Before anybody gets all twisted in knots about the title, this is a paper concerning urban planning, not suburban or rural planning.
If you live in the burbs or a rural area, you probably already avoid patronizing downtown businesses because of all the hassles involved and the arm and leg it costs you to park. Those businesses assume that loss in exchange for doing business in a higher density locale. They literally have more foot traffic walking by to more than make up for the dozen free parking spaces they might be able to afford on the ultra high land prices in the city.
Other business people, thinking the same as you, then buy up a dozen acres somewhere and toss down a strip mall with plentiful parking and work out a deal with the county government to expand the road around their new mall to 3 lanes.
If you live in the burbs or a rural area, you probably already avoid patronizing downtown businesses because of all the hassles involved and the arm and leg it costs you to park. Those businesses assume that loss in exchange for doing business in a higher density locale. They literally have more foot traffic walking by to more than make up for the dozen free parking spaces they might be able to afford on the ultra high land prices in the city.
Other business people, thinking the same as you, then buy up a dozen acres somewhere and toss down a strip mall with plentiful parking and work out a deal with the county government to expand the road around their new mall to 3 lanes.