Why I’m Quitting Box Stores

How Big Box Stores Destroy Our Political Imagination

Box stores were not created for our convenience. They were created to consolidate profit. They are not a gift bestowed upon us by benevolent Capitalist Overlords that saves us from the trouble of having to shop from multiple retailers; they are a trap meant to blur the line between necessity and indulgence. Consumerism is not the problem. The problem is that our ability to compartmentalize our needs and wants has been systemically under attack since the dawn of Industrialization. Predatory marketing has been present in every chapter of civilization but the quest to drive down wages while increasing the average purchase per each customer per visit under one roof is cutting a path of destruction that grows wider every year.

Box stores tell you that they offer the most affordable prices and that you will always get the value you’re looking for because you can compare for yourself, but that’s not really what happens. Say you need dish soap and you get to the dish soap aisle and next to the product with the best price per ounce is a product in a sleeker package that is only slightly more expensive and offers a promise—a promise of what, exactly you’re not sure but a promise none-the-less. To complicate matters, the store's own generic brand sits right between the two of them. It’s more expensive than the cheaper brand but…