They fear the big stores will run the independents out of business.
Critics paint dire scenarios of monopolies stamping out diversity and quirkiness.
Their ultimate concern is for values. Nothing upsets stasis-loving social critics more than new institutions for buying and selling, institutions that are often among the first applications of information technology. When credit cards were new, critics tried to stop them. Wright Patman was among the most powerful and vocal. A determined foe of shopping innovation during his long tenure in the House of Representatives, Patman had also attacked chain stores in the 1930s.