I prefer to support small businesses, but anytime I visit any in my area, they generally offer similar or the exact same products that I can order online for less.

I’m struggling enough right now, and every dollar counts. I’m rooting for the little guys, but I’m not willing to go broke to save them.

From personal experience. I am willing to assign a higher value to products made by local and/or small businesses, even if it doesn’t otherwise make any practical sense. But it is a very conscientious moral judgement on my end, so I don’t expect most people to behave this way… and I have a limit too, +100% is probably too much.

Although I guess the benefit of being a “small” business is that you also don’t need as many customers… There are also some types of small businesses that are competitive: I suppose most ethnic food stores or your local market stall won’t struggle with competing on price.

how is it that there are any little shops left at all?

Maybe this depends on the area? I don’t know if it is just me, but it seems to me that these days small businesses do better in larger cities… maybe larger cities have more “ethical shoppers”

Carpenter, plumber, electricians and similar tradesmen about half of them work for or run a small to medium business where I live.

Dentists, hairdressers, lawyers also come to mind.

There are a lot of machine shops that are small businesses too.

Lots of professional services are run out of small businesses - doctor’s offices, law firms, plumbers, electricians, auto mechanics, etc.

Microbreweries, restaurants, candy shops, bakeries, local hardware store.

I use them frequently. Up until 2 years ago, I lived in a town where I could’ve walked to all those spots(not candy store).

For me it’s usually niche things and like you mentioned, ethnic foods and local restaurants. There is a tea and coffee shop near me that sells locally roasted coffee, and a plethora of loose leaf teas. The farmers market when open is a great for produce and some nick knacks. We have a co-op that has a little market in it where I’ve purchased yarn and knitting supplies.

I don’t explicitly try to shop small stores or local, but a lot of the big box options have highlighted in recent years just how shitty they are, and I avoid those places as much as I can. I am financially stable, so I do have the luxury of being able to choose where I buy groceries without breaking the bank, and that’s not lost on me. I haven’t been to Target since they caved on DEI, Walmart just a few times in the last couple of years since sometimes it’s the only option, Amazon maybe twice for the same reason as Walmart.

It’s not been the easiest transition and in some cases it’s more expensive, but I’ve also cut some things like buying PepsiCo products regularly and not replacing with an alternative.

My local hardware store stands apart as an indispensable local retail utility and I buy everything I possibly can there, because I like having a local hardware store and occasionally really need one. I buy all the household cleaning products I can there, for example, because they sell them, I need them, and I’m incredibly happy to pay whatever extra 40 cents they cost over having Amazon pack up a box of dish pods into its own cardboard box and truck it out to my house,

There are a lot of farms around here, and thus a lot of farmer’s markets. There’s a lot of craft breweries, and the downtown core has recently been gentrified so there are a ton of small businesses there. A witchy store, a book store, a jewellery store, a collectibles store, a coffee roastery, a barber shop, a piercing/tattoo parlour, and don’t get me started on the restaurants.

There’s been a lot of investment in the area to make it walkable, and I’ve seen a huge uptick in tourists since it looks so appealing now.

Exactly like you - restaurants and grocery I can do local small business. Also services, haircut and such, I don’t use chain places. And I try to pay very local people for anything we get done to the house, the pets, the yard.

But the “corner convenience store” that has the household stuff is Walgreens, there isn’t a local equivalent nearby and yes buying stuff 'on the ground ’ sometimes costs so very much more than ordering online.

Restaurants (including franchises of chains) are indeed a major segment of small businesses. Looking more broadly, any industry which: 1) offers a service/product/utility, and 2) has proven to not have a tendency to inflate beyond its fundamental target audience, those are likely to be small businesses. Those are the parameters which stave off any sort of corporate takeovers and consolidations, because they won’t invest in a small business if the prospect of infinite growth isn’t there. So the business stays small. And small is often perfectly fine.

That is to say, restaurants (humans can only eat so much food), bicycle stores (humans can only ride so much per day), and local produce shops (even in the Central Valley of California, there’s only so much produce to sell, and humans can’t eat infinite quantities) have these qualities.

But compare those to a restaurant supply warehouse or music equipment store, since those items can be shipped and need no customization by the end user. Consolidation and corporate meddling is possible and probable.

Then you have industries which are often local and small but are prone to financial hazards, such as real estate agents and used car lenders. Because they get paid as a percentage of the transaction size, if the price of houses or cars go up in an unchecked fashion, the profit margins also increase linearly, which makes them more tempting for corporate involvement.

There are corporate-owned national chains of real estate agents, self storage, department stores, and payday loan offices in the USA. But I’m not aware of a national chain for bicycle or bicycle accessories. Even regional chains for bicycles are few and far between. Some consolidation has happened there, but by most definitions, a bicycle shop is very much a small business.

I try to buy local if I can, but like you say, it’s not always possible, and often comes with an attractive price tag.

The things that I feel matter are supporting local farms and food markets, as well as local businesses. I’d rather support my local dentist than a national chain. I’d rather buy my veg from the Saturday farmers market than from the grocery store, when able. Keeping the money local does play a part in maintaining the local economy. Most of our purchases wind up shipping money out of our community, so I try where I can to plug the leak.

I’m also a small business, so it’s important to show my support for others.

I try to do most of my shopping at small businesses and I almost never buy anything from the Internet. I find it’s usually cheaper when you take into account shipping and whatever fees get tacked on, and I also get the thing I want that day. I know I’m not getting scammed because I can see the thing in my hands, I know what I’m getting. The chain I go to the most is my grocery store. For eating out I go to a small locally owned restaurant because it’s about the same price or cheaper than the fast food.

I’m lucky enough to live in a city that has all this so I don’t look down on people who can’t access this stuff and have to buy online, but I do push people to at least but directly from people instead of Amazon. I’ve also never bought a thing from Amazon, ever.

I guess I’m an outlier but with where I live and what I want or need, it’s pretty easy to not buy from the Internet or big box stores.

I only see advantages in the long term in supporting the local comerce, even if you can find cheaper stuff in any agressive big-box or on-line stores, they are big because they aim for one only thing: monopoly.