Why do people support large corporations instead of the small, locally owned businesses?

Question

Wal-Mart, Starbucks, Target, Lowes Hardware, Best Buy, Schnucks, etc. are all companies that sell products that you can get from a small business in your community. Why don't we support our neighbors instead of the rich and priveledged?

Answer 1

Nice anarchist black flag...

If possible I would certainly only patronize small businesses. The problem is that as these corporations squeeze people out of the market the populous has become poorer as a whole. As people become poorer and their standard of living declines they are forced to shop at the large chain stores to save money because their wages have declined. This feeds more money to those corporations to continue to expand and force out more small businesses.

Sound like a slippery slope? Pretty much true though.

Not to mention 1)convenience - all under one roof 2)standardization - Starbucks is always the same 3)consumerist addiction in US 4)etc, etc, etc

Don't forget that all of these companies are leading the way in our trade deficit to China because all of the cheap junk they are convincing us to buy

Answer 2

"Why don't we support our neighbors instead of the rich and priveledged?"

In business, the larger corporations have all the deals worked out to pass on the best prices to the consumer. Yes, it does create more money for them...but that is the nature of BUSINESS. Business is about making money. And if you read two books by Robert Kiyosaki called "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" and "Cash Flow Quadrant", you will see how the money truly works in this world. We can actively make money by either being an employee or a traditional business owner (like your neighbors). Or we can make it passively by investing it wisely (no less than $250,000 to be willing to lose), or entering into a business system like the bigger coporations have, and creating more profit and revenue passively. The difference between the two aspects of creating money is that actively, every minute is worth a dollar bill. You actively seek that money everytime you work, either as an employee or as a tradition business owner. Hours on boths ends are being traded for dollars. And at anytime, that income can disappear due to illness or what not. But passively, the work is either invested in by the utilization of money, and letting the money go to work for you; or using a business system like the bigger corporations use to help you do the work smarter for a shorter period of time, and the rewards are reaped for a lifetime and beyond. The larger corporations found a method to create income passively. It is not that they are just rich and priveledged, they just found a way to create money another way that most people overlook. Business is not evil, it is not negative...it is just business. And we all do business everyday. We all sell something somewhere through our daily lives. So business is just merely a reflection of how we choose to live our lives, and the money reaped is only a relfection of those choices.

I encoruage you to read those books I mentioned above by Robert Kiyosaki. I believe you can gather much from them.

Answer 3

I think it comes down to money. The local business person just can't compete price-wise. Now I know that buying from large corporations ultimately hurts free-trade and builds market monopolies, but the average Joe on the street will go to Wal Mart and spend $10 on an item rather than paying $14.50 at the local business in town.

Answer 4

Because large retailers offer lower prices and better selection; many also have online stores, which makes selection even better. Last time I went into a Gap store, I wanted a pair of jeans. They had some colors I liked, but not in my size. Never mind; I figured out which size fits me and which colors I liked and ordered that size in those colors at Gap.com. Try that at your neighbor's store...

Additionally, large retailers have no rules like "you broke it, you buy it", "all sales are final", or "there will be a 45 cent surcharge for using credit or debit cards".

Also, by buying from large companies, you support the poor and the unprivileged who work there and whom mom-and-pop shops would never hire.

Answer 5

For any number of reasons. Convenience, price, and habit are just a few that come to mind. Also, small businesses don't always have the means/funds to do advertising like big businesses do so sometimes people don't know that they exist.

Answer 6

I shop at wallmart and target but I also shop at the local co-opp. I buy things at the mall but I also visit the downtown mom and pop shops. I think it just depends on what I am after. If it's good vegitables then I go co-opp if it's cat litter I go wallmart and if it's clothes I go to Kohls. But if it's for unique gifts for friends and families it's the mom and pop shops. It's all about balance.

Answer 7

It's all about the money. Why pay more, sometimes almost double, at a mom and pop store when you can get it someplace else way cheaper. Not everybody has the money to give back to the small stores and have to manage their money wisely.

Answer 8

Even though I shop at large store chains it is because I can buy things cheaper there but I do not consider myself actually supporting them (even though it is). When I can I buy locally but usually it costs me more and I am on a limited budget.

Answer 9

maybe because of low prices or to save time because under one roof you have it all,or both.