It is true that in some parts of the world small shops in town centres are on the brink of bankruptcy as people have developed the preference of going shopping in large shopping malls on the outskirts. While there could be some benefits of this phenomenon, I believe that its drawbacks are much greater.
On the one hand, there are several positive effects that the trend towards going out of town to purchase products in big commercial malls can have. The initial advantage is that this trend can serve as a great source of motivation for people to work harder and smarter so that they can have enough money to afford cars and various high-quality products in big stores. This in turn is likely to have beneficial effects on improving people’s quality of life and on a town’s economic growth. In addition, the change in people’s shopping preference may encourage them to move to places where big stores are established to live. As a result, the problem of overpopulation and the ever-growing pressure on housing supply systems that many towns are facing can be partly reduced.
However, I believe that the above-mentioned merits are overweighed by the more serious disadvantages. Firstly, this development is causing many small town-centre shops to go bankrupt, and thus people who have no cars are facing great inconvenience because these inhabitants have to spend more time travelling long distances on public transport in order to get to out-of-town stores. Without this situation, their valuable time could be spent on more productive activities such as playing sports, working a second job, or taking care of family members. Secondly, this development may lead to an increase in the usage of private cars, meaning that traffic-related problems may become aggravated. Two of the major issues that should be mentioned are heavy traffic jams and traffic accidents.
In conclusion, although the fact that more and more people are choosing to go shopping in big stores located away from centres of towns could bring about some favorable impacts, it seems to me that these merits would be overshadowed by the more significant downsides.