Call us grossly entitled, overtly lazy, dangerously optimistic, but millennials certainly have a craving for murder. It definitely appears that way from the countless articles with headlines reading in some fashion, “Millennials strike again, killing another industry.” The extensive list seems to grow every day, and spans a variety of consumer goods, services, and industries.

​

Whether it’s the decline in the rounds of golf being played, the fact that paper towels are far superior to napkins in every facet, Tasty’s YouTube videos showing us how to make any appetizer or dish our imaginations can think of or the reality that department stores have become more or less the “try on” section for Amazon or Fashionnovia, millennials are found to be the common denominator of declining industries.

​

Companies as small as hometown diners, to multi-national conglomerates have been trying their best to prepare themselves, and have been looking to provide goods and services that millennials tend to spend hard earned money on. With such an effort to meet our desires, why are so many industries who have been thriving for decades, if not the past century, suddenly running out of market to grab?

​

It makes sense that companies are putting all their eggs in our basket, millennials are the up and coming consumer market. Entering the working world and moving out on our own, we are the generation that should be spending the most amount of money at this time. But we aren’t moving out, we aren’t buying homes, and we’re saving our money. The common factor is the millennial generation, but while we are a part of the issue it might not be that simple.

​

What is it that millennials have against so many industries and consumer goods? What caused this endless wave of violence that my generation has struck up against institutions such as Buffalo Wild Wings, marriage, extravagant vacations, domestic beer, and fabric softener? Some experts on market analysis point to the generational scar left on millennials by the Great Recession and the fiscal responsibility we inherited from it. Others point to a shift from spending on goods to spending on experiences being the money makers of tomorrow. Others are quick to blame our entitled attitudes, since the concepts of fiscal responsibility and living wages are just completely unreasonable. Can’t we just accept that debt is apart of the deal? I mean most of us have since were here getting an education worth more than we can afford.

​

But in reality, it really had little to do with us. It’s the game that former generations have played, we just happened to accept the invite. Capitalism killed these industries. Capitalism did what it does best, it cleaved the weak from the herd without hesitation. While these industries try to place blame on a certain group or behaviors we exhibit, it truly was only a matter of time before fads like “Breastraunts” and wine corks died off.

​

Some will be missed, others will be replaced, and the wheel will keep spinning. All we can do now is sit back and listen to the waning cries of yesterday’s titans of industry.