I was reading about some local policy changes intended to make running a small business easier and that got me thinking. I go to restaurants and ethnic food stores which are usually small businesses, and maybe some of the gas stations I use are small businesses too. However, everything else I buy comes from big-box stores or the internet. These have replaced a lot of small businesses, but how is it that there are any little shops left at all? Sometimes I walk into a corner store because I don’t want to go all the way to the big box store or wait for delivery but the prices are so much higher (often by over a hundred percent) that I walk right out again unless I need something very urgently.
I’m not making a moral judgement here. I just don’t know how the economics work out.
most small business in my city are vanity businesses supported by a wealthy consumer base who will pay 6 bucks for a lb of flour to virtue signal their status and wealth. or stuff like the lesbian book store, the knitting/fabric store, the ‘gift’ store full of useless trinkets like a paper weight that’s $200, etc. these shops are empty 90% of the time, but they aren’t being run for a profit, they are run because some bored rich person wants to run a business for funsies.
outside of that, very little legit small business left. very few mom and pop operations and the ones that are left are closing up, or use political corruption/bribery to keep competition out such that they are a monopoly. the closet is probably hardware stores, salons, and dry cleaners, other ‘i need this today’ type of businesses.
most ‘small business’ is stores/retaurants that are run by corporations but pretend they aren’t. like in the square by me there are 7 different bars… they are all owned by the same corporation. they just have different decorations and some different items on the menus but are 70% the same.