I do not share your hope of it being a minority. I understand your remark regarding a possible "social shame" of not wanting to be seen in "stores for the poor"

I do not share your hope of it being a minority. I understand your remark regarding a possible "social shame" of not wanting to be seen in "stores for the poor", but this effect is gone. At least it is over here. Value shopping is acceptable across the classes. I don't know if this extends to the US, but over here there has been a massive shift in retail. The middle is gone. There's value shopping and there's luxury shopping. Very low-end and very high-end. Stores in the mid segment, which used to dominate retail, are falling apart. Some of these chains existed for over a century, had stores in every dutch city. They're all going bankrupt or already are. They have no reason to exist. Their products may be of a slightly better quality, but barely so, as they too go for cheap Chinese garbage. They don't really offer better service because they can't afford to. Their staff are clueless teenagers for being cheap.