How big is 30,000 square feet? Or 100,000 square feet?

Most of the stores Wal-Mart, Target, and Home Depot have built in the last ten years are between 80,000 and 120,000 square feet, or about the size of two or three football fields. Today, Wal-Mart and Target are building "supercenters," which combine general merchandise and groceries in stores as large as 250,000 square feet. That's just under 6 acres. The parking lots that surround these stores are generally four to seven times their size. Barnes & Noble and Borders Books stores range from 25,000 to 45,000 square feet. Walgreens, Rite Aid, and CVS build stores of about 15,000 square feet. Starbucks coffee shops range from 500 to 8,000 square feet. As for independent retailers, a full-service neighborhood grocery store might be 10,000 square feet. Locally owned hardware stores generally range from 4,000 to 20,000 square feet. An independent bookstore might be 4,000 square feet.

The Lowe's proposed for the rezoned parcel on Route 9 is 175,000 square feet, with an additional 6,000 square foot building also on the parcel. Proposed Lowe's without rezone: 135,000 square feet.