Big Box Wasteland

[monsoon]

I thought this article deserved a mention in a section devoted to retail in Charlotte. I wonder if the Observer would ever re-print it here and put it in the front page of the SundayPaper?

[DigitalSky]

wow he's pissed. But he does make a lot of good points in the article

[StevenRocks]

The power of branding in this country has produced this. It's not all bad, but it certainly isn't good.

[ngp]

Do people really care, though? I know most of the good folks at UP care, and share this guy's sentiments to a point, but does the typical American care at all? My social circle tends to be very insular (and small), so I'm sort of out of touch with the typical American consumer. Do people actually like big-box development, or do they just assume it's how consumerism works and give little thought beyond that to alternatives?

I want to think that nobody could actually like sprawled out shopping centers, but then I remember that people eat celery. There's just no accounting for taste.

[Recchia]

Do people really care, though? I know most of the good folks at UP care, and share this guy's sentiments to a point, but does the typical American care at all? My social circle tends to be very insular (and small), so I'm sort of out of touch with the typical American consumer. Do people actually like big-box development, or do they just assume it's how consumerism works and give little thought beyond that to alternatives?

I want to think that nobody could actually like sprawled out shopping centers, but then I remember that people eat celery. There's just no accounting for taste.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

In my limited experience, people LOVE big boxes in some ways and hate them in others. They love being able to get tons of cheap sh!t all in one place, and love the little effort it takes in doing so (just drive up, park, and walk the 30 feet to the door, as opposed to say, walking down the street to a store). On the other hand, people hate the long lines, the traffic, the full parking lots that come with these places. Instead of revolting and saying "I want a walkable neighborhood with walkable stores" though, people instead say "why the hell isn't there more parking", or something ridiculous like that. Plus, people nowadays think that big boxes/massive parking lots are the ONLY option, like it was never done any other way. I remember when one of my friends came to a Stop & Shop with me in Boston, they couldn't beleive what it looked like. It was right up to the sidewalk, half the size of a normal S&S, and had one tiny row of 30 minute parking. "Where the hell do people park?" Some people just dont get it.