A growing body of research is giving us new ways to quantify the harms of bigness and the benefits of local ownership.
These graphs illustrate the shifting market share of chain and independent retailers between 1982 and 2007, as well as the growing share of spending captured...
Community leaders have good reason to be concerned about chain dollar stores. Here's an explanation of 17 ways dollar stores can hurt communities.
A growing number of communities are fighting back against the rising power of large retail stores like Wal-Mart. But real change won’t come until we...
Over 75 cities and towns have defeated dollar store projects recently. Our guide can help you keep these chains out of your community.
This lecture was delivered by Stacy Mitchell at the 26th Annual E.F. Schumacher Lectures in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.… Read More
ILSR built a list of grant and loan programs that helped small, locally owned businesses weather the COVID-19 pandemic.
San Francisco has one-third as many chain stores as the national average. That’s thanks in large part to a city ordinance that restricts “formula” businesses....
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...
UC Davis professor Andrea Cann Chandrasekher shares her research into consumer redlining, the practice of retail chains providing lesser service in poor or BIPOC neighborhoods.
In this Q&A with Bookselling This Week, Stacy Mitchell talks about how big chains benefit from government favoritism and misperceptions about price and value. …...
The New Economics Foundation’s Alternative Mansion House Speech, given by Stacy Mitchell in May 2005. … Read More
A survey finds that 90% of independent retailers report that Amazon is negatively affecting their businesses, though their strengths are helping them weather the storm.
To demonstrate how corporate concentration has reshaped food access in the U.S., ILSR's interactive map shows food deserts alongside the location of grocery stores.
ILSR’s Stacy Mitchell illustrates how independent pharmacies are the unsung heroes of healthcare, providing critical services that chain pharmacies simply can't match.