[ggm]

Of course you're a local. It's ridiculous to judge a person's involvement with their community by how much money they can afford to waste at specialist shops.

Wow. what a strawman. Its not specialist shops, its the garage, the baker, the newsagent, the food store. Its not wasting money, its deciding to economise personally, so widespread that everyone does, and suddenly half the town is shuttered.

I was not talking about hipster coffee moments, I was talking about what I see in small towns here in Australia: people stop using the local established main-street businesses, and the entire town heart dies, with people driving to least cost warehouse category killers with cheap petrol and free nescafe on the edge of town.

People who don't have the luxury to be loose with money include the former garage owner. He's on meth for a reason dude.