Top 5 Big Box Stories from the Week

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Here's what was most popular on our site this week:

Big Box Week

by Charles Marohn, July 18, 2016

Strong Towns kicks off Big Box Week, looking at the promises cities make and the risks they take when a new big box store goes in.

Creating the Walmart Index - An Interactive Database Project

by Strong Tows, July 18, 2016

We want you to contribute to a comprehensive, crowdsourced database that will examine tax productivity comparing big box stores like Walmart with compact, downtown buildings. We’re working closely with our friends at Urban3 on this to build a downloadable resource and map the data when we're done.

The Shopping Mall Death Spiral

by Charles Marohn, July 19, 2016

Cities that tethered their future to this experiment are going to struggle while those that still have a pulse in their core neighborhoods will have a chance at renewed prosperity.

Trader Joe's: Worth the Hype?

by Rachel Quednau, July 20, 2016

How does a store with a small footprint, few choices and well-paid employees attract so many enthusiastic customers and sell twice as much per square foot as Whole Foods?

Letting Go of Suburbia

by Nathan Lewis, July 20, 2016

Suburbia cannot and will not be retrofitted to a substantially different model of development. But a small portion may be salvageable.

(Top photo by Dwight Burdette)