Comment by Moru

> I go out of my way to support local business.

Let me tell you a little story my friend ....

Near my friend's house, there used to be a little mulit-generation "mom & pop" hardware shop.

It was an aladdin's cave. As a customer the place looked a mess, floor to ceiling (and even the ceiling !) covered in hardware widgets. But the owner could wave his magic wand and go find exactly what you wanted.

One day, across the street, a new shop opened. It was the "click & collect" branch for a large national hardware retailer.

All the builders and electricians that used to shop at the little shop moved over to the large retailer because they had all their trade discounts.

The little shop couldn't survive on the random home owner just popping into buy a single screw or a short length of cable. So they shut down.

Fast forward a few years and along comes Mr Property Developer. Takes one look at the patch where the large national retailer's shop is and thinks "ooh, that looks nice".

So they bought out those shops, knocked them down and turned the plot into a high-rise instead. But the national retailer survived because by then most people were getting stuff delivered to site from online orders by couriers and not doing many collections.

So dream all you like about "support your local business". But the reality is that its more like Darwin's theory of evolution out there. Those who can adapt thrive. Those who don't will be eaten by a predator.

The reality is its 2025, we live in an ever increasing online world, and all these "local businesses" of which you speak need to learn that online footfall is just as important (if not more important) than the traditional walk-in footfall.

Totally understand that and pretty much agree, the main problem I have is that the local businesses I liked to support are basically all gone. Not sure what to do now.