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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dannyalcatraz" data-source="post: 2413590" data-attributes="member: 19675">....No they don't.  That's competition.  However, the use monopoly/oligopoly power (as opposed to merely being better competitors) to overwhelm smaller companies is, by definition, anticompetitive, and could be an illegal trade practice.One example of that is using "predatory pricing" - THAT is a crime, first under the Sherman Anti-trust act, then under the UCC, then under numerous state codes.  The problem is, regardless of whose law, its a very difficult and expensive crime to prove.  As such, it usually gets invoked only in major cases, like when the Japanese automakers were caught undercutting their own prices to get market share in the USA in the 1970's or when certain airlines tried to drive others out of business.  Wal-Mart is being investigated for it in several states.For the LGS's to allege it is easy- most of the retailers undercutting them are major conglomerates who can sell a product below cost indefinitely to gain marketshare/ gain a monopoly.  For LGS's to prove predatory pricing- not so much. The point was that a large retailer could drop their entire RPG product line in a day and replace it with something else once they've destroyed the local competion.  LGS's tend to sell a lot of other products that large retailers like- comics, certain toys, certain games, and most importantly, certain products that tie into major movies and franchises, like Star Wars, Star Trek, X-Men, etc.Just a side note as an example:  30 or so years ago, a Mom & Pop toy store was commonplace.  Then came chains like Toys-R-Us and Kay-Bee.  Now, Wal-Mart is the #1 toyseller in the world, beating the competition by so much, Toys-R-Us is considering divesting itself of its toy stores (CNN)!Monopolies and Oligopolies are good for things like utilities, not for supporting hobbies.</blockquote>

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