Do you remember all the news stories about small towns that fought to keep WalMart from moving into their communities? Yup, some of them are now changing their minds. With the bad economy and lack of jobs, having a Wal Mart in the community is becoming a more attractive option.
This reminds me of a story I heard sometime ago (I have no idea where) about a man that wandered around different communities incognito. It turns out that the man was a millionaire in disguise and he would reward those that showed a stranger kindness and hospitality. Sometimes those that had turned a cold shoulder to the stranger will try to seek him out and try to make up for their uncaring ways... but alas, it was too late.
It is amazing how much print and web space is used in the debate over WalMart. There is even web pages totally dedicated to discussing WalMart and its impact on communities. Here are just a few examples of WalMart Talk on the web, past and present:
Welcome, Wal-Marts!
Emily Lambert, 01.13.09, Forbes
In the downturn, fewer people oppose its stores coming to town.
What a difference a bad economy makes. Wal-Mart, the retailer routinely accused of destroying communities and neighborhoods, is facing less opposition according to a recent survey.
WALMART WATCHCommunity Impact
Whether it is accepting unnecessary subsidies, driving local stores out of business, pressuring local town officials or encouraging workers to join state health care rolls, Wal-Mart has a negative impact on local communities. When local communities stand up Wal-Mart’s expansion plans, local activists and officials are often met with threats and false promises. The growth of supercenters around the country has also meant more traffic, the destruction of prime farmland, and increased criminal activity.
Is Wal-Mart Destroying Small Town America?
by Randy Inman - Associated Content - December 04, 2006
... I do miss the good old days, but money is tight and a deal is a deal. I can complain about missing the good old days, but I take my butt to the Super Wall-Mart when I need something. The consumer dictates where their business goes. America seems content to let the era of small business shops die a natural death. If we didn't like it, we would shop more downtown and give them our business.
Maybe Wal-Mart Isn’t So Bad For Small Business After All
By Raymund Flandez - WSJ Blogs: Independent Street - September 18, 2008
Wal-MartOver the years, many community and labor groups have fought to prevent Wal-Mart stores from opening up in their neighborhood. Most claim the big-box retailer harms, even destroys, small mom-and-pop businesses.
But a new study by researchers at West Virginia University finds Wal-Mart’s supposed negative impact on the profitability and survival of small shops simply isn’t true.
Where would Jesus shop? Not Wal-Mart
by Brian Bolton - Sojourners Magazine, February 2004
Preachers and Sunday school teachers need to be asking Christians more about what our dollars support, and in Wal-Mart’s case, who’s paying for consumer "savings." A favorite preacher of mine says, "If you want to know what people care about, look in their checkbook" (or Visa statement, as the case may be). Our purchases ought to reflect deeper values than just "always low prices." Christians have asked Wal-Mart for cleaner magazine and CD content. Perhaps it’s time to demand cleaner corporate character as well.
Opinion: All I Want For Christmas is a Wal-Mart Supercenter
By Richard Feinberg, Director of the Center for Customer Driven Quality at Purdue University
I think Wal-Mart is good for consumers. I think Wal-Mart is good for Indiana. I think Wal-Mart is good for the country. I think Wal-Mart is good for the world (the sun never sets on Wal-Mart). Being a Wal-Mart fan is just not popular. God Bless America.
Convenience is not a reason for a downtown Wal-Mart
By Susan G. Cole - Sep 18, 2008 at 12:25 PM
Pardon me while I gag at Toronto Life's recent defence of Wal-Mart's attempts to move into Leslieville. http://www.torontolife.com/features/resistance-futile/?pageno=1
Philip Preville burbles on about convenience and the ways the big box store downtown will stop downtown cars from heading long distances uptown to get to the bargain spots. Wow, an eco-reason to love your downtown Wal-Mart?
What's to love about Wal-Mart
The company's success has come one store at a time, an empire built small town by small town on a foundation of thrift. What's more American than that?
