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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dannyalcatraz" data-source="post: 2390370" data-attributes="member: 19675">The old-west wheel-smith needs only learn how to make a different kind of wheel.  What he can't do is compete with the mass-production of car wheels on an even basis.  Instead, he has to make custom chromes & spinners.But we're not talking about the craftsmen- we're talking about the places where products may be sold.What people forget is that a small business or a co-op (even a big one), simply doesn't have the economic clout that a multi-state or international corporation does.  Why?  Because they can cross-subsidize with other products.  They can sell a product below cost indefinitely by raising the cost on something else they sell.  Its a practice called "predatory pricing."  They also purchase products at volumes orders of magnitude beyond their tiny competitors...and can shift that inventory from store to store effortlessly while still maintaining that same predatory price.  For an example of the extreme power of a huge corporation, you can look at what General Motors does: they order in bulk, often paying only a penny (or less!) above cost for supplies and materials- and then they often pay their debt 15-30 days LATE.  For GM's suppliers, its like being an addict- they can't get out of the harmful relationship because they have nobody else to sell to, and any complaint gets them cut off.  Catch-22.Other examples:There used to be a HUGE local book store chain in the D/FW Metroplex called Taylors.  If they didn't have it, they got it for you.  Even obscure stuff.  Then B&N and Borders came through, undercut Taylors and drove it out of business.  The new guys do have fancy coffee and some service, but its NOT Taylors quality service.A similar story happened to most of the small record shops in the area.  Because of wave after wave of "big box" (and now internet) retailers selling music at or below cost, its now next to impossible to buy a lot of the old, obscure punk, classic rock, classical, reggae, etc. WITHOUT going online.  That also means that there's no knowledgeable employees to talk to who might know about a brilliant piece of music that would otherwise never show up on your radar.Wal-Mart will actually overbuild stores in an area to bankrupt the competition, then close their excess capacity once they have the monopoly.  Some small to middle sized towns have actually lost their entire downtown retail areas to Wal-Marts.I don't know about other people on this board, but I was an Army Brat who moved every 2-3 years as a kid, and my post-HS studies have taken place in 3 different cities.  How did I find new games to join?  Not in big retailers, nor online, but in game stores.  When you support your local stores, you're not just supporting the owner/operator, you're supporting the subculture.  So, whenever possible, I pay that premium to support my local game stores, music shops, even farmers- without regrets.</blockquote>

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