There's an article by Jessie Mangaliman in the Merc (the San Jose Mercury News) today about the coming arrival of a new shopping center in East San Jose (my neighborhood) at King and Story Roads, named Plaza de San Jose. The shopping center will be anchored by Target and FAMSA, a retail chain from Mexico. As a liberal, I feel like I should have mixed feelings about this. I generally hate the arrival of "big box" stores because they drive out smaller and more local businesses, making everywhere in America the same. The problem is, I can't remember the last time I shopped at a local store for anything. Frankly, most of the things I buy from a store are household goods and groceries. For household goods, it is simply easier and cheaper to shop at a bigger store--and they have more selection. We just bought a new High-Efficiency washer and dryer from Best Buy. I can't imagine going to a local store to get those--maybe a local store exists that sells them, but I haven't heard of them. I can understand the desire not to have big boxes in the middle of a vibrant community with a lot of local businesses. But this is East San Jose. The intersection this is being built on is rather decrepit, and it would be nice to have a good place for people to go to in the heart of East San Jose. (There is a nicer little shopping center, anchored by the local grocery store Lunardi's, but it is in the much more expensive Evergreen neighborhood.) If this shopping center takes business away from other companies, it is more likely to be from the Target 15 minutes away or the relatively close Eastridge mall, which itself has big boxes. Probably the biggest losers would be any small Mexican oriented shops, because there aren't any stores like FAMSA around here. So, am I a hypocrite or a realist? Is it okay for me to hate the idea of big boxes, but welcome them when they help out my community? This seems to be the opposite of "Not In My Backyard." Perhaps it is "Not In Your Backyard?" (I imagine NIYBYism is something a lot of people in rural parts of the Western US could accuse environmentalists of.)