Big Box accommodation

Last night I watched a re-run of a Family Guy episode where a big box retailer moves into the show’s Rhode Island town.  The power in the town experiences rolling blackouts to accommodate the store’s electrical needs.  Town’s folk were not pleased, resulting in a variety of cartoon-world wacky reactions.

David W. Campbell, a Moncton based economic development consultant and blogger, posted last year about Big Box retail and its relationship to NB economic development.  The post suggests that stores aren’t a good economic driver.

I am encouraged by the fact that Councilor Bruce Court came out and called for better traffic planning due to increased east side retail traffic.  Let’s hope that the city’s quest to catch up to Moncton’s chain retail supremacy is balanced with the practical needs of citizens.