I enjoy variety, though. Go to any town in America and you get the same food joints, same malls, same stores, same groceries, and same Wal-Mart. Even the floor plans are the same.
I like small town shopping areas with odd shops and odd characters running them. In them you find things that no one else carries.
Small stores biggest mistake, imo, is not their prices, but their operating hours. They MUST be open during the critical "after work to 10 pm" period of time. So many of them want to close at 5 or 6 pm and then complain about Wal-Mart.
If I get off work at 5 and eat dinner, Mom&Pop are already closed when I get ready to shop. No wonder everyone goes to Wal-Mart.....they're open!