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Comment by xpda | Hacker News Reader

If people in a community have to drive three hours for food, then there will be enough demand that someone will open a grocery store. When there's an economic vacuum left by a closing superstore, other, possibly smaller, stores will come back and fill it. It's simple economics.

When a company such as Walmart opens or closes a large store, there seems to be a mass of news articles explaining how the opening or closing is destroying the community.

When a large store comes in, people rarely consider that the new jobs will have benefits and advancement opportunities not found in the traditional mom-and-pop stores. When a large store closes, people rarely mention that it will leave room for new mom-and-pop stores to open.

The fact is, large stores have a pluses and minuses. Their opening or closing is more a result of local economic conditions than the cause.

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In the real world, you have edge cases where the supply/demand curves run out of room and no one has any capital left to open a grocery store.

This is the thing that I keep thinking about. If Walmart comes in and essentially extracts the wealth of the community (profits of the store) and then leaves, how long does it take for that community to recover? How long before they can actually afford to invest in more stores to fill the gap?

You're incredibly ignorant to the reality if you really think that a small town wiped of small businesses by Walmart will have any capital to start a grocery store when they leave. Have you ever actually lived in a small town where most if not all of the population is struggling to make ends meet?

Further, what the heck are you talking about with "benefits and advancement opportunities" at Walmart? The employees are on food stamps just to get by! Where does that leave them extra capital or "benefits" to that situation?

I'm actually in the grocery business and know the economics of opening stores - you can open a store for practically nothing: you start as a convenience store selling staples like toilet paper, long shelf life foods, local produce and whatever the owner makes themselves (ethnic food, apple pies, etc). Then, you slowly add SKUs as you grow.

The rich call this a "food desert," urbanites call this the bodega or corner korean market and europeans have zillions of these. I actually love shopping in these places - terrific & patient service and amazing finds if you're patient.

The food distribution business is beautiful that way - economies of scale are very gentle. It's the exact opposite of automobiles and infrastructure software.

p.s. amazon+UPS is another great stopgap for these communities, and surprisingly efficient if they setup a DC (distribution center) somewhere a few hrs away with more limited selection. It's the 2016 equivalent of the milkman.

As a matter of fact, I do live in a small town with a median household income of less than $30,000. There is a Walmart store. Most Walmart employees do not qualify for food stamps, but they do get health and other benefits not available at many local small businesses. There are relatively high paying jobs at the Walmart store -- much higher than are typically available at local small businesses. And, if a Walmart employee is willing to relocate, there is even more advancement potential.

I cannot imagine anywhere in the lower 48 United States where there could be a community in which people have to drive three hours to get food. If there is, the demand would certainly justify someone from inside or outside the community opening a grocery store. A large capital outlay would not be necessary.

>If people in a community have to drive three hours for food, then there will be enough demand that someone will open a grocery store. When there's an economic vacuum left by a closing superstore, other, possibly smaller, stores will come back and fill it. It's simple economics.

Real life doesn't always play out like simple (simplistic) economics.

E.g. sometimes nobody will do the investment to build one for years.

Or it will much smaller and more expensive that a Walmart, but enough to stiffle anybody opening a competitor.

Have you considered the possibility that this analysis is over-simple and serves a particular narrative.

Have you considered making a more thoughtful reply, one that actually challenges the comment you're replying to?

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