<p>Also, note that anyone who thinks that Walmart sells the same thing as local stores, only at lower prices, think again. Walmart may sell items that look the same, carry the same model name, etc But there are usually differences that verge on false advertising: the “same” shoe may have half the stitches per inch, etc etc. You may be fine with that, and tha’st perfectly okay. But to use the same model names and appearance is, in my opinion, misleading.</p>
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You don’t know that. If mom and pop businesses are too expensive, people will do without. And how much do you folks think mom and pops pay their employees? Minimum wage or (wait for it!) even less off the books. Which is an incredibly common scenario.</p>
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You’re absolutely right about that.
One of the things I do like about large stores is the turnover in groceries. I do shop at two mom and pops in my neighborhood because I hate to drive, but I can’t tell you how often their food has passed its expiration date. I bought expensive fresh pasta on Sunday and was excited to try it, but when I went to cook it, I saw that it had expired a month ago. They just don’t have the turnover rate as the big stores.</p>
<p>Children like new shoes. That’s kind of a universal truth.</p>
<p>Lots and lots of merchandise is very cheap in our economy. I can buy a TV – a pretty good one – for two or three hundred dollars. I can buy a new coat at Walmart or Penny’s or Costco for under $100. Or I can go to Nordstrom or Bloomingdales and find one for $1,000.</p>
<p>Walmart has not put worthwhile business out of business. Businesses that held their customers captive because they were the only option within the geography were not doing anyone a favor.</p>
<p>As for the loss of “ethnic” businesses – Uh. Have you visited your local Walmart lately? Talk about a global experience.</p>
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<p>Sure, if giving them a deliberately less-than full-time job with no health insurance is a good thing.</p>
<p>I’ve KNOWN a person who worked at WalMart, and he was NOT an enthusiast.</p>
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<p>Wow. How offensive can you get. My objection to WalMart has everything to do with destroying local downtowns and communities, predatory business practices that contribute to destruction of decent-paying manufacturing jobs, and deliberate maintenance of a working poor group without health insurance or a truly living wage.</p>
<p>It has nothing to do with who shops there.</p>
<p>FYI, the issue with cheaper made-for-the-chain models extends to Home Depot, too. Companies like Andersen Windows make cheaper, less-well-built models for Home Depot, which is why they can undercut other stores.</p>
<p>Local businesses keep the money in the community- Walmart just wants to open more stores.</p>
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[The</a> Seattle Times: Opinion: Wal-Mart nation: the race to the bottom](<a href=“http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2001859432_floyd18.html]The”>http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2001859432_floyd18.html)</p>
<p>Consolation, how many Mom’s and Pop’s give their employees health insurance? How many Mom’s and Pop’s employ anyone beyond Mom and Pop and their offspring???</p>
<p>And what’s the big deal? We all will have health insurance now. Right??</p>
<p>The irony is that the Walmart haters are usually white, educated, affluent. The “class” they are so worked up about really likes Walmart. Take away those people’s Walmart and I think you will see a real protest movement.</p>
<p>At Walmart I can not buy in-house, homemade sausage and cheese made by the owner’s great-great-grandmama’s recipe. </p>
<p>OTOH my new neighbors are sharing their own homemade sausage and cheese and alcohol so it’s not all bad.</p>
<p>WalMart is a huge corporation. It could easily afford to insure its workers. It could also afford to give them full-time jobs instead of deliberately maintaining them at low hours to avoid benefits. Mom and pops at least have an excuse for not being able to do so. Anyway, this is a false dichotomy. The alternative to WalMart is not a mom and pop: it’s a local business, or a regional chain of reasonable size.</p>
<p>I think the niche market establishments that truly offer something compelling will coexist in town’s with Walmart. Variety is the spice of life. If there was no market (ie, people who really like Walmart) then Walmart would have perished long ago. Who has the right to limit other’s in their shopping choices? The more tasteful members of the community counsel? The editorial writers of the local paper? Because Walmart offends their sensibilities? </p>
<p>I have known people who started out Walmart shoppers, worked hard and did well and now are strictly Costco and high end store shoppers. There is a range out there and that’s a good thing. If you dislike the Walmart shopping experience – and I am admittedly not a fan – then simply don’t go there.</p>
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It’s not just Wal Mart. It’s all sorts of companies, law firms, other retailers and, yes, mom and pop shops. Healthcare is so expensive that many, many companies are deliberately keeping employees out of the class that would require it. Even some unions are doing those things for their administrative employees. It’s not all about Wal Mart.</p>
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sewhappy and zoosermom, I’m in your camp. Growing up we often traveled some distance to a nearby town (as much as 26 miles is “nearby”) to shop at their K Mart. </p>
<p>We have plenty of Wal Marts here, including a new one about to open. I only buy certain things there, but it’s certainly one of my mainstays for stocking up on those particular things.</p>
<p>The Walmart bashing that has gone on for years does not always hold up under close scrutiny. Have no idea if this group is that legit but their analysis of Walmart pretty much aligns with what I think is the truth about whether or not it is an evil force or just a successful business model, doing some good and also making some business decisions to warm the hearts of shareholders. The truth is always somewhere in-between, it seems:</p>
<p>[Evaluating</a> Wal-Mart’s Health Insurance Benefits](<a href=“http://reclaimdemocracy.org/walmart/health_insurance_program.php]Evaluating”>http://reclaimdemocracy.org/walmart/health_insurance_program.php)</p>
<p>I don’t know if I would like WalMart. But it burns me up that the elected officials here, who are paid by the taxpayers, work to thwart the will of 90% of those taxpayers because it is what the unions want. </p>
