Stacy Mitchell is a senior researcher with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, where she directs initiatives on community banking and independent retail. She is the author of Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America's Independent... Read more →

The first Wal-Mart store opened fifty years ago this month. What has its dominance meant to American workers? Read more →

Big corporations hide their assets off-shore, while small businesses and individuals are left to pick up the slack. Read more →

With Black Friday on the horizon (just past a plate of roast veggies and turkey), the Etsy blog interviewed Stacy Mitchell, author of Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America's Independent Businesses about shopping local... Read more →

The author of Big-Box Swindle looks at the environmental arguments in favor of small, locally-owned neighborhood shops. Read more →

Is that a new, local coffee shop where the Starbucks used to be? Look again. It could just be one of the coffee giants to take business from the real neighborhood stores. Read more →

Immersed as we are these days in discussions of carbon emissions and carbon offsets, food miles and feedback loops, Earth Day has come to feel more and more outmoded, a throwback to an earlier era before melting ice caps and the prospect of the end of life as we know it made the environment no longer a periodic concern but an everyday worry. Read more →

The Broadside took a couple of days off for turkey, stuffing, and family fun. We're back today with a reminder of why we shouldn't spend our holiday shopping dollars without thinking about the impact of our choices. by Stacy Mitchell... Read more →