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The old internet shows signs of quietly coming back

(cheapskatesguide.org)
622 points ColinWright | 2 comments | 25 Jan 22 22:24 UTC | HN request time: 0.553s | source
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madrox ◴[25 Jan 22 23:10 UTC] No.30079440[source]▶
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.
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1. PaulDavisThe1st ◴[25 Jan 22 23:20 UTC] No.30079555[source]▶
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.

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2. Melatonic ◴[26 Jan 22 00:10 UTC] No.30079992[source]▶
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.