What Happened to Local Mom and Pops?

Many local mom and pops that had been in business for 20, 25, 30 years have gone out of business. And the thing that's so difficult about it is, even those that have come back, now, there's been such a employment shortage. It appears to me, from a psychological standpoint, we're rewarding bad behavior. We're paying people not to work. Am i wrong? Or is it more complex than that? I'm sure there are other fact, that's got to be one of them.