Pretty soon, online will be the only shopping option.

[virginia farm girl]

Originally Posted by movin'on

Oh, who needs all those stores anyway? Time to hunker down, pay off debt and save.

Actually, this is welcome news to me. I am tired of this consumerist society - packed parking lots, people buying crap they don't need. The only thing worth investing in are things that will hold their value. I wish everyone would just pay down their mortgages and pay off their debt. Time to start being adults.

[texdav]

Originally Posted by mbuszu

I predict that the next generations of Americans are going to be much more entrepreneurial than the vast majority of the boomer generation. They will have a preference to start and operate their own business vs working for and retiring from a large corporation. Large corporations will still be a big part of everyone's life (probably driving the online economy of the future), but I foresee many more small but successful niche businesses with physical presence in every population center.

Will mom and pop stores thus make a comeback? You bet. The negative affects of large-scale retail corporations on local economies are now well known and understood (no longer just theory). This realization has been over 20 years in the making and within another 20 state and local legislation will favor small and medium sized businesses to such a degree that they'll compete well with the Wal-Marts of the world.

I think you need to look again as the boomers made small businesses the trademark of their generatioon. Look at the statistics in the last few decades;small business has created more jobs than big businesss in this country.The numbers are staggering especailly during the last two decades alone. Like always there were alot of failures but the numbers of successful small businesses has never been greater.Do they compete with the wal-marts ;of course not they find the niche that has made them successful. Are they like mom and pop stores of the 20's thru 60's ;of course not times have changed and the types of businesses also except for comvenince stores. This begs the question;where have you been?