What is it about the built environment of a historic downtown that makes it a good home for the small independent business but not as appealing to the national retailers?

Jane Jacobs, Member Post, Top Story, Walkability, Big Box StoresJustin GolbabaiMay 5, 2016big box stores, Traditional Main Street, local business, historic preservation

The Walmart Trophy

Walmart builds cheap buildings in order to sell Americans cheap stuff. This model is harming small towns across America.

Top Story, #DotheMath, Big Box Stores, Top EvergreenCharles MarohnMarch 8, 2016Small Towns, Joe Minicozzi, Infrastructure, big box stores

So Many Shoppers, So Much Unused Parking

We’re told that Black Friday is the “biggest shopping day of the year”—yet parking lots across the country tell a different story. Last year, I set out to explore #BlackFridayParking at commercial shopping centers across Tulsa to see for myself.

#BlackFridayParking, Top Story, Parking, Big Box StoresSarah KobosDecember 2, 2015parking minimums, big box stores, page highlight

Goodbye, Kmart

Thirty-seven years ago, some idiot decided to build a Kmart and accompanying monstrous parking lot right in the middle of a major street in the heart of the city, deadening any life on the street. Now it's finally going away.

Neighborhood Design, Planning Profession, Quednau, Top Story, Big Box StoresRachel QuednauNovember 5, 2015Minneapolis, Minnesota, Star Tribune, urban planning

The Other Problem With Walmart

The key problem with Walmart is that it systematically depends on the poverty of communities.

Quednau, Big Box StoresRachel QuednauFebruary 25, 2015poverty, big box stores

The shopping mall death spiral

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.