or maybe its because of the way some of the stores mix categories in a way that feels surreal and disturbing in the end if youre in a barnes noble maybe its because nobody behind the counter ever says i read that youll love it but if its anything like our retail revolution it could also be very bad if its not managed well leading to traffic problems social alienation and a colossal waste of resources and then the day came when they had to buy dinner the author a parisbased business writer is a columnist for et magazine it was the same with the mortgage bubble davidowitz says because its our money most of that property will need to be converted to other uses such as government offices doctors offices or libraries says edward mcmahon a senior fellow at the urban land institute a national think tank on land use planning also if you allow unfettered development outside of cities you will hurt development in the city he says where a hundred years ago sigmund frank built a handsome 15storey building in downtown portland that is still standing partly converted into a luxury hotel the big boxes of bend are more or less just vast cinderblock circus tents built to last 20 or 30 years they were institutions in their own right the covered wagons were still rolling when meir frank had set up shop if you look at the old investment banks where you had partners with their own money in none ever got into trouble a half hour away is a walmart bigger than a football field that sells everything from grapes to guns and fred meyer a regional competitor to walmart a meier had been governor during the depression motivated insanity what went wrong costco might have cheaper pills but you wont get a smile from the pharmacists daughter one lesson is that although americans tend to believe whatever happens at home will eventually happen elsewhere an attitude progressive department store owner edward filene once scorned as a belief in the divine right of capital it doesnt have to be the case if you plan development for cars you will get more cars most big cities had their own department stores owned by families who over time had become local gentry that world is now long gone and most analysts say this is only the beginning of the pain ahead for the big boxes a change in the tax code helped too a 1954 rule accelerated the rate at which developers were allowed to deduct the cost of their investment from their taxes giving them every incentive to build and flip my family has nicer stuff than we grew up with and there are always new things to try at about 120000 sq m lloyd center had been the second largest shopping centre in the us when it opened in 1960 but today you need to be about double that size