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Supersize It: The Growth of Retail Chains and the Rise of the 'Big Box' Retail Format


Emek Basker


University of Missouri - Department of Economics

Shawn D. Klimek


U.S. Census Bureau - Center for Economic Studies

Van H. Pham


Baylor University - Department of Economics
May 10, 2010

Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, Forthcoming

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 disproportionately increased their product offerings. We explain these facts with a 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.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 54

Keywords: Retail, Chain, Big Box, Superstore, Economies of Scale, General Merchandise, One Stop Shopping

JEL Classification: L11, L25, L81

working papers series


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Date posted: August 21, 2008 ; Last revised: December 6, 2011

Suggested Citation

Basker, Emek, Klimek, Shawn D. and Pham, Van H., Supersize It: The Growth of Retail Chains and the Rise of the 'Big Box' Retail Format (May 10, 2010). Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, Forthcoming. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1240860 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1240860

Contact Information

Emek Basker (Contact Author)
University of Missouri - Department of Economics ( email )
118 Professional Building
Columbia, MO 65211
United States
573-882-6023 (Phone)
573-882-2697 (Fax)
HOME PAGE: http://web.missouri.edu/~baskere/
Shawn D. Klimek
U.S. Census Bureau - Center for Economic Studies ( email )
4600 Silver Hill Road
Washington, DC 20233
United States
(301) 763-2861 (Phone)
(301 763-5935 (Fax)
HOME PAGE: http://www.ces.census.gov
Van H. Pham
Baylor University - Department of Economics ( email )
One Bear Place #98003
Waco, TX 76798
United States
(254) 710-3521 (Phone)
(254) 710-6142 (Fax)
HOME PAGE: http://www.baylor.edu/van_pham
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