The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Consumption and Consumer Studies

Big-Box Stores

ETHAN D. SCHOOLMAN

University of Michigan, USA

DOI: 10.1002/9781118989463.wbeccs023

A big-box store is a physically large retail establishment, often part of a chain, whose size allows for enormous quantities of goods to be sold under one roof. Big-box stores are associated with a range of contemporary consumption phenomena: strong emphasis on low prices, outsourcing of manufacturing to countries with inexpensive, non-unionized labor, consistent retail environments regardless of geographical location, suburban sprawl and automobile-centered transportation, and the advent of “one-stop shopping.” As their dominance has grown, big-box stores have attracted both praise for making groceries and household goods cheaper and easier to buy, and criticism for their alleged role in the decline of small, independent businesses and traditional downtowns.

Since the early 1960s, when the first Wal-Mart, Kmart, and Target stores were opened, the big-box store has become a ubiquitous form of retail architecture. A largely US phenomenon, the first Wal-Mart store appeared in 1962 in Arkansas, followed by four Target stores near Minneapolis, Minnesota, and a Kmart outside Detroit, Michigan. These companies were soon joined by others, such as Fred Meyer in the Northwest, Meijer in Michigan, and FedMart in California. As the suburbs boomed and Americans became increasingly reliant on the automobile, companies associated with big-box stores experienced explosive growth. Led by Kmart, with ...