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.
Microbreweries, restaurants, candy shops, bakeries, local hardware store.
I use them frequently. Up until 2 years ago, I lived in a town where I could’ve walked to all those spots(not candy store).
This, although I wish my town still had a local bakery and a hardware store.
Grocery store, brewery, meadery, winery, restaurants, cafes, game stores (video- and board-), book stores… any time I can I’ll shop the small store.
The biggest thing I’ve learned though is that some stores are shitty places or run by shitty people even if they are small.