There are numerous books, articles and PBS programs complaining about too much consumer choice. Too many variations on the same thing.
There is an inherent mean-spiritedness among these propagators of "too much choice". In the S.F.-San Jose Bay Area we now how many large and growing Asian markets. These exist for one reason: ordinary supermarkets have too limited a range of choices for the clientele that live in this area.
In Tokyo there are many stores that have a selection of items in every category of products that are three to four times as great as anything in the U.S. I personally love it. Much greater chance of finding what I’m looking for.
The wonderful new supermarkets in Israel have four to five times as many objects in every category and many times the number of categories of any American supermarket...because of the diversity of the population. Fifty different kinds of smoked fish.
Complainers about "too much choice" really don't like the diversity of America. They usually complain about too many cereals. First, the whole notion of branding makes it possible to only select the products you like. Second, there are a dozen cereals from around the world that I love and can't get in American supermarkets. Too little choice is the reality.
If these folks had any influence, Whole Foods and Trader Joes would never have gotten started.
Who are these mean-spirited complainers about too much choice? They are Puritans; religious Lefty fundamentalist descendants of the New England Puritans.
My late close friend Peter Sherrill defined Puritans as 'people who feel other people are having too much fun and should be stopped.'