The point of capitalism is to separate labor from most of the value it produces that would otherwise be used to do so, and even in doing so often propagates the problem because it’s initially safer and cheaper to open and have fealty to a franchise because its a losing battle to attempt to compete with the scale of the big players in most conquered economic sectors.

Either way, you’re enriching the sociopaths, by design. They can steal your labor as an employee or a franchisee, or you can most likely fail opening an independent business in the age of behemoths that can do it for a fraction of the price shittily, but as Walmart proved in destroying main street decades ago, capitalism breeds desperation, which means all most people are forced to care about is cheap.

So TLDR, I don’t open that independent hardware store because statistics are against me and failure leaves one who doesn’t already hold significant capital in an even worse situation. Funny how the capitalist defenders try to cut it both ways, “you’re where you are because you don’t take risks! Also if you end up destitude its your own fault for not acting responsible.”