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. Big box retail (aka large format retail) is a term typically used for retail that is housed in buildings that originally borrowed construction techniques from the warehousing industry in � order to lower operating costs and increase sales volumes. . Cities define the use based on the size characteristics of individual stores, although some will � also note the issues of height, lack of windows and even venture into how many Stock Keeping � Units (SKU) are carried. (The SKU standard would seem to be a problematic standard to have ., from an implementation perspective). : Some examples of representative text include the following: � 1. Big Box Store: A retail establishment having a gross floor area of 55,000 square feet or �- greater that offers a variety of general merchandise or specialty products. Typical characteristics may include a free-standing rectangular-shaped building with high ceilings and standardized facades that have no windows or few windows. 2. Big Box Retail Facilities: Large, industrial-sryle buildings or stores with footprints that � generally range from 20,000 s.f. to 200,000 s.£ While most big boxes operate as a single �� story structure, they typically have a three-story mass that stands more than 30 feet tall. , The minimum sizes for defining Big Box often vary based on the size of the community. In a �r� larger community, the minimum size tends to be larger. Common minimum store sizes for f; deiinition as Big Box is in the range of 40,000 — 80,000 s.f. � Retailers will, at times, get creative to bypass these sorts of standards with the most common �� technique being to subdivide the store concept into whatever the minimal amount of separation is �� that will still satisfy the definition. So a superstore might build a partial wall between the general �� merchandise and the grocery or pharmacy in an attempt to define itself as two separate stores. : These bypass practices can be mitigated with the inclusion of standards related to calculating the ?:� � minimus size across all stores under related ownership, limiting between store entrances, and �. similar techniques. If the City Council wanted to investigate establishing a Big Box definition, � staff would provide further recommendation regarding minimium size and additional language to �� assist in preventing some of the efforts to bypass regulations. c� Big Box is also differentiated from Rosedale style shopping malls (which have large anchor � tenants that will pass the big box threshold) by the definition of the regional mall. These � definitions often focus on items such as the large number of stores and the inward-facing ��.�� arientation of stores. e�- These methods of Big Box retail definition are common throughout the metropolitan area and � �� nation. � As part of surveying area cities for standards, one very different approach to regulating use c intensity was discovered in St. Louis Park. St. Louis Park has developed a table of use "intensity E� classifications" that looks at a number of factors to determine a use's intensity and then may c allow certain uses in one district vs. another based on the intensity class. So one sensitive district : may allow only Class 1 and 2 retail establishments where a more intense zoning district may � allow a117 classes of retail activity to occur. i St. Louis Park Intensity Classifications Page 2 of 3