By Jeff Macke, Minyanville - MSN Money, Oct 8 2009
If it were possible to find the nation's largest merchant pitiable, Wal-Mart Stores (WMT, news, msgs) just might deserve our sympathy.
Wal-Mart: Monopoly, monopsony or both?
The goods Wal-Mart sells aren't hip enough for self-styled trendsetters on the U.S. coasts. To those who would never deign to set foot in a Wal-Mart, the chain's labor practices are widely regarded as only slightly more civil than a slave galley. The retail giant is belittled for driving mom-and-pop shops out of business and bullying vendors into cutting profits to the bone.
What's wrong with this picture? In a word: everything. Wal-Mart isn't what's wrong with capitalism. Wal-Mart is capitalism.
What's to hate about Wal-Mart
A company with Wal-Mart's reach must hold itself to the highest standards, but the retailer has repeatedly failed to do so. Instead, it has tried to paper over its transgressions with PR.
By Megan Barnett, Minyanville - MSN Money, Oct 8 2009
Now, just for the record, I'm not some union-loving, left-wing tree-hugger who doesn't believe in capitalism. I'm not being financed by any anti-Wal-Mart Web site or union group, and I haven't read any of the countless books on Wal-Mart, such as "The Bully of Bentonville," "The Wal-Mart Effect" or "The United States of Wal-Mart." I haven't even seen the movie "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price."
I've just observed the rise of the world's biggest retailer and watched what it's done to competitors, suppliers, taxpayers and employees along the way. It's been an ugly show.
Does Wal-Mart Destroy Communities?
by William L. Anderson | Mises Daily, May 01, 2004
In a recent poll on the CNN website, viewers were asked the "poll" question of whether or not they believed that Wal-Mart stores were "good" for the "community." Perhaps it is not surprising that a large majority answered "no."
Now, this by itself does not mean much, since these online "polls" are not scientific and reflect only the views of the moment by people who choose to participate. What is more significant, however, was the anti-Wal-Mart content of a speech recently given by Teresa Heinz Kerry, John Kerry's wife and an influential person in her own right. Speaking at a Democratic Party rally, Mrs. Kerry declared that "Wal-Mart destroys communities."
Indeed, Wal-Mart bashing is in vogue. ... Of course, what really bugs the critics is that people choose to shop at Wal-Mart instead of the places where they would want people to spend their money. (Activists on both left and right often will invoke the name of the "people" when their real goal is to restrict the choices of those "people.")
Should Boulder, Colorado welcome a reformed Wal-Mart into its Green-minded community?
by elephantjournal.com on Jul 21, 2009
… And, can pigs fly? Is hell freezing over?
Now, Boulderites drive 20 miles to shop at WMT or Costco—bad for local sales tax (which help pay for our famous, treasured Open Space), which has declined steeply—and bad for our environment, which absorbs that much more pollution thanks to the extra driving miles. And given that Wal-Mart has gone from Death Star Evil to On-the-Verge of Eco-Responsible, overall—in part thanks to the efforts of one of my heroes, Adam Werbach —it might make sense to welcome Wal Mart or Costco into our flailing 29th St. Mall or another shopping center, and help our poorer citizens have a more affordable shopping option.
Ashland a symbol that small towns, Wal-Mart can co-exist
By Zachary Reid - Published: Richmond Times; August 31, 2009
Six years after Wal-Mart came to town, Ashland is still Ashland. There's still a quaint downtown with railroad tracks running down the middle of the main street, and there's still a bustling business corridor just off Interstate 95. Mom-and-pop stores and local restaurants still flank the tracks of the historic district, offering locals, college kids and passers-by ample opportunity to soak in the small-town charm.
But nearly a decade ago, the threat of a Wal-Mart moving in and disrupting that charm spurred local debate so heated that it caught national attention and became the subject of a PBS documentary about what happens when the world's largest retailer moves into a small town.
Community clashes over Wal-Mart
By Mike North - Published: THE ORION, October 14, 2009
After seven years and numerous delays, the Chico Wal-Mart will be able to expand —maybe.
No comments:
Post a Comment