India: Cornershops in the era of big retail stores

Wal-mart's entry in India along with other big retail plans elicits quite a few reactions from those who feel it might threaten the traditional kirana stores (cornershops). The Indian Economy Blog ^[1] on why that's not likely. “A vast majority of middle class India still shops from one of the millions of tiny kirana stores for precisely these reasons. And there is no way Walmart or even the local big retailers like Foodworld, Big Bazaar or Reliance can lure away a chunk of the middle class big enough to make the kirana store go out of business for at least another few decades.”