Aimee, good for Chestertown. I hope NYC can do the same. But I fear we’ll eventually lose.

Anyone know if there are any on Staten Island yet? I had heard they might have approved one years ago. May remember wrong.

Yes.

Their plan is simple – total domination and no competition. They go town to town and destroy local economies to become the sole retailer in the area.

Its almost like one of those late-night scifi movies, except instead of ships, they land giant bigbox stores fromt the sky.

Then they rape the animals and slaughter the women. Or is it the other way around?

why? it’s the same reason the Apple just opened another store in midtown. greed obviously

why did the original McDonalds hamberger shop open in california so many years ago? greed obviously.

they provide a service and no company allows their returns to produce a negative or zero growth…..how do we get the opposite of this? we expand and into new markets(unlike starbucks!) people who hate the spread of walmarts don’t hate progress, they just seem to have a rabid hatred for walmart…the place that supposedly destroys communities but it is here that the poor shop because they can afford it. sure much of their wares are crap, but not everyone can afford 60 dollar ralph lauren pillowcases. why spend 4 bucks on a copper colored flower vase at walmart when you could spend 300 for a copper caudre’ hand formed vase from washinton state? real people shop at walmart, poor people shop at walmart, average people shop at walmart. just because a walmart goes into a town doesn’t mean the populous instantly goes stupid? the people who want expensive mom and pop stuff and boutique stuff will still be able to pay through the nose for it and will readily. they would never stoop to buy something from walmart anyhow right?

don’t be hatin’

Do you really compare their greed to Apple?

Like I said, I am a defender of Apple. They just piss me off when they release a new computer the day AFTER I buy the older one. :]

Also, there is a HUGE gap between buying shite from Wal-Mart and purchasing 60 dollar ralph lauren bed sheets, dude. Huge.

I’ll hate until they start treating their employees better. I’ll hate until they start treating the environment better. I’ll hate until they stop putting small businesses out of business and destroying small town economies.

If you want more swatters, however, visit Gothamist They linked to it and some folks totally agree with you. :] You’re not alone, sir Greg.

no, i don’t call it greed in the first place……i call it business. moving into a new market is the way business shows that they are doing something. it’s not greed, it’s economics. just like apple.

“WalmartWatch.com is a campaign of Five Stones and The Center for Community and Corporate Ethics. This site is in no way connected with Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. or any affiliate of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.”

I’m still confused.

walmartwatch.com is registered to

United Food & Commercial Workers

ufcw.org

they seem to have a bunch of anti walmart stuff in there, but its still misleading

my friends parents were recently hired by walmart to try and sell them into foreign countries. my friends dad even wrote a pro walmart book. i wanted to punch him in the face at his son’s wedding last month

I’m confused.

I don’t get the impression Wal-Mart would do well in Europe either. Their cars are too small to make a trip there worthwile. ;]

: )

Yeah, walmart offers lower prices – but do you ever wonder how is it that they lower prices , or what the ramifications are?

WalMart has a history of going into communities, offering lower prices at or below cost, and thereby shutting down local businesses. Those businesses are the ones that hire people in the community, offer healthcare and living wages to workers, buy from local mfgs/distributers, and use local banks for savings and credit.

When you replace those businesses with walmart, you push the economy into a centralized structure in Arkansas. Profits don’t stay in the community, money isn’t reinvested, the community is just colonized/exploited for cash that goes straight to AK. You see the actual retailers fail first, and then you see all of the supporting industries. People then just don’t shop at walmart, but you see those who once owned businesses become walmart employees making minimum wage.

And what happens when those small businesses fail? A giant influx of government bailouts / bankruptcy protection / people needing social welfare.

Then look at what WalMart does to large scale supply—walmart dictates the market price. You can either supply to them at their price , which means you’re cutting profits and laying off workers, or walmart goes to a comeptitor who will take the loss to get the marketshare and push you out of business.

If you’re truly so short sighted to only see “ooh , low prices now, how could that now be good!” and not bother to look at the system of how those prices are achieved and the real world economic ramifications of them (and how they will affect you), you should really just sit back, pipe down, and rub one out to the new issue of the economist. i hear there’s a great spread of dick cheney shirtless this month.

Walmart’s effect on the economy is more than just a low price for consumers, and the ‘low price’ at the checkout line winds up costing people dearly later on.

Greg-
No, I want people to think for themselves – but that includes being educated. But yes, I am infallible, brilliant, and God’s gift to mankind.

I do think that WalMart is apt to ‘take over the world’ though. The #1 export the US has going for it right now isn’t freedom, its the concept of campaign finance deform, aka egregious lobbying. WalMart and other multinational corporations have been going crazy over the past 15+ years on that path.

ha hahahhahahhahahha

hahhahahhah

When you replace those businesses with walmart, you push the economy into a centralized structure in Arkansas. Profits don’t stay in the community, money isn’t reinvested, the community is just colonized/exploited for cash that goes straight to AK.

i realize i’m dumb, but, what do you mean? where did the employees paycheck go? or state local sales tax? truckers? local construction, local utilities and road building? not to mention walmart is a public company with stockholder possibly all over the world. proffit comes After the expenses are paid….so should i stop buying from macy’s because my money goes to NYC…or i shouldn’t buy coffee from starbucks because my money goes to washington state then who knows where?….should i not rent farenheight 911 from blockbuster or i should only buy gasoline made by my neighbor cliff? where do i stop? how would a person survive when imposing such strong limitations to what one purchases? and why don’t i crack down on K-Mart Hills Aimes for selling the same crappy import items at low prices too. why is it just walmart in the cross-hairs? those companies are based in cities other than mine. what should i do? they pay minimum wage too, what should i do? will the madness ever end?

“WalmartWatch.com is a campaign of Five Stones and The Center for Community and Corporate Ethics. This site is in no way connected with Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. or any affiliate of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.”

I’m still confused.<blockquote>

it’s a list of things that they <i>want</i> wal-mart to represent. The theory is: wal-mart’s not going away, get them to play fair.

Of course, the pragmatic complaint is more with the structures that allow such things to happen. It’s part of the same complaint I’ve sort of voiced: I’d prefer to see WalMart operating on more free market principles, instead of just pro-profit principles. However the company wants to operate is their business (hehe), as long as it’s legal, but when they receive subsidies from the public wallet, I take issue.

I’m one of those pro-capitalism folks who sees the free market as a great ideal as long as real-world regulation helps skew the playing field towards level and protects the public good both in the long and short terms.

You might not want to blame WalMart for taking advantage of (and arguably influencing the growth of) policies that funnel public cash and unfair breaks their way, but that isn’t the model of government or of capitalism of which I’d like to dream. People (consumers and workers) voicing their concerns fits neatly into a proper free market model. The ‘invisible hand’ is supposed to respond to the ENTIRE market, not just shareholders.