A Big-Box Store is a large, free standing rectangular single floor store built on a concrete slab. They are incredibly wasteful and ugly to look at having no aesthetic value what so ever. Typically have very large parking lots with no trees.
Also sometimes called a superstore, megastore, or supercenter.
A large department store modeling the architectural design of a warehouse. These are usually built in the suburbs where land is much cheaper than downtown.
So named because they resemble shipping giant boxes plopped in the middle of a sea of parking.