The Small-Mart Revolution

FOREWORD

This is a badly needed book.

I say that for several reasons. The first, and most obvious, is that almost anyone who has taken the time to study the situation now knows what a death star the big box on the edge of town is. When WalMart and its kind first began metastasizing across the landscape, it was impossible to say for sure what the effect would be. Perhaps people would just go there for a few items they couldn’t purchase locally (in my town, small appliances) and would continue to patronize local stores for the rest. Perhaps they would so add to the general prosperity of a neighborhood that everyone’s boat would be lifted on their swelling tide. As it turned out, that’s not what happened. Local downtowns were depopulated—a few ...