Economic/Small Business
Examples and Resources
Impact of Wal-Mart Stores on Other Businesses In Iowa (1989)
Ken Stone. “After 5 years, the towns within a 20 mile radius of a Wal-Mart store had cumulative net sales reductions of 25.4%, while the same size towns much further away had sales reductions of only 187.6%…Some people misinterpret the sales changes after a Wal-Mart store comes into a town. They…
Impact of Wal-Mart Store on Greenfield, Massachusetts (1993)
RKG Associates. This study, which was paid for by Wal-Mart, but produced by an “independent” analyst from New Hampshire, showed that under a “high impact” scenario, Wal-Mart would have a very significant adverse impact on existing downtown merchants, and on jobs. The construction of a Wal-Mart…
Fiscal & Economic Impact of Leominster Shopping Center (2003)
Tom Muller. “A new supercenter Wal-Mart can actually cause an actual decline in fulltime equivalent retail jobs…it takes fewer workers per employee to sell products at Wal-Mart compared to other department-type stores…No net additions to retail jobs in the region are anticipated. The additional…
Fiscal Impact Analysis of Residential and Nonresidential Land Use Prototypes (2002)
Tischler Associates for Barnstable, MA. This impact study was produced for a town, not for a developer, so it did not have to reach a conclusion that favored any group that paid for it. Shows that big retail projects can lose money for a town. “The big box retail prototype generates an annual deficit…
Final Report On Research For Big Box Retail/Superstore Ordinance (2003)
Rodino Associates for the Los Angeles Community Development Department. “Big box retailers and superstores may negatively impact the retail labor market in an area by converting union-scale retail jobs to a fewer number of lower paying retail jobs. The difference in overall compensation (wages and…
Economic Information In Deciding A (Big Box) Application (1997)
Napa, CA. Planning Director. This memo finds that the city “has broad discretion to deny a (big box) application based upon “economic” considerations…of whether there is a sufficient market to be served by the proposed new (big box) business, and whether the additional intensity of use proposed...would…
Economic Analysis of A Proposed Wal-Mart Expansion (2005)
California Economic Research Associates finds that a Wal-Mart superstore in Linda, California would cause “significant negative environmental effects…negatively impact other local businesses, and create urban decay and blight conditions…”
Competing With The Discount Mass Merchandisers (1995)
Researched by Ken Stone, of Iowa State University. “Merchants selling the same goods as Wal-Mart are in jeopardy. They are subject to losing some trade to Wal-Mart unless they change their way of doing business…The shopping habits of consumers fundamentally change after the introduction of discount…
The Economic Impact of Locally Owned Business Vs. Chains (2003)
Compares the economic impact of locally owned businesses to the contributions of a typical big box retailer. Focusing on eight locally owned businesses in Rockland, Camden, and Belfast, Maine, the study finds that 46.7 percent of a total $5.7 million in sales was spent on employees’ wages and benefits,…
Big Box Retail & Austin: An Independent Review (2004)
Civic Economics study in Austin, Texas. This “peer review” study of a private consultant’s study finds that “a rapid increase in big box retail does take business away from many types of local retail” and that Austin should “support unique local retail establishments, while guiding the…
