Bigfoot vs. the Monopoly Machine: Amazon, Dollar Stores, and the Fight for Local Power

What if the real monster eating Main Street isn't hiding in the woods — it's hiding in the checkout button, the delivery truck, the dollar store, the grocery aisle, and the corporate boardroom?

In this episode of The Bigfoot Manifesto, Dave Pederson talks with Stacy Mitchell, co-executive director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, about monopoly power, Amazon, dollar stores, grocery consolidation, and the fight to rebuild local economies.

Stacy explains how corporate concentration didn't just happen naturally. It was built through policy, protected by ideology, and sold to the public as convenience, efficiency, and low prices. But behind that story are small businesses getting squeezed, communities losing control, independent grocers disappearing, and towns being reshaped by corporate chains that extract wealth instead of building local prosperity.

Dave and Stacy dig into Amazon's platform power, why small businesses are trapped by fees and logistics, what breaking up Amazon could actually look like, how grocery stores became a monopoly story, why the Robinson-Patman Act matters, and how dollar stores hollow out rural towns and urban neighborhoods.

Because Bigfoot may be hard to find.
But monopoly power?
That thing has a storefront on every corner.

Stacy Mitchell's Book:
Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America's Independent Businesses
Official book page: https://stacymitchell.com/front-page/
Beacon Press: https://www.beacon.org/Big-Box-Swindle-P671.aspx
Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/big-box-swindle-the-true-cost-of-mega-retailers-and-the-fight-for-america-s-independent-businesses-stacy-mitchell/321e5d8e3bf1e87b
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/big-box-swindle-stacy-mitchell/1100550462

For the full Libsyn description, replace the guest block with:

Guest: Stacy Mitchell
Organization: Institute for Local Self-Reliance
Learn more: https://ilsr.org/

Stacy Mitchell's Book:
Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America's Independent Businesses
Official book page: https://stacymitchell.com/front-page/
Beacon Press: https://www.beacon.org/Big-Box-Swindle-P671.aspx
Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/big-box-swindle-the-true-cost-of-mega-retailers-and-the-fight-for-america-s-independent-businesses-stacy-mitchell/321e5d8e3bf1e87b
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/big-box-swindle-stacy-mitchell/1100550462