The difference between Ace Hardware and a company like McDonalds is that in McDonalds, you will have very strong branding associated with the franchise. A consumer goes into a store labeled "McDonalds".
But an Ace Hardware store is a complex beast, because the branding is all over the place, from being in the name (such as in the case of the store in Missouri), to being secondary to another brand- such as in the Maryland suburbs, where there are "Strosnider's Hardware" ( http://www.strosniders.com/ ). Each store prominently displays the Strosniders name and logo, employees wear the same uniforms, etc. They happen to be Ace Hardware storse, but as a consumer, I wouldn't know unless I was looking for it. - Serge _______________________________________________ Tagging mailing list Tagging@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/tagging
