WHERE TO START: HOW TO STOP A BIG BOX
GET ON THE MAP
EDUCATE YOUR NEIGHBORS: FACTS ON BIG BOX IMPACTS
FIND ANSWERS: STUDIES, EXPERTS & ADVICE
DOWNLOAD COMMUNITY PROTECTION POLICY KITS
BUILD ALTERNATIVES TO BIG BOXES

News From the Trenches!

San Rafael, CA (Dec. 7, 2010) — A proposed 137,000-square-foot Target store ran into a wall of opposition at a public hearing last night in San Rafael, California.
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Kailua, HI (Nov. 21, 2010) — Hoping to smooth the way for a proposed 130,000-square-foot store in this small Hawaiian town, Target officials organized an "open house" at a local elementary school. But the event was quickly overtaken by more than 200 opponents, who showed up armed with signs, pointed questions, and their own bullhorn.
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Welcome to Big Box Tool Kit

 

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.

 

The Hometown Advantage Bulletin
Sign up for our monthly e-newsletter and get the latest news and research on the impacts of big-box retailers and rebuilding local business delivered to your inbox.  You can also browse recent issues online.

 

Featured Articles

Wal-Mart Wants to Colonize New York City: Our Response

Feb. 4, 2011   |    Hometown Advantage

Hundreds turned for a recent New York City Council hearing on the impact of Wal-Mart, which wants to open dozens of outlets across all five boroughs. ILSR's New Rules Project was invited by the Council to testify.  Here's what we said.

 

Will the Real Voice of Small Business Please Stand Up?
Nov. 3, 2010   |    Hometown Advantage
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce insists that its political activities serve the interests of American business in the broadest sense.  But a growing number of small independent businesses are challenging that notion, arguing that the Chamber's real allegiance is to the giant corporations that fund it.

 

Why Does Target Have a Subsidiary in Bermuda?
July 28, 2010   |    Hometown Advantage
Offshore tax havens enable big corporations to dodge an estimated $37 billion a year in taxes.  A new coalition of small businesses is calling on Congress to level the playing field.


Putting Wal-Mart's Green Moves in Context
March 5, 2010   |    Grist magazine
What journalists and even environmentalists so often fail to do in reporting on Wal-Mart's sustainability announcements is to provide some context.




ImageBig-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.

 


 
© 2009 Institute for Local Self-Reliance