Big Box

Lofts and ground floor retail envelop a new Lowe's store in Charlotte, forming a buffer between the large store and the surrounding Dilworth neighborhood.

Sometimes big box retailers get too big for the boxes they're in. So they move. What's left behind are huge empty buildings -- and opportunities for re-use.

Supermarkets are moving back to urban areas like Philadelphia. But their big box designs are decidedly un-urban, according to architecture critic Inga Saffron, who calls for more relevant urban designs.

With growth controls making suburban properties less attractive and wealth becoming concentrated in older centres, Canada's big box retailers are looking downtown for new locations.

When big boxes go under, they leave big holes. Communities across America are coming up with some creative ways to reuse the huge spaces left behind when big box retailers move out.

Flowing Data used zip codes and other data to create an animated map showing the growth of WalMart from the first store in Arkansas in 1962 until today, when the map is covered with stores.

Empty retail space increased dramatically over the last six months, according to data compiled by commercial real estate brokers and investment advisors.

Big box stores are following their customers into downtowns, and stores like Circuit City and Target are retooling for density.

Waynesville, North Carolina Mayor Gavin Brown is forced to give up on pedestrian-friendly design to save potential jobs from Best Buy.

New schools are consistently built far from community centers, while historic school buildings near where people live are demolished, The Blue Ridge Press reports.

To deal with the problem of vacant big-box stores that have proliferated across the country, one Milwaukee suburb is levying a fee on developers to help pay for demolition. Other cities are exploring similar options.

As proposals for big-box retail projects mount in New Orleans, many small business owners who are returning to the city worry about the coming competition. A documentary is currently being filmed about the recovering city's business atmosphere.

By requiring a minimum height of at least two stories, cities could force big boxes to redesign their buildings into more urban friendly forms.