As a Main Street manager I hear all the time that there is "no where to shop" in town. 9 times out of 10, I can point out at least three places that that person has never heard of or stepped inside of before. It isn't that the places aren't here, it is that people don't seek them out. Thanks to the proliferation of the automobile, our society is used to jumping in the car driving to a mall or shopping center, parking, and walking from store to store. We don't seem care that it is a generic experience, basically the exact experience we can get at any mall or shopping center. We are willing to spend our valuable time and gas money driving there for this generic experience too. Boggles my mind. Some people cite cost, getting the "best deal". Yeah, it makes sense to drive over an hour round trip and spent $3.15 per gallon on fuel to save $3.00 sure... (READ- sarcasm). But until people's mind set changes this will continue. I wish there was an easy way to demonstrate to people how important their spending decisions are...