Next you should visit downtown Apex. It's more of a real small-town downtown. I grew up in Cary so have no emnity toward it, but the best way to describe Cary, including its downtown, is "curated." In fact anyone who's lived in this area for any length of time would laugh heartily at the idea of Cary as the genuine article.
I've seen suburbs near me trying to make more placemaking downtown centers like this one. Marietta Square is one and Austell, GA seems to be trying to make their downtown into more of a place to go
Next you should visit downtown Apex. It's more of a real small-town downtown. I grew up in Cary so have no emnity toward it, but the best way to describe Cary, including its downtown, is "curated." In fact anyone who's lived in this area for any length of time would laugh heartily at the idea of Cary as the genuine article.
Some books which discuss informal street marketing in history are:
https://www.amazon.com/Shopping-Ancient-Rome-Republic-Principate/dp/019969821X
https://www.routledge.com/Food-Hawkers-Selling-in-the-Streets-from-Antiquity-to-the-Present/Calaresu-Heuvel/p/book/9781138329706
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/roman-street/983F200E0E59E84C42B5BFF4401F572E
I've seen suburbs near me trying to make more placemaking downtown centers like this one. Marietta Square is one and Austell, GA seems to be trying to make their downtown into more of a place to go