The fear should be that they will absorb tariffs in the short term but at some point try to recoup that money by raising prices on non-tariff items. By a litter here and there. Assuming these tariffs will be around for the long term. But that's anyone's guess.
They probably already are incrementally increasing prices across the board and decreasing portion sizes. And they only need to absorb tariffs long enough for their smaller competitors to be hurt by price differences that drive consumers into their corporate stores.
I wholly agree. Small businesses were already going to be at a much bigger disadvantage because of the policies this admin is implementing. The tariffs are going to be the nail in the coffin for a huge majority of them.