what is main street 
main street is a colloquial term used by economists to refer collectively to america s independent small businesses it gets its name from a common name for the principal commercial street of small towns across the country in england the equivalent term is high street in another context the term wall street versus main street with the former referring to big business and high finance nevertheless those involved in big business and high finance spend a considerable amount of time trying to understand what products fashions brands and trends succeed or fail on main street more generally the term main street has been used to refer to small town american traditions or historic business districts in the finance world the time main street is used to describe small and mid sized businesses as part of a local economy understanding main streetmain street may be the most common street name in the united states according to the u s small business association as of march 2020 there are 31 7 million small businesses the backbone of local main streets across america in the united states 1 the coronavirus pandemic hit small businesses hard so while the data isn t out as of september 2021 some small businesses in the 2020 count may not have survived 2in the financial world main street is often cited as the opposite of wall street it may be used to describe the individual small investor as opposed to the professional securities trader this can lead to some very unpleasant attitudes on one side or both for example some wall street traders stereotype main street investors as dabblers in a game they can t understand main street investors may see wall street traders as crooks with a void where their souls are supposed to be the unfortunate fact is that both sides have a high degree of dependence on the other wall street depends on individual investors to generate the capital and fees that keep the lights on main street needs wall street to earn a better rate of return than a savings account or a municipal bond can offer unfortunately this mutual dependence doesn t resolve the conflicts between the two the term main street may refer to an independently owned business as opposed to a global corporation types of main street businesses