A great article on the problem with the idea of “shop local” saving small businesses, and an old school styled blog to go along with it.

It paints a picture that lines up with what I’ve observed, that major city centers will eventually all look the same because only “big retail” can exist there, and smaller cities will take up the unique stores that big cities once had. If you want to save big cities, it might be time to switch all of the “keep CITY NAME HERE weird” slogans to “the rent is too damn high”.