Understanding the Wal-Mart Effect explains what happened when Wal-Mart overcame opposition and moved into Boone, North Carolina:
As it often does, Wal-Mart won. And since then, Boone has experienced the Wal-Mart effect. First, some Mom-n-Pop shops in Boone may have gone out of business due to the intense competition. But something interesting has happened: many new businesses have sprung up and they’re cooler, more interesting, and more highly specialized than most of the old ones were. Mom-n-Pop have decided to move into more boutique-style businesses — and not even Wal-Mart can compete with that.