I see it all the time, it just gets to me. For example in my town there's a grocery store near me, foodland. It started out in the state to help independent grocers compete with the duopoly that is Coles/Woolworths, but was meant to serve the locals and tried to stock both local products and things people wanted but didn't always make much profit.
Over the years depending on the owners it either flourished or died. The original owner here was good and didn't make a fortune but lived better than most, paid the employees well and the workers seemed happy and not overworked. he eventually sold and someone else took over.
Unlike the previous owner the new one cared only about profit, to the point that when sales started dropping they actually stopped stocking the cheaper own brand items that had a lower profit margin like dog food. This made it worse and eventually it closed. The building ended up being used as an ice skating rink during the summer for a while. Eventually though it got bought back by someone who wanted to make money by providing to the community again.
Time went on, years passed and the foodland was great again, fully stocked, fully staffed with happy workers, management/owner that not only treated people right whether customer or staff, they also have back to the community groups. They had a pallet set up at the entrance with empty boxes for anyone to take, stocked things you couldn't get elsewhere in town that the people in the nearby streets wanted (myself was pickled octopus). But the good times weren't to last.
Recently someone came into town from either interstate or overseas with money and wanted in (the town's predicted to grow soon with upcoming works around the state). They wanted to buy the bigger foodland in the town but only if they could buy both. They gave the owner of the one near me an offer they said they couldn't refuse, and bought them both. Then they bought the newsagent in the same building complex and moved everything into the foodland, effectively removing everything but the lottos and scratchies. Obviously less staff needed too as the same person can serve on both grocery and scratchies counters.
Needless to say the profit over people attitude took effect, and the good staff left, the ones that are still there don't look happy, and it's mostly family of the owner now. The deli section is unmanned and the checkout operator now also does the deli serving during the day. They don't stock many of the specials in the catalogue that don't make much profit, they've removed the standalone chicken warmer to save money, half the freezers are broken and just not getting repaired since they “can't afford it” and now it seems to be they're looking to sell, if not it will likely close soon again.
Every item I bought there is now either not getting stocked or gone up in price no longer under managers specials to compete (was always more expensive than the duopoly but not this much). No more cheap dog food, no more pickled octopus. They don't seem to understand the only way this particular store survived here was by sacrificing a bit of the profit to keep the customers happy. And it sucks more cos there's an independent living facility nearby, and multiple blocks of flats where elderly people live who don't drive and can only walk across the road. Now they will need to get taxis to and from the shops when cost of living is already making it harder.
Thank you rant over.