Synopses & Reviews
An experts in-depth exploration of the enormous impact of mega-retailersand what communities and independent businesses can do
A Book Sense Pick and Annual Highlight
Large retail chains have become the most powerful corporations in America and are rapidly transforming our economy, communities, and landscape. In this deft and revealing book, Stacy Mitchell illustrates how mega-retailers are fueling many of our most pressing problems, from the shrinking middle class to rising water pollution and diminished civic engagement.
Mitchells investigation takes us from the suburbs of Cleveland to a fruit farm in California, the stockroom of an Oregon Wal-Mart, and a Pennsylvania towns Main Street. She uncovers the shocking role government policy has played in the expansion of mega-retailers and builds a compelling case that communities composed of many small businesses are healthier and more prosperous than those dominated by large chains.
More than a critique, The Big-Box Swindle draws on real life to show how some communities are successfully countering the spread of mega-retailers and rebuilding their local economies. Mitchell describes innovative approachesfrom cutting-edge land-use policies to small-business initiativesthat together provide a detailed road map to a more prosperous and sustainable future.
In the muckraking tradition of Fast Food Nation and Nickel and Dimed, this is a searing indictment of the impact of behemoth retailers.” John Marshall, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which included Big-Box Swindle in its Top Ten 2006 list
What Nickel and Dimed did for the Wal-Mart worker, Mitchell does for the community threatened by mega-retailers.” Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature
Stacy's book provided much of the information we were using during the campaign against Target,” said Don Shor of the Davis Independent Merchants Alliance, which is sponsoring Mitchell's talk Tuesday at 7 p.m
It's probably a Davis best-seller at this point,” said Shor, owner of Redwood Barn Nursery.
Davis Enterprise (Davis, CA), article in the May 4th issue
This letter is for anyone who still thinks that Wal-Mart would be an asset to our city, and also our city council. I urge you! I implore you! Please read this book: Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega Retailers and The Fight for America's Independent Businesses by Stacy Mitchell.” Atascadero News (CA), letter to the editor
Review
Like some other terrific writers and activists at work now - Rebecca Solnit in all sorts of ways, and Stacy Mitchell (Big-Box Swindle), to name but two of a good number - Klein seems able to get people to see approaches and solutions for their own selves, rather than offering some quick prescriptive answer herself
” Publishers Weekly
Synopsis
An expert's in-depth exploration of the enormous impact of mega-retailers—and what communities and independent businesses can do
A Book Sense Pick and Annual Highlight
In this deft and revealing book, Stacy Mitchell illus¬trates how mega-retailers are fueling many of our most pressing problems, from the shrinking middle class to rising water pollution and diminished civic engage¬ment. Mitchell's investigation takes us from the sub¬urbs of Cleveland to a fruit farm in California, the stockroom of an Oregon Wal-Mart, and a Pennsylva¬nia town's Main Street. She uncovers the shocking role government policy has played in the expansion of mega-retailers and builds a compelling case that com¬munities composed of many small businesses are healthier and more prosperous than those dominated by large chains. Big-Box Swindle also draws on real life to describe the innovative approaches that some communities are using to successfully counter the spread of mega-retailers and to rebuild their local economies.
"In the muckraking tradition of Fast Food Nation and Nickel and Dimed, this is a searing indictment of the impact of behemoth retailers."
—John Marshall, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which included Big-Box Swindle in its Top Ten 2006 list
"What Nickel and Dimed did for the Wal-Mart worker, Mitchell does for the community threatened by mega-retailers." —Bill McKibben, author of
The End of Nature
Synopsis
A Book Sense Pick and Annual HighlightWith a New Afterword
In less than two decades, large retail chains have become the most powerful corporations in America. In this deft and revealing book, Stacy Mitchell illustrates how mega-retailers are fueling many of our most pressing problems, from the shrinking middle class to rising pollution and diminished civic engagement—and she shows how a growing number of communities and independent businesses are effectively fighting back.
Mitchell traces the dramatic growth of mega-retailers—from big boxes like Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Costco, and Staples to chains like Starbucks, Olive Garden, Blockbuster, and Old Navy—and the precipitous decline of independent businesses. Drawing on examples from virtually every state in the country, she unearths the extraordinary impact of these companies and the big-box mentality on everything from soaring gasoline consumption to rising poverty rates, failing family farms, and declining voting levels. Along the way, Mitchell exposes the shocking role government policy has played in the expansion of mega-retailers and builds a compelling case that communities composed of many small, locally owned businesses are healthier and more prosperous than those dominated by a few large chains.
More than a critique, Big-Box Swindle provides an invigorating account of how some communities have successfully countered the spread of big boxes and rebuilt their local economies. Since 2000, more than two hundred big-box development projects have been halted by groups of ordinary citizens, and scores of towns and cities have adopted laws that favor small-scale, local business development and limit the proliferation of chains. From cutting-edge land-use policies to innovative cooperative small-business initiatives, Mitchell offers communities concrete strategies that can stave off mega-retailers and create a more prosperous and sustainable future.
About the Author
Stacy Mitchell is a regular speaker and advisor to communities on retail development and independent business. A senior researcher with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, she chairs the American Independent Business Alliance . Mitchell regularly contributes articles and commentaries to magazines and newspapers, and produces an acclaimed monthly email newsletter, The Hometown Advantage Bulletin. She lives in Portland, Maine