Why was the merchandise made and sold in cities generally inaccessible to the common man?

There's a number of factors to consider here and I'm guessing you are referring to an older time and place in history. Basically, all the merchandise produced and sold by the common man was too expensive for them to get, so the privileged were the only ones that could afford it, the upper class white families. We also have to consider the distances and difficulties to travel across states let alone, countries. It took weeks or months to move merchandise from one place to another due to the lack of proper technology and means and the common man usually didn't lived in the city, so it was nearly impossible for them to obtain them.

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