Retail businesses especially are suffering from changing retail patterns and shopping habits.
Local residents are more mobile than in past decades.
With more comfortable automobiles and convenient highways, residents no longer feel strong loyalty to local merchants and their businesses. They feel free to travel to the nearest shopping center or mall. In the 1960s, shopping centers began growing into serious competitors for downtown's customers. It is a competition that largely has been won by the ubiquitous shopping centers, malls, strip commercial areas and major discount centers. Given these changes, critical questions arise.