George wrote:

I am surprised that anyone is surprised. Big box stores are interested
in wiping out all of the small stores. To do that they had to make
themselves look like good guys at first. Once they decimate the small
stores they can cut way back on staff and raise prices.

They could, but they don't. If you can point to one single monopoly that HAS
raised prices in a captive market, I'd be surprised (except for professional
sports and government-sanction monopolies like utilities).

In fact, the biggest monopoly ever (Standard Oil) - the poster boy for all
that's evil about large companies - managed to lower the price of Kerosene
from $3.00/gallon to five cents in less than three years! Of course this put
the whale-oil suppliers out of business...