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I'll note a few things that I've observed mostly because I live in an isolated city. Reasonable population (about 40,000) but no road access. I've lived here for 30 years now, from the time when people who flew to Anchorage would bring back a load of Big Mac's for their friends.
Today, there's not only a MacDonald's but there's a Fred Meyer, a Walmart, and-opened two years ago-a Home Depot. This has, as others have noted, lowered prices & profits for the 'old-time' businesses. Few of them have actually gone under, but I know these people & know that their profits have decreased. And they're not hurting. Their profits have decreased from 'make me rich' to 'give me a fair living'. Jobs have definitely increased. And the biggest impact? People no longer fly to Seattle & Anchorage for 'shopping weekends'.
Believe me, people didn't do that because it was cheaper. Yes, the cost of goods was cheaper, but not when you included the cost of the flight plus the hotel stay. So, what's most changed by chain stores coming in is local selection. Few people objected to paying higher prices in the local stores-what we objected to was being unable to find what we wanted. And the local businesses weren't interested in helping-they had, at that time, a captive audience.
When the chains came in they put on a big push to 'be loyal to locals'. My response, along with others, was "where was the loyalty to us?" Local businesses tend to believe in 'one-way' loyalty. Personally, I'd rather deal with a business that doesn't believe in loyalty at all. Except when the owners are friends. But even for friends, loyalty, to me, means I'll give them my time to help them out. Not that I'll give them my money.
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