Cincytrains posted:I also think it has to do with what area of the US one is in. For example, my in laws live in Findlay, Ohio. Every store in that town is a chain from Olive Garden, Home Depot, Walmart etc..Everything there has a drive through including the beer place where you drive through. Now, Im in White Plains, about 15 min from the Bronx, there are very few chains at all in Westchester County, we just have 1 Walmart. Hardware Stores in the old sense are plentiful, thank God, and are excellent sources for everything. We have a great train store, Tom's Trains at Ardsley Hardware, etc. And if one goes out to Long Island, Train Land, Nassau Hobby, Willis Hobby are all there and are well stocked stores. So I wonder if the NYC Metro area is weathering this storm better. Just my 2 cents!
Great points. We've been lamenting the demise on the LHS on many threads, but you raise a bigger point, the demise of small town retail. The big box chains and chain restaurants are pervasive in rural America right now. WalMart started the trend by setting up shop on the outskirts near the freeways, and the rest is history. The online move is just the continuation of the same trend. I think brick-and-mortar LHS have it tough everywhere like any small retailer, but their odds are better in population-dense areas. I have a number of train LHS options to choose from in the Cleveland-Akron area, for example.
