There was a time when people fought against K-Mart because it was thought that K-Mart would kill small local businesses.
When the local media was doing the normal “Lowe’s will kill small businesses” schtick I had to laugh. Past experienc told me that the smaller, local hardware store/lumber yards would actually do better in the long run because of such an openning. It’s now been 2 years since Lowe’s openned, right across from WalMart, and the owner of the hardware store/lumber yard that we prefer continues to see an increase in his business. He will often tell my husband to go to Lowe’s for some items, but has found that Lowe’s seems to send him more business than he sends their way.
Large and small businesses of similar natue can, and do, peacefully co-exist with both making money.
an EMT was in line to return something at our local walmart when a customer went down....the managers all ran over and stood there......she pushed through looked for a pulse and initiated CPR...when he came around and the medics got there she turned the patient over to them and went back to line......the managers came and asked for her name and address...which she was reluctant to give...they told her corporate headquarters was going to want to “thank her”...I expect she got a nice gift card and a letter.