Here in northern NJ they outsell the competition on just about everything (though some of the stuff isn’t as good); my town lost its PathMark a few years ago, and I have to believe it was related to the recent opening of Wal-Mart.
I don’t believe our K-Mart is long for this world, either; while it used to be packed, it is now easy to park close to the doors. I was in the electronics sections some months ago, and it wasn’t staffed; after about five of us were milling around by the register, a woman behind a nearby jewelry counter called someone on the PA system, who promptly appeared to serve all of us at once. A bad omen...
There are a few benefits to the Heartland here.
Most popcorn (of any kind) is more local and always good. It’s actually hard to find beef and other meat that isn’t really good. And eggs are almost always cheap and fresh. Same with milk and butter.
You realize that there are huge swathes of NY and NJ that are dependent on Wegman’s and Whole Foods. Wally World’s quality is crap, ditto Pathmark and A&P.