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Supersize It: The Growth of Retail Chains and the Rise of the “Big‐Box” Store

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  • Emek Basker
  • Shawn Klimek
  • Pham Hoang Van

Abstract

This paper documents and explains the recent rise of “big‐box” general merchandisers. Data from the Census of Retail Trade for 1977–2007 show that general‐merchandise chains grew much faster than specialist retail chains, and that general merchandisers that added the most stores also made the biggest increases to their product offerings. We explain these facts with a stylized model in which a retailer’s scale economies interact with consumer gains from one‐stop shopping to generate a complementarity between a retailer’s scale and scope.

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  • Emek Basker & Shawn Klimek & Pham Hoang Van, 2012. "Supersize It: The Growth of Retail Chains and the Rise of the “Big‐Box” Store," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(3), pages 541-582, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jemstr:v:21:y:2012:i:3:p:541-582
    DOI: j.1530-9134.2012.00339.x
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    Cited by:

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    3. Schuetz, Jenny, 2015. "Why are Walmart and Target Next-Door neighbors?," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 38-48.
    4. Florin Maican & Matilda Orth, 2017. "Productivity Dynamics and the Role of ‘Big-Box’ Entrants in Retailing," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65(2), pages 397-438, June.
    5. Orth, Matilda & Maican, Florin, 2021. "Entry Regulations and Product Variety in Retail," Working Paper Series 1386, Research Institute of Industrial Economics, revised 23 May 2023.
    6. Minjee Kim & Tingyu Zhou, 2021. "Does Restricting the Entry of Formula Businesses Help Mom-and-Pop Stores? The Case of Small American Towns With Unique Community Character," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 35(2), pages 157-173, May.
    7. Emlinger, Charlotte & Poncet, Sandra, 2018. "With a little help from my friends: Multinational retailers and China's consumer market penetration," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 1-12.
    8. Emek Basker, 2012. "Raising the Barcode Scanner: Technology and Productivity in the Retail Sector," NBER Chapters, in: Standards, Patents and Innovations, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Jason R. Blevins & Ahmed Khwaja & Nathan Yang, 2018. "Firm Expansion, Size Spillovers, and Market Dominance in Retail Chain Dynamics," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(9), pages 4070-4093.
    10. Maican, Florin & Orth, Matilda, 2021. "Determinants of economies of scope in retail," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    11. Schivardi, Fabiano & Pozzi, Andrea, 2015. "Entry Regulation in Retail Markets," CEPR Discussion Papers 10836, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    12. Emek Basker, 2015. "Change at the Checkout: Tracing the Impact of a Process Innovation," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(2), pages 339-370, June.
    13. Ollinger, Michael E. & Ver Ploeg, Shelly & Dicken, Christopher W., 2018. "The Impact of Super Center Stores on the Availability of SNAP-approved stores," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 274488, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    14. Raff, Horst & Schmitt, Nicolas, 2015. "Retailing and international trade: A survey of the literature," Economics Working Papers 2015-02, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Department of Economics.
    15. Sara D. Elder & Jane Lister & Peter Dauvergne, 2014. "Big retail and sustainable coffee: A new development studies research agenda," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 14(1), pages 77-90, January.
    16. Lucia Foster & John Haltiwanger & Shawn Klimek & CJ Krizan & Scott Ohlmacher, 2015. "The Evolution of National Retail Chains: How We Got Here," Working Papers 15-10, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    17. Bjørn Olav Johansen & Tore Nilssen, 2016. "The Economics of Retailing Formats: Competition Versus Bargaining," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(1), pages 109-134, March.
    18. Emek Basker & Timothy Simcoe, 2021. "Upstream, Downstream: Diffusion and Impacts of the Universal Product Code," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 129(4), pages 1252-1286.
    19. Francine Lafontaine & Jagadeesh Sivadasan, 2020. "The Recent Evolution of Physical Retail Markets: Online Retailing, Big Box Stores, and the Rise of Restaurants," NBER Chapters, in: The Role of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Economic Growth, pages 291-365, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Gian-Claudia Sciara & Kristin Lovejoy & Susan Handy, 2018. "The Impacts of Big Box Retail on Downtown: A Case Study of Target in Davis (CA)," Journal of the American Planning Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 84(1), pages 45-60, January.
    21. Basker, Emek & Vickers, Chris & Ziebarth, Nicolas L., 2018. "Competition, productivity, and survival of grocery stores in the Great Depression," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 282-315.
    22. Chen, Shih-Fen S. & Liaw, Chya-Yi E., 2020. "The coincidence of private branding and foreign sourcing: Is there a causality direction?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 268-276.
    23. Stanley Frederick W. T. Lim & Elliot Rabinovich & Sungho Park & Minha Hwang, 2021. "Shopping Activity at Warehouse Club Stores and Its Competitive and Network Density Implications," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(1), pages 28-46, January.

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