So about that originality thing

So me and the family took a little day trip to Gatlinburg and although it is a decent little tourist spot (trap) I have to wonder how do they survive (stores) every third or fourth store was basically the same merchandise which none to very little was made in the United States of America.

So I got to thinking how do these places survive. How can a business that is only open for part of the year actually turn a profit. Is the mark up that high ? Are the wares that are being sold actually that cheap and inventory cost is so minimal that it has very little impact? Or is it that they have somehow written off the cost of the inventory and or that they get tax breaks that allow them to absorb the costs associated with the business.

So how is it that businesses survive in an area where there are so many similarities between storefronts?