Worst big box development in your area

[Lowerdeck]

Big box chain stores ... there's often plenty of bad things to say about it. But sometimes, there's just some really bad things to say. Bad location or bad placement.

Example: In Auburn, Mass. there is a proposed Lowe's Home Improvement store at the site of the now closed Best Western hotel. The site is cramped and right next to a busy interchange between the Mass. Turnpike and State Route 12.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&...mp;t=h&z=15

I'm surprised there's even any room for a big hardware store like that on the proposed lot. (It is just to the top/left of the "B" if you can see it. If no, it's between the toll plaza and the sidestreet to the left of Oxford Ave. North) There's a few better places in town they could have put one as well, except for the close to every major roadway in the area factor.

Not to be outdone was the opening of the Home Depot store in the neighboring town of Oxford. This store is just six miles south of another Home Depot in Auburn. And both are on the south side of the city of Worcester, Oxford heading towards the suburban fringe vs. Auburn being an inner ring suburb. I'm not sure why exactly the one in Oxford was even built in the first place, especially since it's in an otherwise vacant plaza. The population in the area is too low to support a second store, and you can tell from the largely empty store and parking lot in Oxford. Most in the south of Worcester region tended to travel to Auburn anyway, and still do with Oxford not having all the amenities the Auburn store does.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&...mp;t=h&z=12

With that said... is there any big box or strip mall development in your area that made absolutely no sense? Bad placement, bad planning, both?