Reply #87: Sometimes there is no real choice

[Art_from_Ark]

Take the example of Rogers, Arkansas, Wal-Mart's hometown. In the 1960s, there were 6 supermarkets in the town of 8,000 population, including 5 that were within walking distance of the downtown area. Wal-Mart was still a mom-and-pop operation that shared space with one of these supermarkets. In the downtown area you could shop at two five-and-dime stores, three shoe stores, three pharmacies, three auto parts stores, four clothing stores, two or three jewelry stores, a home interior store, and various other shops. Today, the downtown area looks nice but is in decline (despite what the local newspaper says) and most shops seem to go out of business in a couple of years. In a town of nearly 50,000 population now, there is only one supermarket left, and it appears to be struggling. Wal-Mart is a couple of miles from downtown, so the people who lived close to downtown to be close to everything now find themselves with few choices and much inconvenience if they don't have transportation. They certainly can't jaunt off to Fayetteville, 20 miles away, to go shopping at Target or the co-op, or hurry off to the new shopping complex out in the middle of nowhere.