Think you need to look at the cost of goods that do not have overheads before making a decision on governments negative effect of towns and city shops.
That and also Thais ridiculous propensity to keep building the same shops next to each other and killing all trade. Have a 129 baht BBQ near us, then a 100 bht one pops up next to it, then a 3rd and 4th. Now they barely have customers to make any money. Same with coffee shops.
Also as a collector of stuff I spend my money online, simply as the shops do not exist locally - or I cannot find then !