Re:What happens to a tiny town when Walmart disappears
by eropple on Sunday February 07, 2016 @11:44AM
(#11053470)
I'm not sure you quite grasp how hardscrabble these areas are, and 7/11 and Shell are both franchise operations in the first place. The capital still needs to come from somewhere, and gas has worse margins than grocery in the first place.
Re:What happens to a tiny town when Walmart disappears
by a3n on Sunday February 07, 2016 @12:06PM
(#11053602)
I understand the area is hardscrabble. And yes, 7/11 and Shell are franchises, that's the point. It's a response to the idea that mom and pop might not be able to step up to serve the community. That would be preferred, but if they don't, it's still possible to reduce the need for three hour drives, with a BigCorp that already knows how to do retail and already has the lines in place.
There are lots of ways to fill a hole.
Re:What happens to a tiny town when Walmart disappears
by coldtea on Sunday February 07, 2016 @12:12PM
(#11053628)
>But, the economy abhors a vacuum
In theory. In practice there are tons of areas that a vacuum exists for decades.
The same way there are tons of rural communities in the US where you still can't get an internet connection apart from dial-up.
If I ran 7/11 or Shell, I might be thinking about how to put in gas 'n goes with a somewhat larger retail footprint, a larger percentage of life groceries than potato chips. That would have the backing of a large corp, so the first yearly lack of profit wouldn't kill mom and pop's retirement, and comes with knowledge of running the outlet and managing supply lines.
Bonus, you're gonna gas up before you make that three hour grocery run, maybe what they have at the gas station is good enough, or reduces the number of trips you need to make.