The U.S. suburbs proved a fertile breeding ground for big-box retailers and power centers in the 1980s and 1990s. Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Lowe's and a bevy of other category killers mushroomed in middle markets and outlying suburbs, nourished by rich...
Retailers are recognizing D.C.'s formidable economic strength. “The Washington area is very solid,” says Stephen Fuller, professor of public policy at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. “It tends to do much better than the nation in hard...