Is It REALLY That Difficult To Keep Our Independent Businesses Around?

This is hard to post, and last night it was tough to read and digest the article "As a decades-old school supply store shuts down, local owners say they're facing shifts in retail, education". If I'm seeing is simply failure on the part of the schools to make one extra step to purchase locally, that's a huge problem. When did it get so hard to make the effort to spend in our own communities? Why is it always too hard to make the extra effort - to take one more step and keep a local business in place? (photo via WRAL.com)

"Don't Let This Happen to your Town" (the Death of Small Businesses Where You Live)

Originally posted back in 2014 under a different user name, I'm resharing this again. I still feel - despite the melancholy tone - that it has value and may inspire someone to really think before they leave town to shop elsewhere. We can't deny that this is indeed taking place all through our Main Streets and downtowns, neighborhoods and cities, and while I know "retail" as we once knew it will never be quite the same, I'm afraid that we as a society have stopped considering the implications of our choices, decisions and spending.