Items related to Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and...

Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America's Independent Businesses - Hardcover

 
9780807035009: Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America's Independent Businesses
View all copies of this ISBN edition:
 
 
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.

Mitchell's investigation takes us from the suburbs of Cleveland to a fruit farm in California, the stockroom of an Oregon Wal-Mart, and a Pennsylvania 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 communities composed of many small businesses are healthier and more prosperous than those dominated by large chains.

More than a critique, 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 approaches-from cutting-edge land-use policies to small-business initiatives-that together provide a detailed road map to a more prosperous and sustainable future.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

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.


From Publishers Weekly:
Mitchell, chair of the American Independent Business Alliance, has produced a compelling indictment of Wal-Mart and other "big box" stores, based on numerous national examples. Deep-pocketed chains like Home Depot flood the market to drive out competition, she points out, then advertise some products at or below cost, while most other products may offer no better value than at independent stores. Meanwhile, she argues, independent businesses not only return profits to local communities and remain more civic-minded and accountable, but offer resiliency rooted in diversity, in contrast to the big-box "monocrop." She even provides evidence that Wal-Mart lowers, rather than boosts community economic well-being, and that firms with fewer than 100 employees give twice as much in charity per employee as those with more than 500 workers. Mitchell challenges Chris Anderson's Long Tail theory, suggesting that an indie bookseller's passion about a product can be more critical to its sales than wide access via a Web retailer. Mitchell catalogues diverse ways indie-minded consumers can fight back, by campaigning against government subsidies to big-box stores, and advocating for sales tax collection on Internet sales and stronger antitrust enforcement. Visible citizens' coalitions can fight big-box expansion, especially if communities fine-tune their land use policies. The big-box trend, she suggests, can be countered by increasing public awareness. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

  • PublisherBeacon Press
  • Publication date2006
  • ISBN 10 0807035009
  • ISBN 13 9780807035009
  • BindingHardcover
  • Edition number1
  • Number of pages336
  • Rating

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780807035016: Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America's Independent Businesses

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  ISBN 13:  9780807035016
Publisher: Beacon Press, 2007
Softcover

  • 9780618802210: Big-box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-retailers And the Fight for America's Independent Businesses

    Beacon Pr, 2006
    Hardcover

Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace

Stock Image

Mitchell, Stacy
Published by Beacon Press (2006)
ISBN 10: 0807035009 ISBN 13: 9780807035009
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
GoldenWavesOfBooks
(Fayetteville, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New. Fast Shipping and good customer service. Seller Inventory # Holz_New_0807035009

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 23.33
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.00
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Mitchell, Stacy
Published by Beacon Press (2006)
ISBN 10: 0807035009 ISBN 13: 9780807035009
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
GoldBooks
(Austin, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New Copy. Customer Service Guaranteed. Seller Inventory # think0807035009

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 26.88
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.25
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Mitchell, Stacy
Published by Beacon Press (2006)
ISBN 10: 0807035009 ISBN 13: 9780807035009
New Hardcover Quantity: 2
Seller:
Save With Sam
(North Miami, FL, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Brand New!. Seller Inventory # VIB0807035009

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 33.38
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Mitchell, Stacy
Published by Beacon Press (2006)
ISBN 10: 0807035009 ISBN 13: 9780807035009
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Front Cover Books
(Denver, CO, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: new. Seller Inventory # FrontCover0807035009

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 29.77
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 4.30
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Mitchell, Stacy
Published by Beacon Press (2006)
ISBN 10: 0807035009 ISBN 13: 9780807035009
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
BennettBooksLtd
(LOS ANGELES, CA, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. New. In shrink wrap. Looks like an interesting title! 1.36. Seller Inventory # Q-0807035009

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 62.35
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 5.14
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds