4 ms·

More likely retail- in my town the bookstore, stationary store, newsstand, hardware stores, etc. were all family owned until the big box stores opened up two to

• OneEyedRobot 5y ago
  Both (farming and retail) of course. When I was a kid the only businesses I can remember being non-locally owned were a Safeway and branches of two state-wide banks. This is in a town of 20k or so (at the time). There were small local manufacturing firms, 100% of restaurants were local (no chains), nearly all grocery stores were family owned, you could still make a living as a rancher. Obviously there were franchises (gas stations, a small Sears store mostly for catalog ordering) but not very many. The difference from modern times is remarkable.
• mc32 5y ago
  And local druggists whose pharmacies also provided other services. It's not a particularly American thing, this transformation is everywhere --that does not imply it's good for everyone.