The Community Land Use and Economics Group

Like many other communities, Burlingame, California is considering adopting an ordinance that would limit the number of national retailers in its downtown.

The UK's New Economics Foundation released the results of its "clone town" survey yesterday, concluding that 42 percent of the nation's communities are "clone towns", meaning that their distinctive main street businesses have been replaced with national retailers that can be found in many places, erasing local distinctiveness.

It may be the go-to place when mom needs a new pair of shoes, but Payless Shoesource is not the go-to place for fashion-conscious young women. The company is hoping its new line of stores – nicknamed “Fashion Lab” – will change that. Payless currently sells one in every ten pairs of shoes purchased in the United States. The company plans to open 20 – 30 of its trendy new stores by 2007. The initial plan calls for locations in high-end malls. But Payless has long been a friend of traditional main streets and we hope the new stores will ultimately find their way home.

A new study by the Campaign to Protect Rural England and the Plunkett Foundation reports that the number of independent businesses around Saxmundham has increased and that food stores are flourishing after a proposal to build a new big-box store was defeated there in 1997.

A few convenience and grocery stores are experimenting with BioPay, a fingerprint scanner that instantly pays for purchases by deducting payment from your checking account.

7-Eleven believes its sales are growing because of Wal-Mart. Seems people do their power-shopping once a week or so at the superstore, then shop for little things at the convenience store rather than shlepping to a grocery store. Tobacco accounts for almost 30 percent of 7-Eleven's sales (6.16.2005).

Is that a CRAFTSMAN drill? A dentist in Raleigh, North Carolina is opening up his practice inside a Sears store there (6.12.2005).

Although retail sales in the US are only expected to increase by 4.8 percent this year (versus 7 percent last year), new store openings will increase 23 percent, according to the National Retail Federation and Merrill Lynch. Among those adding to the retail glut is Lowe's, which plans to open 170 stores in 2005 (6.12.2005).

Family Dollar plans to shift its attention to urban locations, opening 500+ new stores within the next year.

A new AC Nielsen survey of consumers in 38 countries concludes that the United States leads the world in the percentage of paycheck-to-paycheck shoppers.

Uniqlo, one of Japan's leading apparel retailers, plans to begin opening stores in the US in 2006.

Borders will have to pay California sales tax on internet sales to California residents, according to a California appellate court in a ruling that could have significant implications for big companies that sell products online in states in which they also have bricks-and-mortar stores.

Hershey is opening several new stores that seem as much theatre as shopping experience - part of an emerging trend in experiential retail.

Coming to a grocery store aisle near you... acupuncture classes?

Standard & Poor's has cut the credit ratings for three major grocery store chains - Albertsons, Kroger, and Safeway - to triple-B-minus, just a notch away from junk status. S&P cites strong competition from Wal-Mart and Costco. Wal-Mart currently controls about $67 billion of the $458 billion grocery industry, or about 15 percent, and its share is steadily increasing (July 2005).

Elvis Presley Enterprises is developing a line of licensed apparel. Forbes reports that Elvis is the top-earning dead celebrity, beating out fellow dead celebs JRR Tolkien, Marilyn Monroe, and Charles Schultz (July 2005).

Retail Forward reports that US households will spend 4.6 percent more annually over the next five years on food eaten at home, but grocery sales will grow by only 2 percent per year - meaning that people will be spending more on carry-out food, gourmet food, and eat-at-home meals bought in other store venues (July 2005).

Gainesville, Florida has launched a hospitality resource panel to help solve underage drinking and drunkenness problems, based on downtown Athens, Georgia's successful model (July 2005).

Upscale fashion designer Louis Vuitton is opening a superstore in Paris. To celebrate, Vuitton is offering a watch sporting an image of the Eiffel Tower in sapphires and diamonds for a mere $36,000. Just like the superstore down the street (July 2005).

Pharmacies in California and Virginia are testing vending machines that dispense prescription drug refills (June 2005).

Winn-Dixie plans to close 40 of its SaveRite grocery stores in the metropolitan Atlanta region, and a host of its competitors (including Trader Joe's, Wal-Mart's Neighborhood Market, and Food Lion) are vying to take over the leases (June 2005).

Sixty-nine percent of Americans now shop online, according to Forrester Research (June 2005).

A landlord in Half Moon Bay, California is cutting his main street tenants' rents by 20 percent while disruptive road repairs take place. He's encouraging other downtown landlords to do the same, also.

Google is developing an online payment system to compete with PayPal. PayPal is popular with independent retailers, many of whom use it to accept payment from online customers (June 2005).

