Scottsdale Voters Overturn Big Box Subsidy

Date: 1 Apr 2004 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

In March, voters in Scottsdale, Arizona, overwhelmingly rejected a plan to provide a massive public subsidy for a 42-acre big box development anchored by a Wal-Mart supercenter and a Lowe’s Home Improvement store. The plan, which was approved by the city council last year, allowed the developer to keep 49 percent of all the sales taxes generated by the shopping center over the next 40 years. Accounting for interest and inflation, the total value of the subsidy is estimated at $183 million.… Read More

Stoughton, Wisconsin, Adopts Big Box Limits

Date: 1 Feb 2004 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

After months of pressure from a vocal citizens group, the City Council in Stoughton, Wisconsin, adopted an ordinance banning stores over 110,000 square feet. Stoughton is a community of 12,500 about 20 miles southeast of Madison. Last year, after Wal-Mart announced plans to close its 40,000-square-foot Stoughton outlet to build a 183,000-square-foot supercenter on undeveloped land, a citizens group called Uff-da Wal-Mart formed. Uff-da is a Norwegian expression of disdain. … Read More

Vermont Governor Proposes Closing Tax Loophole that Favors Chains

Date: 1 Feb 2004 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

In his State of the State address, Vermont Governor James Douglas proposed closing a tax loophole that gives national chains an advantage over local businesses. The loophole allows multi-state corporations to shift income made in the state to subsidiaries in low- or no-tax states like Delaware and Nevada, thereby evading Vermont corporate income taxes.… Read More

California Laws Targeting Supercenters Raise Concerns

Date: 1 Feb 2004 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Rather than capping the size of all retail stores, a growing number of cities and counties in California are banning supercenters in particular. These are generally defined as stores over 90,000 or 100,000 square feet that devote more than 5 or 10 percent of their floor area to non-taxable grocery items.

Under these ordinances, developers can still build massive box stores, so long as they do not combine department store merchandise and a full supermarket under one roof.… Read More

Brattleboro Group Urges Residents to Support Local Merchants

Date: 1 Feb 2004 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Last year when Home Depot announced that it would open in a former Ames department store building in Brattleboro, Vermont, a group of residents organized a campaign urging people to avoid the store and continue supporting their hometown merchants. The group, BrattPower: Supporting Our Local Economy, gathered 3,200 petition signatures in this town of 12,000, organized a community forum, and began running radio and newspaper ads outlining the hidden costs of large chain stores and the benefits of locally owned businesses.… Read More

Wal-Mart Internal Audit Finds Thousands of Labor Violations

Date: 1 Feb 2004 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

An internal audit obtained by The New York Times documents thousands of violations of state labor laws at Wal-Mart stores. The audit, performed by the company in 2000, uncovered 1,371 violations of child labor laws, 60,767 cases of missed breaks, and 15,705 instances when employees skipped meals at 128 stores during a one-week period.… Read More

Hood River Rejects Wal-Mart Supercenter

Date: 1 Feb 2004 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

In early January, the Hood River, Oregon, County Commission voted 3-2 to reject Wal-Mart’s application to build a 186,000-square-foot supercenter. "This was a marvelous and gutsy decision by the board," said Kate Huseby, co-chair of the Citizens for Responsible Growth (CRG), a grassroots group that has fought the proposal in this community of 5,000 people in north central Oregon for more than two years. "We applaud them for doing their homework, and making the tough vote." … Read More

Britain’s Main Streets Fast Becoming Ghost Towns

Date: 1 Feb 2004 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

"A new retail feudalism is emerging across Britain as a handful of brands take over our shopping. We are witnessing the slow death of small independent retailers," contends Andrew Simms, policy director for the London-based New Economics Foundation (NEF) and co-author of a new report called "Ghost Town Britain: The threat from economic globalisation to livelihoods, liberty and local economic freedom." According to the report, between 1995 and 2000, Britain lost one-fifth of its Main Street enterprises. … Read More

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