In the 1950's, Rochester was the absolute sticks, and now it's fully [[sub)urbanized and rather affluent, so the character of retail has changed.
Birmingham was already suburbia in the 50's, but it was a more down-to-earth community with "regular folks". There was always an undercurrent of more quiet, WASPy wealth, but it didn't get snobby and affected until maybe 15-20 years ago.
There isn't much shopping in either community. People go to the malls and big box for that sort of stuff. Birmingham has some high-end stuff on Maple Road, but not like before. There does seem to be a bit of a recent revival, though, which could be [[good) economy related.
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