Research: Chains vs. Local Stores

Local Businesses Key to Rebuilding New Orleans' Economy, Study Finds

September 18, 2009

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, many of New Orleans' locally owned businesses reopened within days of the floodwaters subsiding and played a pivotal role in drawing people back. National chains, meanwhile, kept their distance.

But, despite their resilience and loyalty, locally owned businesses have been largely ignored in the city's redevelopment plans. Instead, New Orleans has been lavishing massive public subsidies on big-box development.

Now a new study finds that the city's independent businesses are not only more resilient, but generate twice the economic impact of big-box retailers like Target, while consuming a fraction of the land. The Urban Conservancy, which commissioned the study and runs an initiative called Stay Local, hopes the new data will prompt the city to change its policies.
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Neighborhood Stores: An Overlooked Strategy for Fighting Global Warming

By Stacy Mitchell on August 19, 2009

So far, the public debate about cars and climate change has been dominated by fuel economy. But driving has been growing at such a rapid pace that even a big advance in fuel economy is likely to be wiped out by ever more miles on the road.

This is where local stores come in. Dozens of studies have found that people who live near small stores walk more for errands and, when they do drive, their trips are shorter. And that’s not all... More

Wal-Mart to Create 22,000 Jobs — and Destroy Many Thousands More

June 12, 2009

Last week, Wal-Mart announced that it would create 22,000 new jobs in the U.S. to staff new and expanded stores. More than 100 newspapers and magazines reported this news as a welcome bright spot amid the downturn. But had these news outlets turned to sources beyond Wal-Mart's press release and attempted to provide at least some analysis of the broader impact, the headlines might not have been so rosy.

In all likelihood, Wal-Mart's expansion will make the U.S. employment picture worse, not better. There's plenty of evidence to suggest that the addition of 22,000 jobs at Wal-Mart will lead to the loss of at least as many, and probably more, jobs at other businesses.

Major Flaws Uncovered in Study Claiming Wal-Mart Has Not Harmed Small Business

December 1, 2008

A new and widely publicized study claims that there is no evidence that Wal-Mart has had a negative impact on the small business sector. A close inspection of the study by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, however, found fatal flaws. More

Modest Changes in Shopping Habits would Produce Big Economic Benefits, Study Finds

October 15, 2008

Shifting even a modest amount of consumer spending from chains to locally owned businesses would have a major impact on the West Michigan economy.

Local Works: Examining the Impact of Local Business on the West Michigan Economy, which was conducted by Civic Economics, found that, if the 600,000 residents of Grand Rapids and surrounding Kent County were to redirect just 10 percent of their total spending from chains to local businesses, it would create nearly $140 million in new economic activity for the region and 1,600 new jobs. More

Big Retailers Seek Exclusive Deals on Books and Albums

October 8, 2008

When a small publisher recently agreed to let Amazon.com be the exclusive seller of a new book about Barack Obama, the deal sparked a flurry of protest from independent booksellers and provided new evidence that the e-commerce giant intends to leverage its power as a retailer to gain more control over the production and distribution of books.

So far, such exclusive distribution deals have been rare in the book world. But they have become increasingly common in the music industry. The nation's largest music sellers -- Wal-Mart, Target, and Best Buy -- now routinely secure the right to be the only retailer carrying a new album by a marquis act. Many observers believe the growth of these deals is harming independent music stores and, ultimately, consumers. More

Low Prices, But at what Cost?

By Stacy Mitchell on July 18, 2008

The economic model followed by Wal-Mart and other big-box retailers is no boon for the middle class.

Katherine Kersten tries to represent Wal-Mart as a hero of working families. But what Wal-Mart has saved poor and middle-income Americans -- and there's reason to doubt the depth and durability of the discounts Kersten cites -- it has taken that and more from them in diminished job opportunities and reduced income.

It's not just Wal-Mart. Rather, it's the economic model that Wal-Mart perfected and that others, including Home Depot and Target, also follow. More

Bigger Bang from Independents' Bucks

By Stacy Mitchell on June 19, 2008

The Capital Region's future would be much better served by fostering the growth of locally owned businesses, rather than chasing after big-name national retailers, as was suggested in Chris Churchill's May 11 article, "Trendsetter shops bypass region."

Research shows local businesses deliver significantly greater economic returns for a community than national chains. A study conducted in Chicago by the firm Civic Economics found that every $100 spent at a national chain generated an average of $43 in additional economic activity in the local area. That same $100 spent at a locally owned store or restaurant created an average of $68 worth of new local economic activity.

Why do local businesses deliver so much more economic bang for our buck? More

Sharp Rise in Shopping Center Vacancies

June 19, 2008

The number of shuttered box stores and empty strip malls has expanded dramatically over the last six months, according to data compiled by commercial real estate brokers and investment advisors. And the situation is likely to get much worse.

Chain retailers have announced plans to close more than 6,500 outlets by year's end, even as shopping center construction continues at a furious pace. Developers are on track to bring an estimated 137 million square feet of new retail space online this year. More

Wal-Mart Depresses Wages, Study Finds

December 11, 2007

Retail workers in the U.S. are making $4.5 billion less each year due to Wal-Mart's presence, according to a new study by the University of California's Center for Labor Research and Education.

The study, "A Downward Push: The Impact of Wal-Mart Stores on Retail Wages and Benefits," begins by analyzing the effect of new Wal-Mart stores on local wage rates. It focuses on stores that opened between 1992 and 2000 and concludes, "Opening a single Wal-Mart store lowers the average retail wage in the surrounding county between 0.5 and 0.9 percent." More