In recent years, many small local shops have closed because customers travel to large shopping centers or malls to do their shopping. Is this a positive or a negative development?

Buyer preferences have changed in recent years as they have started shopping from malls

instead

of small local businesses; which has resulted in

closure

Suggestion

the closure

of these local establishments. In my opinion,

this

is a negative development due to its effects on local vendors as well as unknowing customers themselves. Shutting down of local shops has resulted in widespread job loss to the communities where they were situated in. As the nature of these businesses was to serve the

vicinity they

Accept comma addition

vicinity, they

were situated in, these layoffs had the biggest impact on the resident workers who have felt the impact of lower incomes. A national newspaper recently reported that suicide rates have increased in the country and upon investigation it was found that 20% of these suicides were by people who lost their local jobs in the past 6 months. The customers, unknowingly, are

also

now worse off after they have started buying from large shopping centres.

This

is because the local shops offered more variety and competition between establishments of one locality with the other, and

therefore

kept the prices in check.

For example

, a survey on consumers quoted that in recent

years shoppers

Accept comma addition

years, shoppers

have complained that they are paying extra for the same quality item and they now have limited alternatives.

Hence

,

although

these shopping centres have provided

convinience

the state of being suitable or opportune

convenience

to shoppers, they have unknowingly reduced choice and increased cost of goods. In conclusion, the centralization of shopping has caused more damage than good to the vendors as well as the consumers. The government can regulate

this

by instating limits on the number of

such

centres which can operate in a particular area.