Over the years, Kmart operated more than 2,000 stores in the U.S. Now there are just three still open. They were seen as a sign of growth—jobs, tax revenue, etc.—but they came at a great cost. 1/
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Now, in many places, they look like this. Let's talk about what it means for the financial health of our cities, and for the quality of our lives. 2/
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Starting with the parking lot. This Kmart husk and associated parking lot in Lansing, Illinois is nearly the size of a football field. bit.ly/3766dHs 3/
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Along with big box stores comes big box parking. And let's not entirely blame the businesses—cities across the U.S. mandate that new construction meet a minimum number of parking spaces. bit.ly/3Oejo9Y 4/
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Parking minimums often require businesses to put up more parking than they'll ever need. Yes, even on Black Friday. bit.ly/3E4mY1z 5/
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Kmart might be calling it quits, but chances are your zoning code still encourages this kind of waste by mandating parking minimums. The first piece of good news: You can change that. Here's a video on how. bit.ly/3KEK5T6 6/
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Big box stores like Kmart were never the financially productive powerhouses one might think. When we #DoTheMath on similar operations, we find that small-scale retail outperforms big retail on tax production in a major way. bit.ly/37GfOUY 7/
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What's more, stores like this came at a great cost to cities that subsidized their construction with infrastructure investments—pipes, roads, etc. And those liabilities don't go away when the store goes out of business. bit.ly/38BU3Gt 8/
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The scale of businesses like Kmart (and their parking lots) pushes destinations farther apart in a vicious cycle, making it difficult or impossible to access daily needs without a car, which encourages car-centric development, which encourages driving, which... you get it. 9/
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But we know that neighborhoods and main streets where people can walk to meet their needs aren't just more pleasant and healthier. They're also more financially productive. bit.ly/3xlHFEW 10/
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Not all Kmarts or buildings like it sit empty in perpetuity... has written extensively about re-use of box store shells. bit.ly/3vambrV This is an important mitigation strategy once the damage of this kind of development has been done. 11/
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But it would be better if we didn't do the damage in the first place—and trust us, it's still going on. Cities across North America are using precious resources on big bets like Kmart, like that new suburb, like the next master-planned community. bit.ly/3LZCFdo 12/
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These resources should be used to make good on the promises our cities made to the people who live in them; that they would be able to live a good life in a prospering place. bit.ly/3LTyr6X 13/
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Strong Towns is a bottom-up revolution to end the Growth Ponzi scheme and build resilient cities and towns. Learn more at strongtowns.org 14/14
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