A&P wants to demolish the historic buildings that once housed the East Hampton Riding Club and, later, Stern's Department Store. It proposes to transform the property into the kind of sprawling, featureless, "big box" development that has sadly come to represent the very worst of Long Island planning and architecture. In addition, this development will surely hammer another nail in the coffin of locally-owned businesses, which have already struggled to survive the explosion in big box and outlet shopping developments.

If you have any question about the impact of such facilities, just take a walk around Riverhead's historic central business district and talk to some of the local merchants. Better yet, just count the number of vacant storefronts. Aptly named "category killers," even by their proponents, the big box strategy is simple. Undercut the local market, drive out the local competition, and monopolize control over community spending. Not surprisingly then, these new superstores appear to generate relatively little new spending in the community. Rather, much of the revenue raised is "stolen" from existing markets. For example, according to The Nation magazine, economic impact studies conducted "in Iowa, Massachusetts, and elsewhere suggest that Wal-Mart's gains are largely captured from other merchants. Within two years of a grand opening, Wal-Mart stores in an average Iowa town generated $10 million in annual sales by "stealing" $8.3 million from other businesses."

But can we really compare the A&P superstore to Wal-Mart? We most certainly can when we understand the kind of merchandise and marketing that accompanies this new breed of food market. No longer is food the only staple of these new retail establishments. With every additional square foot comes a new service or product formerly found in individual neighborhood businesses.

With fish markets, salad bars, bakeries, auto supplies, clothing, appliances, video stores, film developing and pharmacies, these grocery stores of the future provide us with a seductive vision where convenience, rather than community, is the center of our daily lives. Often it isn't until our favorite local merchants close their shops, or we stand in a check-out line for 45 minutes waiting for the "convenient" new computer system to distinguish soup from soap, do we start to question the need for the shopping colossus that A&P wishes to bring to East Hampton. Fortunately, East Hampton still has a chance. Thanks to the support of Group for the South Fork members and the Stern's Watchdog Committee, the Group's growing effort to "ban the big box" from East Hampton has caught the attention of local officials. Based on community concern about all properties that could accommodate such huge superstore facilities, the East Hampton Town Board has decided to conduct a comprehensive planning analysis of those zoning categories that could accommodate huge developments like the A&P.

In an effort to remain unhampered by approval pressures from developers, the East Hampton Town Board is considering a temporary moratorium, which would restrict town departments from approving any commercial establishment with a gross floor area of 20,000 square feet or more until the town planning study on this topic is complete. As we go to press, the moratorium is slated to be discussed at a March 15th public hearing.

We need to sustain a campaign of organized public opposition to sprawling big box development. We need the help and support of every one of our East Hampton members to convey a powerful and consistent message to East Hampton officials and the local press about the need to preserve our historic central business districts, and to stop the visual blight of commercial sprawl along our highways.

Committed residents of Greenfield, Massachusetts, already proved that an organized community could beat the big box when they turned out and voted to reject the Wal-mart proposed for their community. Since that vote, numerous other communities, including East Aurora (New York), Palatine (Illinois), Mountvaile (Pennsylvania) and Branford (Connecticut), have organized in opposition to defeat sprawl and save their local business centers and sense of community. We believe East Hampton deserves no less consideration. With your help, we can beat the big box!