What many people don't seem to understand is that the primary factor in the demise of small-town America wasn't Safeway, Sears, Wal-Mart, etc. -- it was the growth of the automobile as the primary means of transportation for middle-class Americans and the development of the interstate highway system in the 1950s. From that point forward, a retail location in a town center that was primarily pedestrian-accessible became a major disadvantage. The economies of scale realized by large shopping centers is what made downtown areas obsolete as retail centers.
Nobody is going to carry a couple of 4x8 sheets of plywood home from a local hardware store, or eight bags of groceries home from a local grocery store.
Walmart raised $8.5 million for the WWII memorial and GAVE $6 million to the project, what did the mom and pop stores do?
You said a mouthful there. No one wants to walk anymore. It used to be common in our small town to see ladies walking to the local grocery wheeling their little 2-wheel grocery totes. Now everyone wants to drive everywhere; Americans love their cars.
What has happened here in our very rural small town is that the Wal-Mart and Tops were built on the best farmland, and their bulk buying power undercut the local businesses who do not have that advantage. One small example was their horse-equipment department; after the local feed & equipment store went out of business, Wal-Mart dropped that department, so now instead of two choices for buyers there are none. The big store management-level employees were all from out of town, and most of the rest are part-time. While many people love the lower prices and easy parking, their taxes have gone up since Wal-Mart eroded the tax base by putting downtown retailers out of business and by employing out-of-towners.
The presence of Wal-Mart and (foreign owned)Tops is a double-edged sword, and while things are certainly different, I can't honestly say that there is an improved the quality of life or of economics here.
In my local, when a person leaves for college, they rarely return to STA, not because not because it lacks opportunity, but because after 4 years of college, it isn't their home anymore.
The friends they may have had in STA most likely will not return, and themselves returning to STA means isolating themselves from current contacts. Throw in an age gap difference between the much older population that has made a living and raised a family in STA, and the very small population in the returning person's age group, potential mates are very reduced.
STA has career opportunities, it just however does not have social opportunities. Few people want to live and work in an area where they have little opportunity to find love, or to raise children who will attend a consolidated school located half a county away.
While it is true STA has a hard time competing with discount stores and major retailers, the true driving factor in STA's decline is a shrinking customer and worker base. Fewer college bound kids returning to start families and businesses means STA's battle isn't with discount stores... it is attrition.