Nowadays, the rise of shopping malls has been major trends in retailing and they are slowly replacing small shops, which has attracted numerous controversies and drawn the attention from the public. It can be agreed that consumers can reap more benefit from shopping malls, while on the other hand stands a perspective that the decline of small businesses are detrimental for local economy. This essay will elaborate on both sides and thus will lead to logical conclusion.
At the outset, there are numerous reasons why big shopping malls seem to be more attractive to customers, and the most conspicuous one stems from the fact that shopping malls can offer a whole variety of products and competitive price. For example, Chadstone is one of the most popular shopping malls located in Melbourne and gathers a collection of retailers, restaurants, as well as entertainments, which is more likely to satisfy the various demand of customers comparing to independent business. Thus, there are certainly benefits occurring from the shopping at big malls.
Nevertheless, there remain some drawbacks for the death of small shops and the most alarming one is the economic reason. As an illustration, small shops stimulate local economic growth as they usually source products or materials within local areas, comparing to big shopping malls which are more profit driven and prone to get competitive deals from overseas suppliers. Thus, the disappearance of small independent retailers can cause serious economic problems within local areas and challenge local supply chains.
In light of discussion above, it can be concluded that the impact of big shopping malls is prominent, although the way it disadvantages local economy should not be overlooked.
