At the same time, Antlers residents began shopping at Wal-Mart, which offered greater variety and lower prices than Antlers' local merchants were able to offer. In recent years there has been an effort to declare Antlers a "Main Street USA" site, to treat its historic center as a destination, and emphasize its architecture. Due to a series of arson and fires beginning in the 1970s, Antlers lost a number of its stores, changing the character of its downtown. But the remaining buildings are sturdy brick with antique facades. In recent years merchants have been removing the 1960s-era awnings and other structures, adopted in a modernization effort, to return the buildings to their unique historic character.