Local stores do not go out of business simply because big box shops move in nearby. They go out of business when their customers abandon them in favor of lower prices, better selection, more convenience, etc. generally offered by national stores. Local stores will continue to suffer as long as there are not enough Beth’s willing to trade personal gain in favor of loyalty to the local store.

What a trip down memory lane. In my hometown of Memphis, Federated came in and purchased a large local department store. Before the purchase, each year after Thanksgiving their downtown location displayed a long, winding trail of Christmas lights and animated characters and seasonal music, before arriving at Santa and his elves at the “North Pole”. It was called the Enchanted Forest” Now you get 15 seconds while a picture is snapped inside the “local” mall.

I partially agree with Victor.

However I also have a few comments:

Marshall Fields did not “go out of business”, it was bought out by Macy’s. Big difference. Marshall Fields bought out Hudson’s my home town (Detroit) store, and now Macy’s (NY) has bought out Chicago’s beloved Marshall Fields. Thats the nature of business.

If people want local, they will find a small local brand to support. That small brand will grow to a medium sized store, then to a large store, and will eventually start buying out competitors. If/when it gets too big for it’s own britches, and it starts to collapse under it’s own weight, another bigger, more sucessful firm will buy them out.

It happens in every industry – automotive, retail, even coffee shops – the more successful firms push the smaller operators out (or buy them out).

Competition is good for the economy, but not neighborhoods – get that straight. Price and Advertising competition will eventually erode the profitability of any brand. And it’s only the firms that have the better margins that can survive a price war – and that often means the big mean nasty big box stores.

If a store or company cannot capitalize on their strengths, if they do not offer what their customers want, if competitors figure out better ways to do things, then they will go out of business. It’s called Creative Destruction – those who cannot improve get bought out or die a slow, miserable, penny pinching, micro-managing, super-sale-everything-must-go death.

Anywhere there is profit to be made, somebody will figure out a better way to get more of the market, and eventually, your mom and pop shops that have no business acumen will be slashed and burned to satisfy investors or personal greed.

Like Victor said, Beth is willing to trade personal gain (she’ll spend more) in favor of loyalty to a local store. That is not competition, thats loyalty, and it’s emotional, not rational.

For example, I live in Houston, but I’m loyal to the Detroit Tigers.. only because I grew up there, no other rational reason, because they certainly aren’t winners.

Local stores do not go out of business simply because big box shops move in nearby. They go out of business when their customers abandon them in favor of lower prices, better selection, more convenience, etc. generally offered by national stores. Local stores will continue to suffer as long as there are not enough Beth’s willing to trade personal gain in favor of loyalty to the local store.

Posted By Victor, Hawthorn Woods, IL

Could not have said it better myself

I like to support local stores when I can. The only people making conscious decisions in where they shop are the one’s who actively try to support local stores. For most of us brand recognition and advertising make it easy and convenient for us to just say, “I need a , I am going to run over to the .” It is that carefree and thoughtless. The people shopping at those stores go there because it is familiar. It has become a way of life. If you were to take the average Home Depot/Lowes shopper to a lumber yard for their wood, they would be lost. Do remember though, each of these stores were small local shops at one point and now look at the multibillion dollar conglomorates(sp?) that they are. Good management and decision making help drive our economy and if that mom and pop shop has no ambition or they just dont have the skills to grow themselves, well my thought is the way of Darwin. Survival of the fittest.

Perhaps the big box stores offer better prices but the trade off is service; just try asking a question while traversing the miles of aisles at Home Depot; try requesting an obscure musician or author at Borders and you’ll get slack-jawed responses of incomprehension from the teen-aged minimum wage slaves. What businesses are left for the self employed entrepreneur? Hair and nail salons, restaurants (with a 90% failure rate), auto repair garages and not much else. Try opening a Mom & Pop grocery in competition with Safeway and see how far you get. I own and operate a comic book shop and will be eaten up by online sites and big boxes within the decade. The online businesses will not pay local taxes that will benefit my children’s schools or my city streets. We subsidize these conglomerates who in turn do their banking offshore and pay no federal taxes. I support local business whenever I can because I support my community.

Charlie Harris of Tucson has made several good points. Ask for help at a Big Box and at best they’ll pint their finger in a general direction, and then walk away. “We subsidize these conglomerates who in turn do their banking offshore and pay no federal taxes.” Adds to that the following: cities will often build the infrastructure (new roads, water pipelines and sewer) either through a special bond issue (meaning local taxes go up to pay for it), or it’s done through the local treasury (meaning property texes go up to pay for it). Meanwhile, it’s not uncommon for Big Boxes to insist, and get, an abatement on their property taxes PLUS the right to keep a percentage of any sales taxes generated as in incentive to locate in the vacinity. I even read where Costco tried to have a local government use the power of Eminent Domain to literally confiscate a thriving business in order for the store to expand.

if you want mom and pop head up to montreal. where the parental province protects…and you can pay 55% income tax and %15 sales tax. oh, most shops closes at 6pm. it’s sooo quaint…

Along with a lack of competition, this me-too mentality chips away at authenticity and degrades the imagination. Just this weekend, I ran into a local grocery store chain that had been taken over by a big behemoth that, despite customer pleas to keep the treats, had decided to get rid of the store’s well-loved chocolate frosted brownies “because none of their competitors in the area offered them.” That’s smart! Get rid of the things that make your store unique, and instead, just do what everybody else is doing. (How convenient – now I can shop pretty much anywhere else!)