Author needs to get out into rural America and see an old-time company store or a general store (no, not a Dollar General, tyvm, think 1860s-1940s shopping in small towns).
And fwiw, Walmart has raped every small town they’ve set foot in. So the Walton’s could be trillionaires by using our tax dollars to fund their business. Their ‘dark store theory’ damage in one tiny town https://www.cityofhoughton.com/walmartbreach/ (tl:dr - Walmart won’t pay their long-agreed-on property taxes because they’ve come up with yet another way to stiff the locals).
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