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

In recent years, it has been observed that many local shops are closing due to changing shopping patterns of customers, as they are frequenting large shopping centres for their purchases.

This

is an especially troublesome development that can affect communities in a negative manner. With the improvements in infrastructure and transportation, people are now able to make long commutes to large shopping centres regularly in a cost effective manner and

this

has changed their shopping patterns. Malls offer several benefits to an average shopper. A shopping complex will have all types of items in a single place and it can cater to all the shopping needs and can offer more variety of items at a lower cost.

For example

, Walmart is 30 percent cheaper than an average local store.

Also

, many malls have designated food courts and play areas where the entire family can relax.

For instance

, Mall of America even has a movie theatre and a roller coaster inside the mall. All these benefits make the mall a more attractive option to an average shopper.

This

migration of customers from local shops to large malls is disastrous for communities. As

such

,

this

makes many of the local shop's non-viable as they are unable to keep the inventory and pay for the monthly upkeep of the store.

This

in-turn will affect the building owners who would be expecting the monthly rentals.

This

cascading effect can result in an economic depression in the local community. To address

this

problem, Many local communities are now taking deliberate steps to ensure that local businesses are financially viable. They promote special events that showcase local businesses and are limiting the number of shopping malls.

For example

, In California, local communities do not allow Walmart to open a store. In Conclusion, the trend of customers moving from local shops to shopping malls is indeed a negative development and corrective actions must be taken to make local shops seem an attractive option for general customers.