I'm a believer in micro-businesses, and Thailand has a good record in this regard.

The problem with this type of store is that it is a corporate haven. Distribution of goods from a direct warehouse, supplying a narrow band of goods from conglomerates. It destroys small local suppliers, and results in a homogeneous desert.

The latest imbroglio between 7/eleven and the mobile phone company shows how entwined corporatism is. Restricted supply lines driving customers into these retail monoliths, and leaving the mom and pop stores stranded.

Smart card technology drives traffic away from these stores. As the Thai banking system develops, the population won't need to queue to pay bills and top up their phones. They'll be able to go back to the mom and pop stores that survived the monopoly.

The sooner the better. 

By the way - many foreigners would be astonished at how much these Thai micro-businesses make.

I have a friend who owns a mom and pop store on a CM backstreet. The type of street that you'll never see 7/eleven. The place is pandemonium from 6.00 a.m. till 11.00 p.m. I have never been at the shop when there haven't been at least three people waiting to be served.

It's speciality is local meats, the type you'll never see in 7/eleven. My mate reckons he can set his watch to earn 400,000 baht a month. He says, and I've seen it, that he draws 50,000 baht a month profit from the constant twenty regulars ( Thais ) that sit outside his shop drinking just about all day every day.

The mother-in-law runs a two tick books - one for consumers, the other for borrowers. Once in a blue moon and consumer can't pay ( never won't pay, always can't pay ). Her attitude?

I've earned thousands from him/her over the years - it's not what he/she has cost me by non-payment - it's what he/she has earned me. And short of death, they'll repay me eventually.

This is real Old School psychology - not exclusive to Thailand. Anyone that remembers the tick book in the local pub will be familiar with it. We had one guy who ran a constant $400 equivalent line. My mother used to ask if he ever intended clearing it, my Dad pointed out he was spending $1800 a month in the pub, and he'd love another twenty customers like him.

This is where mom and pop stores win, they can tie customers in. And you better believe, when your broke and you know that you can still eat today - mom and pop stores are a salvation.

I prefer mom and pop shops- had one opposite my house in Rangsit- ice cold beers and a decent seating area made it a focal point for the community. Beer and food was often shared and I learned to speak Thai in such a setting- just one of the many things that I miss from Thailand

The curry shop next door to my massage shop makes over 100,000 baht a month. That's more than most of the farangs strolling past have ever made, looking at it with contempt. "just another struggling Thai business."

There's not a day in the month that it turns over less than 10,000 baht.

On the row that my shop is on, there's a Chinese herbalist type business that most people never notice. It's making funny money. The owner of the hole-in-the-wall pharmacy across the road told me he wouldn't "sell it for 20 million baht."

I get entertained by clueless farangs not understanding what's taking place in front of their noses. Take an attitude that most of the food vendors at Chiang Mai Gate market are earning at least 1000 baht per night and you won't go far wrong. One guy I know in Bangkok reckons he sells 130 barbecue fish a day, at a profit of 30 baht a fish. I saw him sell 10 in 15 minutes - I believe him.

However, as Tony pointed out - saturation can kill. A farang pal bought a juice stall for 250,000 baht that was earning 1500 baht a day. What he didn't know was that the owner was connected, and no one would dare compete with her. Within weeks of her selling up, another three juice stall set up nearby. He sold the stall last month for 100,000 baht.

Street smarts are essential.

Ah, that'll be Apu.

You are correct, who owns the 7/11 franchise in Thailand? Not likely to go broke any time soon.

They can but rarely do they.  
I lived in a large complex building in Chiangmai.  Among other things I used to go to  the local store each day to buy a bag of ice....and a bottle of drink  I prefered diet coke to coke but for some time drank the sugar despite the bottles costing 3 baht more than elswhere (the 3 baht was not signifigent)  I asked him to start getting diet coke and I would buy it and I knew there were other customers that would prefer it too.  No can do.  I then changed to the 7 down the road or bought it myself from MAKRO.
Loss to them  in general purchases from me...about 200 baht a day.
Not isolated either.