In the fall of 1960, The Andy Griffith Show on CBS introduced Andy Taylor and his lovable sidekick Barney Fife to American audiences. Like many U.S. cities at the time, the tiny, fictional town of Mayberry, North Carolina prominently featured a local market or general store called Crowley’s Grocery where residents could pick up their essentials.
Over time, these local, often family-owned stores (let’s call them community stores) all but disappeared from the U.S. landscape....