Here Comes the Walmart Express

The megaretailer is part of a trend to rethink and shrink stores, as big boxes around the country have seen their sales plummet.

1 minute read

September 15, 2011, 1:00 PM PDT

By Tim Halbur

Angie Schmitt at Streetsblog reports on the growing burden of big box buildings (early 300 million sq. ft. of it currently on the market) and how the megaretailers are adapting:

"Walmart plans to open 15 to 20 of the small stores - about one-tenth the size of a "Supercenter" - by the end of the year, mostly throughout the southeast but also including three in Chicago. By 2012, they plan to open as many as 350 a year, part of the mega-retailer's strategy to regain its dominance over dollar retailers.

Walmart isn't the only retailer turning its sights on the urban market it once eschewed."

Schmitt talks with Ed MacMahon of the Urban Land Institute about retail trends.

Thanks to Angie Schmitt

FULL STORY: The Incredible Shrinking Megastore: Retailers Think Outside the Big Box

Thursday, September 15, 2011 in Streetsblog Capitol Hill

Urban Development United States Urbanism WalMart big box stores

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