A Wisconsin man wonders about the use of the term big box store to denote the stores of big retail chains like Wal-Mart. Is big box a reference to the size and shape of the stores, or the fact that they sell huge appliances that come in, well, big boxes? Here’s a silly song from JibJab about bix box stores. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Big Box Stores”
Hi, you have A Way with Words.
Yes, hello, this is Tom Gross from Cross Plains, Wisconsin.
Well, hello, Tom. How are you?
Hi, Tom. What’s up, buddy?
Well, I had a question regarding big box stores. I have been seeing that term recently, I guess mostly in the newspaper. And initially I thought it referred to stores that sold things in big boxes, things like electronics and appliances and stuff like that.
Yeah, right.
For refrigerators and washers and the sort.
Microwaves.
But no, it seems to be that the term is used to refer to stores that look like big boxes. In other words, sort of standalone big stores like a Walmart or a Target or something like that.
Right, right, exactly. They sell a lot of little things, but the big box refers more to the appearance of the store rather than what they sell. And I just wondered if you had any insight into which is correct or which it should be or whether it matters.
Well, it doesn’t matter, Tom, but it’s an interesting question because it’s one of those pieces of jargon that has left the, say, the developer and architectural world and entered mainstream English. And you’re right. Journalists use it a lot. They love it because it’s a way to refer to these big, big stores that are really nothing but four walls and a ceiling and a bunch of cash registers, right?
Yeah.
And it’s always meant that. It never really referred to appliances you would buy in big boxes. But I can see how you might interpret that because it’s kind of thrown around and they don’t always explain it, right?
Yeah, it’s sort of which came first, the big box or the big box that the big boxes come out of.
Yeah, it goes back about 20 years or so. You can see it come up in a variety of places. Actually, at just about the same time, the term starts to be used in Canada and the United States and the United Kingdom. So I suspect it was part of the vernacular of the world of building big chain stores. I’m thinking of the Sam’s Wholesale Clubs. I’m thinking of Costco’s and really massive chain stores, right? That’s what we’re talking about?
Yeah, and I guess they don’t seem to be the ones that are in malls. They’re sort of standalone.
That’s right.
Right.
That’s exactly right. So lots of square feet, lots of floor space, and kind of a warehouse with shopping carts, right?
Have either of you heard the term ghost box?
No.
Is this when you buy a VCR out of the back of someone’s station wagon and it actually turns out to be bricks?
No, you sound like you’ve had personal experience with that, Grant.
No, no, not me. No, I was reading the other day that a ghost box is one of those big box stores that’s gone out of business. And moved. And so all you have in your neighborhood is this giant box with nothing in it.
I could see how that could happen, definitely. I know that in the town where my parents still live, Walmart has moved three or four times. And every time they go, they leave a ghost box behind. And they’re not always filled up right away.
Well, Tom, I want to thank you for calling us on this today. It’s an interesting question.
Well, thank you for dealing with it.
All right, take care.
All right.
Thank you.
Bye-bye.
Well, if you’ve got questions about language, we’d love to tackle them. Get to the bottom with some jargon or some slang or anything you’ve got to throw at us. The number to call is 1-877-929-9673 or send us an email to words@waywordradio.org.
