This Book Changed My Habits for the Better
When I opened this book I thought I already knew a fair amount about the issues it contains. But Big Box Swindle really shows so many angles on the struggle between small, community owned businesses and the Big Box retailers that I was engrossed from the very first chapter. I didn't know about Geoffrey's Loophole, for example. That was highly edifying, and also gives the reader plenty of hope. This book is suggested reading for anyone who shops. Ever. But it should be required reading for anyone who sits on a town council. The book illustrates precisely the way in which communities say "yes" to big box development for hopeful and promising reasons, but receive far less than they bargained for.

If wishing made it so-the view from acedemia

This book can only be written by someone who has never started or operated a business (successfully). And thanks once again to another academician who is unleashing torrents of whiney college grads who want to be paid excessively while having jobs that they feel should be untouchable.

I thought that the example of the quaint local bookstores was telling as to how the author just doesn't get it. One book store-quaint. A local operation that grows to six units-quaint. Barnes & Noble's with three units-economic catastrophe! I wondered what the one book store operation thought about the six store chain, local or otherwise. Who would the author like for us to regulate and determine when someone is doing well and when they are doing too well and need to be stopped?

Ask a group of people "Does Walmart put little businesses out of business?" divide the room based on a pro vs. con answer, and then ask for explanations and examples. What you will find is those who feel big box, any big box "category killer" is the bane of all economic evil are not entrepreneurial in any way shape or form. They will not understand the evolutionary history of American business, and they are not competitive despite their protests to the contrary.

Personally, I cross reference my liberal leanings with the stark reality of what does and doesn't work. If these small businesses are such great and venerable ventures, why do people flock to other stores when they open? Are these consumers being enticed in some invisible fashion that I'm not aware of? Do small businesses deserve some sort of protective status in a free market economy? Do the people that believe big box is evil really want to be told where we can and cannot shop?

We own a small graphic design/printing business and we compete on some level with the likes of Kinko's (FedEx Office), Office Depot, Post Net, the Internet, printers large and small, and various other independents and franchises. When I tell people that my dream come true would be to create a campus here that would accommodate all of these companies where consumers could compare us based on price, quality, and service-they think I'm nuts. Invite my company to the dance, and we'll take on the competition of all kinds because THAT is the way it works. Hiding or getting protection from your competition only enables mediocrity and the consumer suffers.

Credit where due, one thing the author covered which was actually accurate is that donation seekers will quite often prey on the small business because they can reach the decision makers, but will turn to big box to save money when they are going to purchase something. We discovered this as well. Rather than shrink away from this challenge, we put protocol in place to ask the person if they shop at our store when they ask for donations. Those who are our clients (who don't really need to be asked) we take care of. Those who don't are given a discount rather than an outright donation. But there are many small businesses that do nothing to support the community and let's not be naive about the "Mom & Pop" operation. They are not all running positive businesses with a warm and fuzzy approach like a Norman Rockwall painting.

The key is don't do what the category killers do better, rather you should enhance your approach to do what they can't and exploit that fact. If you have a product and service that is sculpted to the marketplace you will actually do better to locate close to big box than to run and hide from the reality that you share the marketplace with them. This sense of entitlement that is being fostered at home and reinforced in schools is what the true bane of our society has to deal with.

Great book
A book every caring American should read. It tells you what Wallmart has realy done to us.

Big Box Swindle
Very well researched and documented. Easy and interesting read, even an involved story at times. I liked the book and the presentation very much. I have corners turned on many pages. I feel better now whenever I shop locally (non-big box)... and I find the price difference not that dramatic.

Like discovering the Wizard of Oz is just a guy w/fancy special effects gear
I just started reading this book and I'm already blown away by the world it is revealing to me! Reading how Wal-Mart has corrupted the free enterprise system by manipulating all the mechanisms that enable/encourage fair trade, competition, market demand, consumer preference, cultural uniqueness, etc. was startling. And the part about how Wal-Mart is slowing gnawing its way inside the manufacturers to the point where it requires a company to buy raw materials from Wal-Mart, and soon won't even buy goods but will expect manufacturers to provide goods on consignment! I know that doesn't sound dramatic, but consider what happens when Wal-Mart tells P&G that it must have 100 cases of a new product in every store, in spite of what P& G's projections say the market demand is. The market doesn't go for the product, so only 60 cases are sold per store. Wal-Mart has no risk because they don't own the merchandise. So P&G has to eat the loss somehow. And as the book showed, if a company says no to Wal-Mart, they get kicked out of the store and the sudden loss of revenue can and has bankrupted companies. Good God!! And of course, Wal-Mart isn't the only one doing this.

Reading this book is like accidentally walking into a store's backroom and coming across some dirty sweatshop where everyone is in chains. Then some cleancut, smiling guy hooks your arm, leads you out and gives you some urgent story about how they're trying valiantly to keep such conditions from being necessary in every store in the world. Then stuffs a 30%-off coupon into your hand and guides you to the weekly sale rack.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a guy who likes popping into Target, Home Depot and a host of other chains. But seeing behind the shiny laminated displays makes you think....

A real page turner along with a wealth of information
Great book just wish the authors wrote a follow up.