Mega-businesses, like JC_Penny, Walmart, Nordstroms, and similar do open up in an area, but all profit gets siphoned elsewhere. It makes wherever $BigCo's Headquarters much richer at the expense of every community they go into.
Whereas, the little one and two store local business takes money from local people, and its turned right around and reinvested in that very community.
One drains a community of its wealth, while the other bolsters it.
Politicians have always (in recent years) accepted that $BigCo moving in is an absolute boon. And the politicians award the business with abatements, tax writeoffs, and other vehicles to "sweeten the deal". But none of the small businesses have these connections. Nor can they request abatements, or low to 0 interest loans.
But as we see, once a chain starts haemorrhaging, every community with one of these carcasses ends up rotting the whole area at its core.