<p>I just don’t think we should romanticize mom and pops while demonizing Wal Mart because some of the criticism is just not true. And, again, if you don’t want to go there, don’t go. It’s like the Wall Street protesters who are currently making life hell for the citizens of downtown Manhattan and costing the city money it doesn’t have. Live your life but stop imposing your preferences on other people.</p>
<p>I have nothing against Wal-Mart opening a store and competing for business. I shop at Wal-Marts on occasion and certainly do not look down on anyone else who chooses to shop there.</p>
<p>What I have a problem with is conflating Wal-Mart with religion (asking God to bless Wal-Mart’s success, in the name of our Lord and Savior?) and patriotism (the American Legion, really?), with city officials giving Wal-Mart breaks that are not available to long-established merchants, and with people treating Wal-Mart as though it is some special benefactor for a community.</p>
<p>In another, smaller community I cover, a few years ago the city fathers (and they were all fathers, no mothers) spent $1 million of tax money rebuilding the downtown streets and sidewalks, financed in part by general tax revenues and in part by a special assessment on downtown property owners. Then in their wisdom they gave Dollar General a major tax break to open a store on the outskirts of town. In the last three years, the town has lost its only grocery, hardware store, and pharmacy, as well as several other businesses, all located downtown. The nice streets and sidewalks are still there - mostly empty - but the Dollar General is doing just fine. And when the local PTA or Lions Club asks DG for contributions to help support local events - support they always could get from the local businesses - the answer is invariably “no.” (They won’t even put up posters to promote community events, for crying out loud.) Oh, and the city treasury has been hit hard, because the tax break for DG was to rebate to them the city’s share of the sales tax for 10 years.</p>
<p>annasdad, you seem to live in strange towns.</p>
<p>I’ve KNOWN a person who worked at WalMart, and he was NOT an enthusiast.</p>
<p>lol…you’ve known “a” person who worked at Walmart. I’ve known many. </p>
<p>*At Walmart I can not buy in-house, homemade sausage and cheese made by the owner’s great-great-grandmama’s recipe. *</p>
<p>And, that’s fine. Who says a family must only shop at one grocer? I shop at several because each has things that I want and no one else has. </p>
<p>*the issue with cheaper made-for-the-chain models extends to Home Depot, too. Companies like Andersen Windows make cheaper, less-well-built models for Home Depot, which is why they can undercut other stores. *</p>
<p>And your point is??? for those who can ONLY AFFORD the cheaper Home Depot models, then that’s fine. Those who can afford the pricier Anderson Windows will go there. Would you rather that those with less money have to completely go without? That seems to be the only alternative. </p>
<p>Again…evidence of white affluence not “getting it”. </p>
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The irony is that the Walmart haters are usually white, educated, affluent. The “class” they are so worked up about really likes Walmart. Take away those people’s Walmart and I think you will see a real protest movement. *</p>
<p>SewHappy is SoRight! :)</p>
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What I have a problem with is conflating Wal-Mart with religion (asking God to bless Wal-Mart’s success, in the name of our Lord and Savior?) *</p>
<p>This is a private company. They can thank God, Jesus, Allah or the Sun God if they want.</p>
<p>Walmart came to my town several years ago and though everyone expected small businesses that would have to compete with it would be run out of business that hasn’t happened at all. Lowes hasn’t hurt the smaller businesses either. On fact, since Walmart more retail has opened here - some national companies and some locally owned small businesses.</p>
<p>annasdad, I completely agree with you. Sewhappy, I think that what annasdad describes is the real story that has been replayed over and over again around the country. It just isn’t publicized. Why inform the cattle that they are walking into the meat grinder? There is lots of information around here about towns granting tax abatements of various sizes to larger companies in order to get them to move in. No one gives a tax abatement to the local hardware store. I think that the tax abatement thing can be a good strategy for towns to use to expand their tax base, but not when it clearly favors one business in the same market sector over its competitors.</p>
<p>the issue with cheaper made-for-the-chain models extends to Home Depot, too. Companies like Andersen Windows make cheaper, less-well-built models for Home Depot, which is why they can undercut other stores. </p>
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<p>I have no problem with Andersen making different classes of windows at different price points. I <em>DO</em> have a problem with the fact that the windows are simply marketed as “Andersen,” and the customer is not told that there is a difference: I think it borders on false advertising. The consumer is not making an educated choice on price vs quality. </p>
<p>And you have a huge nerve presuming to tell me about “white affluence.” My family has spent most of the last 12 years living on $30K per year or less. We qualified for fuel assistance in the winter, subsidized lunch for our kid, and charity medical care at the local hospital. I couldn’t even afford to buy clothes for myself at Goodwill. I only got clothes when I was given a gift certificate. I know all about doing without, so you can take your accusations and shove them.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids: I was responding to sewhappy who I was interpreting to say Walmart is an ethnic market - which I disagree with. I agree with you that anyone and everyone should be able to shop wherever works for them. My issue with Walmart and its practices is that I believe we will soon have no place else to shop. And then the prices will be raised. Well I think we will still have some very expensive hoity-toity coops but they won’t be much use to most of us since we couldn’t afford them in the first place. I do think a whole lot of people are going to start growing their own food and keeping chickens, even in the suburbs. And of course we will still probably have Lord and Taylors but again, that isn’t really the problem I’m worried about.</p>