Sadly there is only so much money around and not everywhere can thrive.
More and more stuff is being brought online, people cheer when Morrisons/Asda open in town but that can only cause more smaller shops to close down. Every town can't support endless supermarkets and 'Whitefriars' shopping centres
There is only a finite number of pairs of pants and bottles of milk that people need in a town with a fairly static population ......
