Any entrepreneurial "Mom & Pop" stores that still exist could only be hanging on by a thread. These types of retail shops were under assault long before Amazon, Alibaba, eBay, Walmart and others existed. Privately owned retails stores (and even door to door salesmen) began their slide into history when catalog sales and franchises came along.

Even computer and appliance repair shops and headed in that direction because it's often cheaper to buy brand new instead of making repairs. When was the last time you saw a shoe repair shop?

Unfortunately, competition is not the only problem. The cost of maintaining a brick and mortar shop often exceeds the revenue potential of most "Mom & Pop" operations.