The idea of a commercial space aping the design of a city is somewhat familiar when it comes to the suburban shopping mall. Malls were famously designed after urban downtowns or shopping districts. The big-box discount store, on the other hand—with its exposed steel ceiling, utter lack of ornamentation and warehouse atmosphere—makes no pretensions. So it is striking that even in such a utilitarian setting, and such a quintessentially suburban one, the old urban DNA still survives.
Slapping a conglomo in small towns at a deliberate loss to undercut the local economy until it choked to death absolutely fucked small towns.