Yes, the disappearance of small farms which could nicely sustain a family along with multiple thriving businesses in small communities of even 200, had a major effect, but the prime reason for the small business collapse was not just the ability to travel further abroad to shop, but corporations smothering the independents. The more people, be it city or country, stray from semi-self-dependency and into total dependency on corporations to provide even the simplest needs, the greater the threat to individual prosperity.