have lost sight of cultural significance of what was lost as "big box" retail became the de facto retail mechanism for the "necessities" of life.
Prior to "Big Box" stores there was catalogers with brick and mortar anchor stores and local independent retailers that sourced merchandise locally and from abroad in many of the same places the catalogs sourced.
Catalogers were the first step to big box domination. Prior to mailorder most of the necessary goods of life, clothing, footwear, furniture, tools and food were created and sold locally. There always was a place for luxury items and mechanisms to deliver those. As such our society, our towns and cities were built around these basic transactions.
When big box comes in and replaces all those local sources and industries it kills the local economy and folds the society into a bigger economic and cultural existence. In doing so we lose much of what built this nation in the first place.
We can achieve balance...but not before we realize that it if inherently unfair for corporations like WalMart to dominate the retail landscape because they can undercut local prices.
I speak of this from experience in seeing my family who were retailers in rural communities vanish after 150 years of providing basic necessities to their local communities. (we even see this in our own cities where retail districts have crumbled).
We have lost more than just a few shops. We are gaining it back slowly but people need to realize there needs to be a balance for us to thrive.
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