You're absolutely right! We're losing and continue to lose those wonderful, friendly, and helpful "mom and pop" stores that give a locale its "flavor and uniqueness"... So many towns are building cookie cutter strip malls that all look the same and have the same merchants (chain stores). Aside from increased employee costs, and increases in the basic cost of doing business as mandated / required by local, county, state, and federal governments,many merchants (in my area, at least) are finding that the biggest challenge is increased rents. I live in an area of the country that has some of the highest commercial and residential rents in the country (it's not uncommon for a 1 br. apartment to rent for more than $2500/ month; a 4-br. house for more than $6500 / month). In many cases, commercial property owners are raising rents more than 100% per month at lease renewal time, for their current tenants. (Rent control does not apply to commercial properties) Landlords will not negotiate. Pay it or leave is the attitude. Sometimes the cost of doing business just isn't worth the cost in time, energy, the paperwork of complying with regulations, and dollars. Consider the number of locally-owned bookstores, shoe stores, card and gift shops, small clothing stores, flower shops, hardware stores, gardening and nursery shops, as well as service oriented shops have disappeared from the commercial landscape. I enjoyed visiting those local shops and spending my money locally, but no longer do so, primarily because those merchants are long-gone. I positively HATE going to a big box store or the mall (BTW, they're in trouble, as well for all the same reasons as the local stores) and dealing with all the chaos, confusion, and crowds. Many of my dollars, now, are spent on-line. Yes, living in CA I still have to pay sales tax for on-line purchases, but dollars which would have been funneled into local businesses are now spent on-line...and the purchase is delivered to my door or office within hours or a couple of days.