The Gap is planning to redesign all its stores, beginning with those in the Denver area. The new stores will be darker, with theatrical lighting, and will feature "denim bars" with books and comfy chairs. (June 2005)

Seattle's City Kitchens has won the International Housewares Association's Best Independent Housewares Business award. (June 2005)

The New York Times reports that a growing number of business school graduates are buying franchises. (June 2005)

Starbucks' new CEO plans to grow annual earnings by 20-25 percent over the next 3-5 years, in part by expanding into China and other large countries. (June 2005)

Bloomberg News reports that the National Basketball Association is considering selling ads on players' uniforms. (June 2005)

The French government is establishing standards for the sale of free-trade products. (June 2005)

According to a study conducted by the National Federation of Independent Businesses, 91 percent of small businesses contributed cash or merchandise and volunteered time to their communities in 2004.

Lack of distinctive products, poor customer service and a disorganized store are the top reasons people decide not to patronize a business, according to a new survey of American shoppers by IBM. (June 2005)

Shop online ... in person? A new shopping center in Columbus, Ohio - to be called the EpiCenter - invites people to browse the stores but make purchases from handheld Buypods. Really. (June 2005)

According to a Forrester report, online shopping increased 24 percent in 2004. (June 2005)

Americans spent $33.7 billion eating out last month. That's eight percent more than the same month a year ago. (June 2005)

The Gap is launching a new store, Forth and Towne, targeting women over 35. It plans to open five stores in 2005 (four in the Chicago area, one in New York), then expand to 30 stores by 2007. (May 2005)

How product bundling can help small businesses boost online sales. (May 2005)

Dollar General continues its expansion into grocery retailing with a new store in Fort Oglethorpe, Tennessee. Like its other grocery markets, it's relatively small, at 10,000 square feet. (May 2005)

Radio Shack has opened a new 10,000 square foot flagship/concept store in downtown Fort Worth and containing a house (letting customers try out new home technology), a theatre, and a Starbuck's. (May 2005)

PayPal - which now has more accounts than Discover and Bank of America - is launching a new collection of services for merchants next month, helping make it easier for small retailers to sell things online (May 2005).

A Wharton School of Business researcher is using RFID technology to study the way people shop in grocery stores. His results may lead to significant changes in in-store merchandising and store displays (May 2005).

Metropolis magazine asks whether new town centers represent a form of cultural brainwashing. "What's striking to me", writes author Karrie Jacobs, "is how good we've gotten at fashioning these kinds of places--how conscientious we've become at retrofitting meaning and burying the evidence of our mall-building years under a faux architectural narrative. It's as if we're brainwashing ourselves into believing that we can return to a time before sprawl."

America's grandparents have after-tax income of about $2.5 trillion and spent about $23 billion on their grandkids in 2002. Is it any surprise, then, that many of the nation's major retailers are trying harder to attract them?

Now coming to a restaurant near you: TableSwipe, a self-service credit card processing machine right on your restaurant table.

Independent operators are buying 12 of 16 A&P grocery stores closing in the Detroit area, keeping them in business as neighborhood markets.

"If 'Whole Foods Market' is part of a retail/condo complex, new apartments sell briskly", reports The Wall Street Journal.

Port Townsend, Washington has enacted an emergency ordinance banning "formula businesses" with frontage wider than 50 feet and larger than 3000 square feet in size.

Grocery stores continue to adapt to urban neighborhoods (June 2005).

A coalition of developers and civic leaders proposes to enlarge Tyson's Corner VA - a massive jumble of commercial sprawl - and reshape it like a traditional downtown.

The most expensive shopping streets in the world.

The Retail Industry Leaders Association has voiced strong opposition to the national sales tax proposed by a bill introduced in Congress last week by Rep. John Linder (R-GA). The bill would eliminate income taxes and replace it with a 23 percent consumption-based tax on purchases of most retail goods and services.

The Gap plans to close 135 stores this year (mostly mall-based Gap stores) and open 175 new ones (mostly Old Navy and outlet stores).

Tesco earned 2 billion British pounds last year, the first retailer to do so. Britons spend one out of every three grocery dollars there.

Metropolis magazine profiles the retail store design work of L.E.F.T.

Malls are losing some of their enthusiasm for toy stores, video rental stores, and athletic shoe stores because of volatility in these retail sectors.

Business Wire reports that 80 percent of shoppers use the internet, catalogs and bricks-and-mortar stores interchangeably, up from 57 percent last year.

Home Decorators Collection, which has operated only as a catalog company for years, will begin opening retail stores this year, with plans for 65 stores within the next five years. (3/31/2005)

Ross Stores plans to open 85-90 new stores this year.

Aurora, Illinois is suing the developer of an outlet mall over traffic costs.

Simon Properties will begin selling billboard space outside its shopping malls

Men's Wearhouse is adding dry cleaning services

A report from Andersonville IL shows that local businesses circulate 58 percent more dollars locally than the area's chain stores.

