I get into schticks at the store, every batch of tourists is a new audience. My latest is; the battle between the small independent stores and the mass market stores is over, and has been over for decades. It is only in the realm of public perception that the battle is still being fought.

It's not 50/50 small store vs big store. It's more like 5/95, or worse. I really believe this.

When I did that google search a few months back, and found that just about every popular arts type of small store hovered around 2000, (3000 for some, 1000 for others, but really in that range) it was a real eye opener. Bookstores, record stores, comics stores, game stores, toy stores, and so on. Even accounting for hybrids, I figure there are only about 20,000 people left in the U.S.A. who actually own a store that sells these things.

Think about that. In a country of 100's of millions, we have a total of 1/4th the population of Bend who are doing the old fashioned buying popular material from the manufacturers and selling to consumers.

There are tons more small business that are 'service' oriented. The reason for that is that they haven't brought back slavery, so they can charge for their expertise what they need to charge.

If there are only 20,000 shops selling popular culture items, the perforce all the rest are being sold by the mass market. This would fit into my experience with bookstores. Barnes and Nobles opened in Bend, and immediately started selling at least 6 or 7 times what all the independent bookstores were selling. (My guesstimates, but I don't think I'm far off.) That's not even counting the huge numbers of books sold by Walmart and Costgo and Fred Meyer and all the rest. And let's not talk about Amazon....

I don't believe I'm exaggerating; I'd love to have someone who could provide some contrary statistics.

I've made my own accommodation with this. I carry 8 different product lines, 7 of which the mass market do and so I can only pick up 'sideline' or 'incidental' revenue from -- so I have to carry 7 kinds of product, (with as much knowledge and selection and space as I can provide), in order to equal half of my sales. The other half of my sales, comics, the mass market hasn't figured is worth going after (yet) nor has it figured out a way to make it cost-effective (yet).

I'll often get the comment, 'the mass market carries only the best-sellers, but you carry the rest.' Well, think about that comment. Why don't they carry the rest?
Because they don't sell? So that's what we get to sell? Gee, thanks.

I don't think there is much the consumer can do about this -- now. It's really just too late. Keeping the thousands of small businesses alive 20 or 30 years ago would have been much easier than trying to find a way to reopen an equal number. I mean, support your small local businesses when you can. If you can find one.