Are you working to stop or prevent sprawling big-box development in your community? Are you looking for ways to strengthen local policies to protect your community and ensure that citizens control its future? Are you trying to expand locally owned businesses?

Big Box Tool Kit has the resources you'll need to both beat the big box and to chart a new course for economic development in your community.

This site has six main sections and we strongly encourage you to visit them in order. Begin with Where to Start, which provides both a guide to stopping big-box projects and an orientation to the resources on this site. Don't forget to join our network so that we can communicate with you about new resources and your needs.

Big Box Took Kit is a project of the nonprofit Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Read more About Us.

Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America's Independent Businesses
". . . illuminates a stunning collection of business outrages, government favoritism, environmental damages, hidden economic and societal costs, debunked myths and a rising swell of consumer activism against big-box blight. . . Big-Box Swindle could have been a downer to read, but Mitchell devotes the final quarter of her powerful book to inspiring lessons from places that are turning the tide." —John Marshall, Seattle Post-Intelligencer. More details here. For discounts on multiple copies, email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it