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	Like many other communities, Burlingame, California is considering adopting an ordinance that would limit the number of national retailers in its downtown. The UK's New Economics Foundation released the results of its "clone town" survey yesterday, concluding that 42 percent of the nation's communities are "clone towns", meaning that their distinctive main street businesses have been replaced with national retailers that can be found in many places, erasing local distinctiveness. It may be the go-to place when mom needs a new pair of shoes, but Payless Shoesource is not the go-to place for fashion-conscious young women. The company is hoping its new line of stores – nicknamed “Fashion Lab” – will change that. Payless currently sells one in every ten pairs of shoes purchased in the United States. The company plans to open 20 – 30 of its trendy new stores by 2007. The initial plan calls for locations in high-end malls. But Payless has long been a friend of traditional main streets and we hope the new stores will ultimately find their way home. A new study by the Campaign to Protect Rural England and the Plunkett Foundation reports that the number of independent businesses around Saxmundham has increased and that food stores are flourishing after a proposal to build a new big-box store was defeated there in 1997. A few convenience and grocery stores are experimenting with BioPay, a fingerprint scanner that instantly pays for purchases by deducting payment from your checking account. 7-Eleven believes its sales are growing because of Wal-Mart. Seems people do their power-shopping once a week or so at the superstore, then shop for little things at the convenience store rather than shlepping to a grocery store. Tobacco accounts for almost 30 percent of 7-Eleven's sales (6.16.2005). Is that a CRAFTSMAN drill? A dentist in Raleigh, North Carolina is opening up his practice inside a Sears store there (6.12.2005). Although retail sales in the US are only expected to increase by 4.8 percent this year (versus 7 percent last year), new store openings will increase 23 percent, according to the National Retail Federation and Merrill Lynch. Among those adding to the retail glut is Lowe's, which plans to open 170 stores in 2005 (6.12.2005). Family Dollar plans to shift its attention to urban locations, opening 500+ new stores within the next year. A new AC Nielsen survey of consumers in 38 countries concludes that the United States leads the world in the percentage of paycheck-to-paycheck shoppers. Uniqlo, one of Japan's leading apparel retailers, plans to begin opening stores in the US in 2006. Borders will have to pay California sales tax on internet sales to California residents, according to a California appellate court in a ruling that could have significant implications for big companies that sell products online in states in which they also have bricks-and-mortar stores. Hershey is opening several new stores that seem as much theatre as shopping experience - part of an emerging trend in experiential retail. Coming to a grocery store aisle near you... acupuncture classes? Standard & Poor's has cut the credit ratings for three major grocery store chains - Albertsons, Kroger, and Safeway - to triple-B-minus, just a notch away from junk status. S&P cites strong competition from Wal-Mart and Costco. Wal-Mart currently controls about $67 billion of the $458 billion grocery industry, or about 15 percent, and its share is steadily increasing (July 2005). Elvis Presley Enterprises is developing a line of licensed apparel. Forbes reports that Elvis is the top-earning dead celebrity, beating out fellow dead celebs JRR Tolkien, Marilyn Monroe, and Charles Schultz (July 2005). Retail Forward reports that US households will spend 4.6 percent more annually over the next five years on food eaten at home, but grocery sales will grow by only 2 percent per year - meaning that people will be spending more on carry-out food, gourmet food, and eat-at-home meals bought in other store venues (July 2005). Gainesville, Florida has launched a hospitality resource panel to help solve underage drinking and drunkenness problems, based on downtown Athens, Georgia's successful model (July 2005). Upscale fashion designer Louis Vuitton is opening a superstore in Paris. To celebrate, Vuitton is offering a watch sporting an image of the Eiffel Tower in sapphires and diamonds for a mere $36,000. Just like the superstore down the street (July 2005). Pharmacies in California and Virginia are testing vending machines that dispense prescription drug refills (June 2005). Winn-Dixie plans to close 40 of its SaveRite grocery stores in the metropolitan Atlanta region, and a host of its competitors (including Trader Joe's, Wal-Mart's Neighborhood Market, and Food Lion) are vying to take over the leases (June 2005). Sixty-nine percent of Americans now shop online, according to Forrester Research (June 2005). A landlord in Half Moon Bay, California is cutting his main street tenants' rents by 20 percent while disruptive road repairs take place. He's encouraging other downtown landlords to do the same, also. Google is developing an online payment system to compete with PayPal. PayPal is popular with independent retailers, many of whom use it to accept payment from online customers (June 2005). The Gap is planning to redesign all its stores, beginning with those in the Denver area. The new stores will be darker, with theatrical lighting, and will feature "denim bars" with books and comfy chairs. (June 2005) Seattle's City Kitchens has won the