Amazon Is Crushing Main Street and Threatening the Vitality of Our Communities

[tabbycat31]

73. I think it depends on the type of business

The problem with many Main Streets is that there's limited (if any) parking (of course this varies by location) whereas big box stores have massive parking lots, shopping carts, etc.

I'd rather buy a heavy item like a vacuum cleaner in a place where I don't have to physically carry the thing (put it in cart, pay without taking it out of cart, lift from cart to car), or online where I don't have to carry it at all.

But for other things, Main Street is thriving. I'd much rather eat at a locally owned restaurant (in my price range of course, 5 star dining is not) than say an Applebee's. I'd much rather get my coffee from a local coffee shop than Starbucks. Neither of these require lugging around a heavy item. But Main Street has to be within reason too. If my choices are the 5 star dining restaurant where a meal starts at $50 or Applebee's, I'm choosing the latter (I'm not a fancy restaurant type). If a local music shop is charging $20 for a CD that I can get at Best Buy for $10, then I'm going to Best Buy. Some of my stocking stuffers this year come are things like local jams from the farmers market (and I'll be buying from a local candy shop too but closer to xmas so it's fresh).

I also live in a touristy area and there's a boardwalk shop that I LOVE. It's beachwear (I can't imagine that when temperatures are in the 20s as they are now), novelty items, and souvenir type items (postcards, shirts, stickers, etc). I wear a hoodie all the time with this town's name on it that I only can buy at a local shop.

But in my town (1.5 miles away from above mentioned one) more than half the local shops are vacant. There used to be a shop in town that always had cute clothing in the window, but I went in to realize that most of their items were out of my price range (3 figures for a pair of jeans). If they had been reasonably priced, sure I'd shop there. (They've since closed). But the reasonably priced local bagel shop has lines every day. (Maybe a good lesson for a local business is know your audience. Don't open an upscale clothing shop in a moderate income town, don't open a dive bar in a majority senior citizen town, etc).