Wal-Mart Is About To Become Your New Corner Store

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

Beware, local-loving Chicagoans: the days of living in a city and avoiding suburbia's big box takeover are numbered. In an attempt to shift from their one-stop shopping megastores to the corner store you pick aspirin up from late at night, Wal-Mart plans to build 24 stores across Chicagoland, focusing on smaller shops in busier areas they previously couldn't move into. These medium size and smaller "Neighborhood Market" shops, which will also sell food and produce, are slated to begin popping up in the next couple of years.

Chicago's lone Wal-Mart in Austin will be getting neighbors in Pullman and Chatham sooner rather than later, with the City Council recently approving new stores in both areas. But, if you live in a packed neighborhood near the heart of the city and have trouble finding things like toothpaste late at night, you might want to visit your neighborhood convenience stores while you still can.
· Wal-Mart aims to build 24 Chicago stores [Crain's Chicago Business]