Big box retailers such as Wal-Mart, Costco, Publix and The Home Depot are all looking up, literally.
According to a report in the Miami Herald, big box operators are finding that the scarcity of space, particularly in urban areas, necessitates that stores be built on a number of floors instead of the one-story structures that dot the American landscape.
A case in point is Target. The retailer, according to the Herald report, has 33 multilevel stores in operation. The newest location opening in midtown Miami has multilevel parking attached to make it easier for consumers to move purchased product out of the store.
Publix too has found the need to go the vertical route. The company opened its first multilevel location in the Sunset Harbour neighborhood of Miami in 1998. The store has a moving walkway to bring shoppers up to the parking garage.
'In order for us to continue to expand, we had to think outside the box,' said Maria Brous, a spokesperson for Publix. "We had to be flexible. We had to be open to different types of formats."
Discussion Questions: Is the lack of space in urban areas affecting retailers in ways other than finding the need to move from single to multilevel stores? How is the new urbanism movement and its promotion of mixed use neighborhoods affecting store layouts?