The only place in town

Here's a talking head on the latest Supreme Curt ruling and why retailers aren't afraid of a public image whipping:

"Expanding for big box store is a challenge, especially in the Northeast. Therefore, retailers will have to devise a strategy for using eminent domain," said Candace Corlett, retail analyst with WSL Strategic nRetail.

"Local communities may oppose Wal-Mart and Target coming to their area but as consumers, they also want to shop at these stores and they complain when they don't have these stores nearby," she said. "The fact is that shoppers ultimately vote with their dollars and retailers are very well aware of that."

It's the last sentence I take a little issue with. It a mom and pop vacuum store, a pretzel stand, and a clothing store all get claimed by the state and knocked down to make a Target or Wal-Mart, where else would you expect the people who have shopped in those places for years to go? Will they go out of their way to find new "mom and pop" shops down the road? Probably not. Sure they'll bemoan the problems of big box retailers, but then shop their anyway claiming they have no choice. And you big box retailers know that, too.

If I tore down a Wal-Mart or Target and put up privately owned shops that offered the same services on the same land for close to the same price, would people go and shop there? That's the questioned I want to see answered somewhere. My gut, however, says no.