Here’s the ‘Death of small stores map’ http://projects.flowingdata.com/walmart/
I utterly despise Walmart, and avoid it unless there’s I absolutely need as soon as possible. I dislike the employees, the customers, and the fact there’s 30 cash registers, but only two are open along with half a dozen self checkouts. The thing which sounded the death knell for any regular shopping incursion was when I was carded while buying a roll of camouflage duct tape prior to a deployment.
Cool.
However, it is quite indisputable that WM has played an enormous role in making retail more efficient.
While this had had many undesirable effects, it has also had many desirable ones. I saw one study that claimed the reduction in prices created by WM has had a greater effect on reducing poverty than all the government programs in history.
For some obscure reason people sneer at cost reduction, while they would never dream of objecting to an increase in wages.
Yet a 10% reduction in cost of things bought due to WM-driven efficiencies is considerably more beneficial to your bottom line than a 10% increase in salary.