Our country has gone through a long and slow phase of homogenization. Doesn't matter where you are in this great land of ours, you will inevitably run into a McDonald's, Burger King, Denny's, and other fast food joints. Then we started having national chains of clothing stores, such as The Gap, The Limited, Victoria's Secret, and the like. We also have national department stores, such as the now waning Sears, Target, Bloomingdale's, and K-Mart. I still remember when Bloomingdale's made their entry into California, and everyone was a buzz. After all, Angelenos are only truly jealous of New Yorkers, and now we had their department store, too.
However, in many ways, things are different as well. Walking down the grocery stores, I see varieties of food that reflect more of the local flavor, such as Cuban, English, and Caribbean items, as well as more variety of pork, sweet tea sold by the gallon, and the like. Most supermarkets don't sell hard liquor because Florida law requires a separate liquor store for distilled beverages (so if a supermarket wants to sell spirits, it needs a "store within a store" thing).
