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Big-Box Retailers Have a New Strategy for Breaking Into Urban Markets
The New York Times • • business
Key Points:
- Big-box retailers, traditionally located in suburbs with large warehouses and parking lots, are shifting toward smaller stores in urban and denser communities.
- A new strategy involves partnering with affordable housing developments amid a worsening national housing shortage.
- States like California, Florida, Massachusetts, and cities such as Philadelphia are offering incentives to promote housing construction, which retailers like Costco and Target are leveraging.
- Costco is set to open its first U.S. residential development store in Los Angeles in 2028, part of a $450 million project with 800 apartments including affordable and workforce housing.
- Target launched a store in New York’s Harlem in 2024, integrated with a complex featuring 171 affordable housing units, including apartments for youth aging out of foster care.
