Before chain supermarkets and mega shopping centers, most communities had a corner store.

These stores, selling everything from daily staples like bread, milk, fruit and meat, to boot polish, soap and sewing needles, were a community focal point, as well as a source of income for the families who ran them.

Their numbers, clearly, have dwindled over the decades, but deep in the suburbs, the tired, boarded up shells of some of these much-loved, once-vital businesses can still be found - markers of a different time, monuments to change. 

This map is designed to record some of that history - by plotting the location of where some of these old shops stood, or still stand. 

If you have a comment or question, you can find me on Twitter @GregBarila or email me.