I have 4 or 5 grocery stores within a short walking distance of me right now. I can buy roughly the same stuff in all of them. I usually go to whichever is cheapest for the stuff I want to buy. They differ in sizes, so they don't stock all the same things, but there's nothing stopping any of them to sell any of the products the others do. This is how healthy competition works.
But you can’t. I can only get my wife’s cold brew coffee and high protein bread at giant or target. I have to go to Costco to get their house brand items. I have to go to Trader Joe’s to get their house brand frozen foods. Over a month I probably go to four different grocery stores to shop for the whole family.
The situation is still different than if you had to subscribe to 4 different grocery stores because each chain owns exclusive right to certain categories of items.
There's friction in the market that prevents all grocery stores in the area from having the same set of items at the same prices, but the situation is an order of magnitude better for consumers than what you have with video/music/game distribution.
I have 4 or 5 grocery stores within a short walking distance of me right now. I can buy roughly the same stuff in all of them. I usually go to whichever is cheapest for the stuff I want to buy. They differ in sizes, so they don't stock all the same things, but there's nothing stopping any of them to sell any of the products the others do. This is how healthy competition works.
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