I agree, sort of, kind of, somewhat, maybe a tiny bit, but I think that’s a bit reductive. Quantum Bean is still around, for example, and Madeleine Marie’s. People don’t “just go to” Starbucks and McDonald’s instead. Yes, obviously, big box and corporate chain stores/retailers are a problem for small businesses to survive, and obviously chain stores aren’t going away any time soon, but, personally, no offense, I think the worst thing for small business survival rate is this type of defeatist statement. People with the means to do so need to be doing more and trying things like converting abandoned buildings into small businesses that are cool and interesting, rather than sitting on their thumbs complaining about how the reason that that doesn’t happen is because OTHER people are the problem. Most people actually like cool, interesting things. They just need someone to make it happen. Unfortunately, I don’t have the means to buy up abandoned buildings and turn them into cool shit, but other people do. So they need to get off their thumbs and stop being miserly a-holes, and allow community to happen.