International Housewares Association's Best Independent Housewares Business award. (June 2005) The New York Times reports that a growing number of business school graduates are buying franchises. (June 2005) Starbucks' new CEO plans to grow annual earnings by 20-25 percent over the next 3-5 years, in part by expanding into China and other large countries. (June 2005) Bloomberg News reports that the National Basketball Association is considering selling ads on players' uniforms. (June 2005) The French government is establishing standards for the sale of free-trade products. (June 2005) According to a study conducted by the National Federation of Independent Businesses, 91 percent of small businesses contributed cash or merchandise and volunteered time to their communities in 2004. Lack of distinctive products, poor customer service and a disorganized store are the top reasons people decide not to patronize a business, according to a new survey of American shoppers by IBM. (June 2005) Shop online ... in person? A new shopping center in Columbus, Ohio - to be called the EpiCenter - invites people to browse the stores but make purchases from handheld Buypods. Really. (June 2005) According to a Forrester report, online shopping increased 24 percent in 2004. (June 2005) Americans spent $33.7 billion eating out last month. That's eight percent more than the same month a year ago. (June 2005) The Gap is launching a new store, Forth and Towne, targeting women over 35. It plans to open five stores in 2005 (four in the Chicago area, one in New York), then expand to 30 stores by 2007. (May 2005) How product bundling can help small businesses boost online sales. (May 2005) Dollar General continues its expansion into grocery retailing with a new store in Fort Oglethorpe, Tennessee. Like its other grocery markets, it's relatively small, at 10,000 square feet. (May 2005) Radio Shack has opened a new 10,000 square foot flagship/concept store in downtown Fort Worth and containing a house (letting customers try out new home technology), a theatre, and a Starbuck's. (May 2005) PayPal - which now has more accounts than Discover and Bank of America - is launching a new collection of services for merchants next month, helping make it easier for small retailers to sell things online (May 2005). A Wharton School of Business researcher is using RFID technology to study the way people shop in grocery stores. His results may lead to significant changes in in-store merchandising and store displays (May 2005). Metropolis magazine asks whether new town centers represent a form of cultural brainwashing. "What's striking to me", writes author Karrie Jacobs, "is how good we've gotten at fashioning these kinds of places--how conscientious we've become at retrofitting meaning and burying the evidence of our mall-building years under a faux architectural narrative. It's as if we're brainwashing ourselves into believing that we can return to a time before sprawl." America's grandparents have after-tax income of about $2.5 trillion and spent about $23 billion on their grandkids in 2002. Is it any surprise, then, that many of the nation's major retailers are trying harder to attract them? Now coming to a restaurant near you: TableSwipe, a self-service credit card processing machine right on your restaurant table. Independent operators are buying 12 of 16 A&P grocery stores closing in the Detroit area, keeping them in business as neighborhood markets. "If 'Whole Foods Market' is part of a retail/condo complex, new apartments sell briskly", reports The Wall Street Journal. Port Townsend, Washington has enacted an emergency ordinance banning "formula businesses" with frontage wider than 50 feet and larger than 3000 square feet in size. Grocery stores continue to adapt to urban neighborhoods (June 2005). A coalition of developers and civic leaders proposes to enlarge Tyson's Corner VA - a massive jumble of commercial sprawl - and reshape it like a traditional downtown. The most expensive shopping streets in the world. The Retail Industry Leaders Association has voiced strong opposition to the national sales tax proposed by a bill introduced in Congress last week by Rep. John Linder (R-GA). The bill would eliminate income taxes and replace it with a 23 percent consumption-based tax on purchases of most retail goods and services. The Gap plans to close 135 stores this year (mostly mall-based Gap stores) and open 175 new ones (mostly Old Navy and outlet stores). Tesco earned 2 billion British pounds last year, the first retailer to do so. Britons spend one out of every three grocery dollars there. Metropolis magazine profiles the retail store design work of L.E.F.T. Malls are losing some of their enthusiasm for toy stores, video rental stores, and athletic shoe stores because of volatility in these retail sectors. Business Wire reports that 80 percent of shoppers use the internet, catalogs and bricks-and-mortar stores interchangeably, up from 57 percent last year. Home Decorators Collection, which has operated only as a catalog company for years, will begin opening retail stores this year, with plans for 65 stores within the next five years. (3/31/2005) Ross Stores plans to open 85-90 new stores this year. Aurora, Illinois is suing the developer of an outlet mall over traffic costs. Simon Properties will begin selling billboard space outside its shopping malls Men's Wearhouse is adding dry cleaning services A report from Andersonville IL shows that local businesses circulate 58 percent more dollars locally than the area's chain stores.
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