An insightful article came out in Bloomberg Businessweek earlier this month. The article, "Don't Subsidize Big Boxes at Local Shop's Expense," by Stacy Mitchell, author of Big-Box Swindle, talks about how much public money is routinely given to big box retailers across the country. The numbers are staggering. Mitchell reported that small town government officials "spent $1.6 million to lure a Borders bookstore to a local shopping center." Borders, of course, is now defunct. Mitchell also reported that Wal-Mart received tax exemptions to the tune of $7.9 million from 2008-2009--just in New York!Anyway, apparently a new study has been put forth from the East-West Gateway Council of Governments that "indicates that subsidizing retail development produces neither job gains nor new tax revenue."
How and when did it become standard practice to give big box retailers such big breaks? When do you think the practice will stop? Can we in the logistics/supply chain industry do anything about it?
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