Quote of the Day
Brooklyn can support a wide variety of retail because it has the population and household income to do so, and is underserved by retail. The idea that big boxes drive out small retail is a myth that mistakes correlation for causation. Small retail suffers in areas where population and income are declining: aging rust belt…
Brooklyn can support a wide variety of retail because it has the population and household income to do so, and is underserved by retail. The idea that big boxes drive out small retail is a myth that mistakes correlation for causation. Small retail suffers in areas where population and income are declining: aging rust belt areas or rural areas where automation in agriculture is eliminating jobs. It doesn’t happen in areas that are growing. In economically healthy areas, like Brooklyn or the New Jersey suburbs, small retail thrives in proximity to big boxes, like remoras alongside a shark. Mall owners in Jersey don’t have any problem renting out their smaller spaces when they have Wal-Mart or Target as an anchor.
— by Flatbushwhacker in Brooklyn Solves Retail Puzzle
im originally from jersey originally.. hudson county… born in jersey city. the areas around it, north bergen, west new york, guttenberg, union city, weekhawken.. all remind me of a lot of brooklyn. i don’t get the jersey hate really. tho jersey is very very very different in every area and pretty damn diverse. jersey pride!
-rob
I guess confusion of coincidence and cause is in the eye of the beholder. Taking industrial space to build big boxes takes away neighborhood workers (customers) from the smaller local business, hardware and home provision stores. And the traffic generated by the big boxes and their parking lots decrease the productivity of the industrial enterprises that remain.
The day that Brooklyn becomes like the Jersey suburbs will be the day I move out of Brooklyn.
Brownstoner, what is with you and promoting big box stores on your site. I can’t believe you chose this big box argument filled with half truths and hackneyed similes like “remoras alongside a shark,” as the quote of the day.