The old internet shows signs of quietly coming back

When Walmart started taking over consumer goods, everyone thought small business was dead. All that was really died was the general store, and we saw a rise in boutique storefronts. Depending on their niche, people craved more than the lowest common denominator that Walmart provided, and these small businesses filled a need. I've long held that social media is following a similar trend. Much like Shopify, the next wave of businesses will enable companies to run communities that feel, as the article puts it, "smol." Discord is a great example of this.

Yep, humanity and its demands are multifaceted. We want good stuff cheap and affordable as the rise of Walmart and Amazon goes to show. But we also want to feel unique and support recognizably human businesses. I don't see any reason why they both shouldn't exist.

I don't think this is correct. For somewhere in the range of 3 decades, companies like Walmart have decimated small businesses. "Boutique storefronts" have not replaced the stores that Walmart et al. helped to shutter all through the late 80s until today. They exist (mostly in large cities), but the reality is that small business, compared to the way it was in, say, 1974, did die.

It might be true that things like Shopify help to resucitate it, but I'm skeptical. I also don't care about things "feeling" small when they actually vast: this is nothing more than a marketing (de|il)lusion, and does nothing to promote the kind of diversified, distributed form of a resilient, vibrant, equitable and opportunity-filled economy.

small shops are dead in small towns though. Only big cities can support the diversity now. And online giants have decimated the book shops, even more so, just because online book sales are so efficient.

Yea I agree - Walmart and Amazon and all the giant corps have destroyed small businesses. We may be exposed to it less becuase like you said - the audience here lives in large cities where the population is diverse and wealthy enough for them to survive.

We have seen tons of boutique online vendors pop-up however. I wonder how the total diversity compares?

A new age "general store" that was a group of small online vendors getting together (shared ownership) might be an interesting way to resurge local business - imagine like a co-op but for small businesses all under shared physical locations. Products and vendors could even rotate out depending on the season and local population.

> All that was really died was the general store, and we saw a rise in boutique storefronts.

Ouch, head outside a major metro area sometime. There's small towns all over the country with a Walmart on one side of town and a Dollar General on the other with nothing but shuttered buildings in between save for the occasional fast food joint.

Walmart destroyed businesses in small towns. They bought up cheap land on the outskirts of town and leveraged their huge infrastructure to undercut all local retailers. The local retailers would be paying Main Street rents with little to no economies of scale. There's just no competing with Walmart in many small towns.