Village centers feel push of development

Big-box stores could become big trouble in Columbia. The village centers were intended to serve as neighborhood shopping hubs and gathering places for communities and local businesses, but the influx of big-box retailers, such as Home Depot and Wal-Mart, are putting that vision in jeopardy.

“When you have options to go the big box and buy things at wholesale, you have a tendency to do that,” said Pearl Atkinson-Stewart, a member of the Columbia Association Board of Directors for Owen Brown. “I?m not sure that the villages that have their centers in remote areas will be able to compete.”