rota Springs, Reasons to be Cheerful, and lots of other places could be in trouble as aggressive tactics by Ben and Jerry's, Baskin Robins, and Cold Stone Creamery, and even Walmart could overtake them within the next 5 to 10 years.

For now, Rota Springs and Kimball Farms are safe for now, but the inevitable thing is that commercializtion could lead to the dark shadows over these places.  What's happened to these farm stands that were wiped out by supermarkets and hypermarkets could soon be true to the ice cream department.  It could just take one baskin robins or one cold stone creamery, plop it down right next to an independant ice cream chain, and then the new people driving to that location will reconize that chain more then the independant ice cream chain, and ultimately, newer generations won't be comming to that parlor, and as a result, that independant parlor or stand having a last ice cream season before closing for good.

Kimball Farms may HAVE to go year round sometime in the future.  Put Baskin Robins or Cold Stone Creamery right near by, and the future could yield that people may reconize these big chain stores more, leading to fallen sales and (ultimately), a permanent closure of this place (at least at the ice cream stand anyways.  But one thing's for sure, if Kimball Farms expands to winter activities (like celebrating the holidays and opening up a permanent structure housing a restaurant, celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas and making winter attractins while still selling ice cream in the winter, then this place may have a chance to survive in the future.

 

Now, the good news that the days of "seasonal" opening and closing may be soon become the thing of the past, as baskin robins and cold stone creamery are all "year round" places unlike Dairy Queen and the independant ice cream stands and parlors.  The bad news is that we could lose more and more small chain ice cream stands.  But the rule of the life is: adapt to the new reality or die.  That's why Fairway Bowling at Route 9 had gone out of business, because they refused to adapt to the new modern world, unlike surviving bowling allies today that is supplimented with another thing.  A Boston ice cream parlor has a bowling ally in it, while the Lanes and Games has a casual restaurant and an arcade that is acting as life supports for these places.