Big boxes are getting smaller

Cascade Supply Hardware

Big-box stores are getting smaller.

Because so many big box retail chains are cutting back on store sizes, Barry Shlachter writes in the Fort Worth Star Telegram that this is a national trend.

It’s also one of the Small Town Rules, where we know that bigger isn’t always better.

A few juicy quotes from the article:

“Small is a big idea nowadays. There is definitely a trend to a smaller footprint.”
–Sheri Bridges, a marketing professor at Wake Forest University and faculty director of its retail marketing center.

“Best Buy calls it ‘community-oriented retail.'”
–Bridges
I can hear the Small Town Rules ideas in that one! 

“Quite honestly, a lot of retailers have come back to the customer service days where the customer feels loved. If you can win on service, even if a product is online, people will come. They enjoy the entertainment factor of shopping in the store.”
–Charles Wetzel, CEO of the Fort Worth-based Buxton Group, which advises retailers on site selection.
That would Small Town Rule 4, where we all bring back customer service like small towns have maintained all along.

Read more from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Retail chains thinking outside the box.

[Photo of “The Biggest Store East of Skiyou” in Washington State by Becky McCray.]