It's not true that better utility will cause the stores to stick around. Some utility will be external to the buyer or seller (for our society, for example), an

It's not true that better utility will cause the stores to stick around. Some utility will be external to the buyer or seller (for our society, for example), and some utility will possibly come with dis-utility to, for example, a distribution chain. But, from a strictly analytical perspective, there might be benefits worth preserving. Also there are studies showing that utility is often invisible to the buyer (consider sophisticated electronics with characteristics such as power saving or such as high environmental costs). To take a classic example, medical care allows no practical way for the customer to judge quality or to price compare - that is an extreme example, but many products have such aspects. The common justification that "markets work" represents a philosophical position, not one backed up by experience in real-world markets.