17 Nov 2002

Local Retailers Can’t Grow in the Shadows of Supercenters

by | Date: 17 Nov 2002 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Big box retailers are rapidly rolling out stores throughout Minnesota. Wal-Mart and Target are leading the pack with plans to build hundreds of new "supercenters" nationwide. These giant 200,000-square-foot stores are twice the size of a standard Wal-Mart and include general merchandise and a full supermarket, plus dozens of specialty vendors, from florists to gas stations. Wal-Mart is scouting locations for a supercenter on the North Shore of Lake Superior. Small townships like Lakewood are likely sites. Wal-Mart is already building a supercenter in Cloquet and plans to abandon its existing 100,000-square-foot outlet when the new store opens.… Read More
5 Jun 2001

Midway Home Depot Dismantles Concept of Quality of Life

by | Date: 5 Jun 2001 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Home Depot wants to build one of its giant stores with a multiacre parking lot on the corner of Lexington Parkway and University Avenue. The St. Paul City Council has authorized city officials to negotiate a financing package with the Atlanta-based corporation that could include as much as $5 million in tax increment financing (TIF), a form of public subsidy. Once a formal plan is submitted, the City Council will vote on whether to approve the development. Supporterscontend Home Depot will generate new jobs and tax revenue. But numerous studies have found that these giant chain retailers destroy about as many jobs and as much tax revenue as they create. This is because retail spending in a given market is a relatively fixed pie. Adding a massive amount of new retail in one location — in this case an estimated $40 million in annual sales — will invariably cause revenue to decline at established local businesses.Many of these businesses will be forced to downsize or close. The resulting job and tax losses will substantially offset the gains created by Home Depot. … Read More
8 Jan 2001

When a Giant Retailer Moves On, It Leaves its ‘Big Box’ Behind

by | Date: 8 Jan 2001 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Most people are familiar with the damage Wal-Mart, Target and other"big box" retailers have done to local economies. Across the country, these giant stores have gutted downtowns and decimated locally owned businesses.

Now the national chains are dealing communities a second blow. They are vacating their existing stores, sometimes to build bigger outlets, sometimes just closing up shop, in both cases leaving huge empty shells and acres of asphalt behind.

… Read More
8 Jan 2001

When a Giant Retailer Moves on, It Leaves its ‘Big Box’ Behind

by | Date: 8 Jan 2001 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Most people are familiar with the damage Wal-Mart, Target and other "big box" retailers have done to local economies. Across the country, these giant stores have gutted downtowns and decimated locally owned businesses. Now the national chains are dealing communities a second blow. They are vacating their existing stores, sometimes to build bigger outlets, sometimes just closing up shop, in both cases leaving huge empty shells and acres of asphalt behind. … Read More
1 Feb 1995

Lincoln Should Have Allowed the South to Secede

by | Date: 1 Feb 1995 | posted in: From the Desk of David Morris, governance, The Public Good | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

This time of the year we used to celebrate Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. Too bad we no longer do so. For this would be an excellent historical moment to reflect on whether Lincoln’s decision to keep the country intact was right. Personally, I think he made an enormous blunder.

Few would support Lincoln’s decision if he were making it today. Few Americans support Russia’s current war against its secessionist states. No one believes Ottawa has the right to send the Canadian army in to stop Quebec from seceding.

… Read More

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