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In Chapter 6, Klein introduces two of the three factors that she believes have caused the immense of growth of big-box corporate chains since the late 1980s and early 1990s (132). These are (1) the Walmart model of pricing and (2) the Starbucks model of store clustering.

With respect to the first fact, Klein argues that the central innovation of Walmart within the retail sector has been to create unusually large stores located on cheap suburban real estate which are able to hold a vast array of goods in bulk quantities (133-35). By buying so much more from wholesalers than its competitors do, Walmart can offer a greater selection of products at lower prices than anyone else. The result is a virtual monopoly that eventually destroys competition from smaller, local stores. Examples of similar “category killers,” that is, franchises that become singularly dominant in their area of retail, include Home Depot, Office Depot, and Bed Bath and Beyond (134).

Klein presents the second trend as a direct consequence of the first and hearkens back to her discussion of Marlboro Friday in Chapter 1. Whereas Walmart popularized the retail model of generic, low-cost options, Starbucks has pursued the opposite strategy.