Exposing the Big-Box Swindle
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. … Read More
Study Finds Chains Could Harm Cape Cod Economy
A new study has concluded that additional chain retail expansion on Cape Cod would undermine the region’s economy. … Read More
Will Wal-Mart Eat Britain?
The New Economics Foundation’s Alternative Mansion House Speech, given by Stacy Mitchell in May 2005.
Wal-Mart Pushing India to Lift Ban on Global Chain Stores
Global retailing giants — including the British chain Tesco, France’s Carrefour, and Walmart — have also been lobbying for an end to rules that bar foreign direct investment in India’s retail sector.… Read More
Chains Are Taking Over Britain, Survey Finds
More than 40 percent of the towns surveyed for a new report by the London-based New Economics Foundation are so overrun by chain stores that they have lost their local identity and become little more than "clone towns." … Read More
Our Take: Responding to Reich on Wal-Mart
Our response to the destructive force of mega-corporations like Wal-Mart ought to involve much more than adopting regulations that "soften the blows" and "slow the pace of change," as Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor under Clinton, argued in a recent New York Times op-ed entitled Don’t Blame Wal-Mart. Yes, we most certainly should raise the minimum wage and require companies to offer employees affordable health insurance, as Reich suggests. … Read More
Saving Banff
Banff, like many communities in western Canada, is facing a growing influx of multinational chains. Determined to save their community from becoming"Anyplace, North America," Banff officials are investigating ways to buck the chain store trend. Luckily, they are not in uncharted territory. Communities across the continent have devised effective strategies for limiting chains and nurturing locally owned businesses. … Read More
Canada’s Campus Bookstores Fight Chain Takeover
In January, Canada’s university and college bookstores filed a complaint with federal competition officials over attempts by Indigo, the country’s largest book chain, to assume control of campus bookstores. … Read More
The Hometown Advantage: How To Defend Your Main Street Against Chain Stores … and Why It Matters
Published in 2000, The Hometown Advantage examines the impacts of chain retailers and provides a guide to reviving your community’s local economy. … Read More