superstore sprawl and small town decline
Highlight: 
STORE WARS: When Wal-Mart Comes to Town
The Independent Television Service (itvs.org) and PBS.org debut the companion Web site to the documentary STORE WARS: When Wal-Mart Comes to Town, which follows the controversy between the retail giant and the town of Ashland, Virginia (population 7,200).  The documentary and site also examine the impact of big-box stores on  small town America.

Books, Reports, Articles & Organizations 
Arendt, Randall, Rural by Design: Maintaining Small Town Character (Cambridge, Mass.: Lincoln Land Institute, American Planning Association, 1994). 

Beaumont, Constance, How Superstore Sprawl Can Harm Communities: And What Citizens Can Do About It (Washington, D.C.: National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1997).

Beaumont, Constance, Better Models for Superstores: Alternatives to Big-Box Sprawl (Washington, D.C.:  National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1997). 

Howe, Jim, Ed McMahon, and Luther Propst, Balancing Nature and Commerce in Gateway Communities (Washington, DC:, Island Press, 1997). 

Humstone, Elizabeth, and Thomas Muller, What Happened to
Downtown When Superstores Located on the Outskirts of Town: A Report on three Iowa Communities with a Statistical Analysis of Seven Iowa Counties (Washington, D.C.: National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1997). 

Ketcham, Brian T., "The Full Cost of Big Box Stores," Metro Planner, Metropolitan Chapter of the American Planning Association, March 1995, Volume 7, Number 6. (Brian Ketcham Engineering, P.C., 175 Pacific Street, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11201). 

Marx, Julie and Priscilla Salant, Rural Communities in the Path of  Development: Stories of Growth, Conflict and Cooperation (Washington, DC: The Aspen Institute Rural Economic Policy Program, 1996). 

McMahon, Edward, Better Models for Development in Virginia (Arlington, VA:  The Conservation Fund, 2000).

Power, Thomas Michael, Lost Landscapes and Failed Economies: The Search for a Value of Place (Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 1996). 

Ringholz, Raye C., Paradise Paved: The Challenge of Growth in the New West (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1996). 

Shils, Edward B., Ph.D., The Shils Report: Measuring the Economic and Sociological Impact of the Mega-Retail Discount Chains on Small Enterprise in Urban, Suburban and Rural Communities, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Feb. 7, 1997. (123 S. Broad Street, Suite 2030, Phila., PA, 19109-1020) 

Stone, Kenneth, "Competing with the Discount Mass Merchandisers," Department of Economics, Iowa State University, 1995. 

Weinstein, Alan C., "How to Cope With - Or Without - 'Big-Box' Retailers," Zoning and Planning Law Report, Vol. 17, No. 7 (New York: Clark Boardman Callaghan), July-August 1994. 

Articles:
Schumacher, Geoff "Wal-Mart vs. Las Vegas",In These Times.

Organizations:
American Farmland Trust
Ed Thompson 
1200 18th Street, NW, Suite 800 
Washington, DC 20036 

Aspen Institute's Rural Economic Policy Program

Center for Agriculture in the Environment
Ann Sorensen 
PO Box 987 
DeKalb, IL 60115 
815-753-9347 

National Main Street Center of the National Trust for Historic Preservation 

Nature Conservancy's Center for Compatible Economic Development , Contact:  7 East market Street, Suite 210, Leesburg, VA 20176, Tel: (703) 779-1728. 

Sprawl-Busters
Sprawl-Busters advises community groups on how to combat Wal-Marts that are not wanted. 

Wal-Mart Watch -  is designed for community members to share stories and information of Wal-Mart's impact on local business, employees and consumers.  There are several areas of this website that solict personal stories and allow for people to post info for others to read. 

Wal-Martyrs-  is designed for Wal-Mart employees, or former employees, to share their experiences and work together to improve wages, benefits and working conditions for all Wal-Mart employees. There are online bulletin boards, sections to post your story, surveys to compare Wal-Mart wages to those of union retail employers, and other  resources on your rights in the workplace.