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Walmart Stores Go Small and Urban http://plannersweb.com/2014/02/walmart-stores-go-small-urban/?prin... What About Smaller Towns & Suburbs? While Walmart is clearly evolving to fit into cities,there is also evidence that the retail giant is willing to break the mold in smaller towns and suburbs. This is because retail store size is shrinking due to the growth of internet shopping and also because suburbs are changing to stay competitive. Target,Whole Foods, Safeway, Giant,and other chains are already breaking the rules by building smaller footprint stores in multi-story buildings and mixed use developments. Walmart has recently opened several small town stores with parking under the building or with solar installations on the roof. What impact Walmart and other big box retailers will have on cities and the neighborhoods where they locate remains to be seen. Harriet Tregoning,the planning Director in Washington,DC,says that "Walmart does not offer any meaningful shopping experience. It competes solely on price and convenience." 5 Her message to small businesses is that"if you are in direct competition with Walmart you are in the wrong business to begin with."Instead she says"businesses that offer something Walmart can't like bars,restaurants and stores selling specialty goods or offering personalized levels of service— will continue to thrive." In some ways, the idea of national chains opening big new urban stores is a return to the way things once were. In 1960, we called it department store. Today we call it a Walmart. Ed McMahon is one of the country's most incisive analysts of planning and land use J z issues and trends. He holds the Charles Fraser Chair on Sustainable Development , and is a Senior Resident Fellow at the Urban Land Institute in Washington, DC. McMahon is a frequent speaker at conferences on planning and land development. Over the past 21 years,we've been pleased to have published more than two dozen 1 articles by McMahon in the Planning Commissioners Journal,and now on / PlannersWeb.com. r Notes: i�' ! 1. Dan Maloutt, "Walmart's 6 DC stores: Some will be urban, some won't" (Greater Greater Washington blog,April 26,2012) +- 2. Allison Brooks,"The world's tiniest Walmart opens in Atlanta" (Atlanta Magazine,Aug. 14,2013 3. Todd Gill, "Now open: Walmart on Campus" (Fayetteville Flyer,Jan. 14,2011). 4. Ryan Holeywell, "Walmart Makes Its Urban Debut" (Governing Magazine,June 2012) 6 of 7 2/28/2014 11:50 AM