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There was no substantial change in zoning, parking requirements, etc or oil subsidies between the when local stores were competing quite well with the big consolidated stores and the time when the local stores started disappearing and the big consolidated stores become dominant, so those cannot be the explanation.

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I don't doubt that the change in regulation enforcement mentioned in the article precipitated the shift away from small grocery stores. But the effects of bad zoning have been building for 100 years since Euclid v. Ambler. And it obvious that living in large tracts of single-use residential zones all but requires car ownership. If you already have a car, and all homes and all businesses are surrounded by seas of parking, then going to a large consolidated store is a financial win for a consumer rather than a burden.

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