>I wish things were more like in the physical world, where you might have hundreds or thousands of "etsys". Each having a unique vibe, products on offer, and so

>I wish things were more like in the physical world, where you might have hundreds or thousands of "etsys". Each having a unique vibe, products on offer, and so on. Each of these individual stores would have a reasonable and stable margin and relatively stable group of customers. They can all co-exist. Can it though? Even in the physical world, larger firms tend to buy up the smaller unique firms and turn them into monotonous big business. Eventually everything becomes McDonalds and Wal-Mart-- also easy for buyers because they only have to go to one familiar place. As much as people hate that, it does appeal to the natural desire for simplicity and repetition. Even though you can find obscure and out of the way stores to shop, most of the time people just go to the big box store they know already