Big box stores

DC USA is an 890,000-square-foot (83,000 m) vertical power center, i.e. a multilevel enclosed urban shopping center anchored by big box stores. It is located in the Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington, D.C. A Washington City Paper poll named DC USA the "Best Designed Retail Space" of 2009. The development is adjacent to the Columbia Heights station on the Green and Yellow Lines of the Washington Metro. It is also served by six bus routes and has a 1,000-space parking garage.

The complex is accessible to more than 36,000 residents within a 10-minute walk of the site. A total of 335,000 residents live within a 3-mile (4.8 km) radius. The development has been designed to fit into its urban setting, with the buildings holding the street line to frame the sidewalks and continue the urban scale.

A specialty store is a shop/store that carries a deep assortment of brands, styles, or models within a relatively narrow category of goods. Furniture stores, florists, sporting goods stores, and bookstores are all specialty stores. Stores such as Athlete’s Foot (sports shoes only) are considered superspecialty stores. A category killer is a specialty store with a high volume of sales and extensive product selection within its category.

Specialty stores compete with other types of retailers such as supermarkets, showrooms, jewelry, department, big box, general, hardware and variety stores.