Agree, it's almost entirely about profit and convenience but I just think there's something false about modern 'convenience' in that it actually isn't 'convenient' when you think about all the other things you lost. The tiny bit of friction exerted to actually go into a store is now gone, but now you lose the opportunities to meet other people into the same things as you... get tips from retail workers on interesting movies/music/video games. It's convenient in that one singular moment, but now you're lonely and have no friends or connections... I think that's why people are more depressed and on more depression medicine. There's a lack of just casual interaction and socialization now that we're replacing with 'social media' doom scrolling and it's clearly not making people more fulfilled--just more convenient.

I would argue a lot of this could be changed by better zoning laws and better city planning. Big box stores should be relegated to the outskirts of city limits... let local and small businesses have downtown areas. Otherwise, everything is becoming one homogenous experience across the entire country.