More Cities Ban Large-Scale Retail

Date: 1 Aug 2000 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

In August, the city of Rockville, Maryland adopted an ordinance barring stores over 65,000 square feet and requiring those that exceed 25,000 square feet to meet design guidelines. The action puts an end to a proposed 128,000 square foot Costco warehouse store. (Wal-Mart stores range from about 80,000 to 250,000 square feet. A typical Borders Books is about 35,000 square feet.)… Read More

Pittsburgh Businesses Fighting Massive Retail Complex

Date: 1 Aug 2000 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Local activists and business owners in Pittsburgh are fighting Mayor Tom Murphy’s plan to use eminent domain to destroy 60 buildings and condemn 125 mostly locally owned businesses. In their place, Murphy wants to build a massive retail complex, anchored by a Nordstrom department store and several dozen national chains such as The Gap, FAO Schwarz, and J Crew. … Read More

UFCW Union Joins Activists To Challenge Wal-Mart

Date: 1 Aug 2000 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Wal-Mart wants to open 300 new "supercenters" by 2002, but the corporation’s plans may be derailed by mounting opposition in heavily unionized regions. The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union has joined with local business owners and neighborhood activists to stop Wal-Mart’s expansion in several western states and parts of the Upper Midwest and Northeast.… Read More

Cal. E-Fairness Bill Gaining Ground, But Needs Your Help

Date: 1 Aug 2000 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

A bill to clarify California state law to ensure that all retailers with a physical presence in the state collect sales tax on internet transactions is making headway. The bill (AB 2412) passed the Assembly on a 42-32 vote in late May. It then cleared two Senate committees in June and August. It is expected to come before the full Senate in the coming weeks. Governor Gray Davis has not yet taken a position on the bill. … Read More

Ontario Enacts Franchise Disclosure Law

Date: 1 Aug 2000 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Companies offering franchise business opportunities in Ontario will soon have to provide prospective franchisees with key information about their operations. A new franchise disclosure measure, Bill 33, was passed by the provincial legislature in late May. It will become law once the Ministry of Consumer and Commercial Relations drafts rules and regulations for its implementation.… Read More

The Impact of Chain Stores on Community

Date: 18 Apr 2000 | posted in: Retail | 5 Facebooktwitterredditmail

In this classic talk, delivered at the annual conference of the American Planning Association, Stacy Mitchell describes how, contrary to conventional wisdom, the decline of independent businesses isn’t inevitable or the result of free market forces. Rather, public policy decisions have played a major role — and a growing number of communities are deciding to take a different approach. … Read More

Bucking the Chain Store Trend

Date: 17 Mar 2000 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Chain stores are sprouting up on the American landscape as fast as vicious weeds. Their proliferation has made traveling an unsettling experience – a constant deja vu of arriving in places virtually identical to the ones left behind. So it was with my first trip to Colorado. I drove from the Denver airport to Boulder, through an area with the same placeless landmarks found everywhere: Wal-Mart, Blockbuster, Petsmart, Office Max and Starbucks.… Read More

Minnesota Should Ban ATM Surcharges

Date: 4 Nov 1999 | posted in: Banking | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Inone of the most significant decisions of Tuesday’s election, San Francisco voters approved a ballot measure prohibiting automated teller machine (ATM) surcharges within the city. The vote marks a major victory in the growing effort to outlaw the fees. San Francisco will join the city of Santa Monica, Calif., and two states, Iowa and Connecticut, in prohibiting ATM surcharges. By Stacy Mitchell – originally published in Twin Cities Star Tribune, November 4, 1999

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