Amazon taking bite out of Main Street: Alan Patricof

President Donald Trump isn’t the only one concerned about Amazon. Alan Patricof, one of the earliest investors in big tech, accused the e-commerce behemoth of shutting down Main Street businesses.

“I’m concerned about what it’s doing to our communities in this country, and frankly, it’s happening all over the world,” Patricof, the co-founder of Greycroft, told FOX Business’ Stuart Varney on Friday. “Go up and down Main Street, go into every shopping center. Small business is being affected.”

As consumers shop more online, brick-and-mortar retail has struggled, with some exceptions. While Amazon provides a platform for small businesses to sell their wares, it doesn’t collect a sales tax for third-party vendors, meaning those companies lose out on revenue.

The president launched a Twitter crusade against Jeff Bezos’ empire a month ago, slamming it for not paying enough state or federal taxes and arguing it put thousands of retailers out of business.

"Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state & local governments, use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.), and are putting many thousands of retailers out of business!" Trump wrote on Twitter.

Amazon officials could not be reached for comment.  Now, as physical locations begin to recede, Patricof, one of the earliest investors in Apple and America Online, said he suggests people invest in ventures that provide tangible experiences.

That could include artificial intelligence or something like Starbucks. Patricof chose not to invest in the near-ubiquitous coffee chain when it was at its nadir – his biggest mistake as an investor, he said. “I said, what do we need another coffee shop for? There’s three on every block in New York,” he said. ”And, unfortunately, I didn’t see the experiential of what Starbucks was. It was not a coffee shop. It was a place to congregate, it was an experience.”