With the recent closing of the CVS Pharmacy in Norwood, this week we asked readers their thoughts on the future of brick and mortar business and the impact the Internet is having on local businesses.

I’m a cook professionally; businesses are always going to take losses regardless. Even in the cooking industry when you order food, you have to automatically look at that. Yes, businesses are in danger because people rely on technology too much. So what’s going to happen is people won’t be able to take care of their families, because there’s not going to be any work. We’re relying on computers to be cashiers, drive cars, taxis, the trains, and I don’t trust it.
Phillip Ware
Morissania (formerly of Norwood)

Of course stores are in danger of closing. If technology can do the job that man does, then they don’t need people to work anymore, and that’s why businesses are going to close down. Everybody will become homeless, we’ll all be in the street. The city will make more money and the poor people will get poorer. I think there is always a solution, I just don’t know what it is.
Suhail Alkaify
Norwood

Yes, there’re a lot of businesses closing because the rents are too high and the economy is slow. The box stores don’t help because everything is cheaper. In 10 years I think all the big stores will take over the little stores, they’re not going to make it. It’s happening little by little. They’re closing and only the big stores are opening now.
Ernesto Cartagena
Bedford Park
I don’t really think that small retail stores will disappear because we will always need something for people to do to earn a living and keep the economy moving, to pay rent and buy stuff. I don’t think it’s a good idea, I don’t think it will work. I don’t shop online; actually, I like to see what I’m buying. They never send you what you ask for.
Tania Luque
Bedford Park
We have some smaller shops closing up along Lydig Avenue and White Plains Road. I don’t only see closures, but I see some shops close for weeks or months on end. I think some of the chain stores like Domino’s and the local Chinese restaurant will stay successful, but the mom and pop kind of stores really can’t compete with the box stores or the online companies that advertise on TV or your smart phone and they send you stuff by FedEx or drone and deliver it right to your door.
Kay Cardona
Pelham Parkway