This session on regulating big-box retail was presented at the American Planning Association’s 2007 conference. Presenters were Thomas Jacobson, Stacy Mitchell, and Julie Tappendorf. The CD-ROM includes audio synchronized with PowerPoint, transcripts and slides, note sheets, and reading materials.… Read More
Q: A major retail development is proposed for our town. The developer is insisting that big-box stores do not harm small business. He references a study called “Has Wal-Mart Buried Mom and Pop?” which was published in an academic journal. Is this study valid? How do we respond? – Resident of New Scotland, New York Q: … Read More
There are many reasons why communities seek to stop a big-box proposal — the effect on local economic development and small businesses, traffic congestion, environmental issues, community impacts, low-paying jobs. Whatever your concerns, however, the main way most communities succeed in preventing the development of a big-box store is through the local land use system. Don’t … Read More
The provision of planning policy that Wal-Mart wants to see scrapped is known as the “needs test.” It says that communities may approve large out-of-town stores only if there is a demonstrable need for new retail and there is no way to satisfy that need with development in or adjacent to the town center.… Read More
Supersized Supermarkets: A Public Forum – Stacy Mitchell is featured at
this U.K. event that was hosted by Tescopoly, Friends of the Earth, War
on Want, and ActionAid.
… Read More
Subsidies, tax dodges, and dead malls — An interview with Stacy Mitchell in Multinational Monitor, Feb. 2007 … Read More
A new online database created by the Austin Independent Business Alliance (AIBA) will help local entrepreneurs find space for their businesses and give property owners and developers a way to recruit more independent businesses to their properties.
… Read More
After months of study and consideration by local officials and concerned citizens, the Bellingham City Council has enacted a law that prohibits stores over 90,000 square feet and imposes design standards on those over 60,000 square feet. … Read More
"Our results indicate that the presence of Wal-Mart depresses social capital stocks in local communities," concluded Goetz and Rupasingha in their study, which was published by the American Journal of Agricultural Economics. The implications include both a weakened social fabric and "real costs for communities in the form of reduced economic growth."
The study examined both communities in which new Wal-Mart stores were built in the 1990s and those that already had a Wal-Mart at the beginning of the decade. The study controlled for other variables known to affect social capital stocks in a community, such as educational attainment.
