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.
I shop from small businesses when it’s more convenient (which is actually more common than you’d think when you don’t have a car).
Mini markets are closer than supermarkets and stay open longer so I’ll often get groceries from there even if it’s more expensive.
When looking for a specific piece of equipment there are some things that can’t be delivered or they’d take an eternity to arrive so I find which stores sell it and go to the physical store, which is usually a smaller local place.
I don’t know if thrift shops count as small businesses but they’re also more convenient than going to big clothes shops.
And I guess most restaurants are local businesses too.