Wake Up Walmart

http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/

The above link is for the website "Wake up Walmart: America's Campaign to Change Walmart." One of the sections outlines the community impact Walmart can have, giving cited examples from studies, other websites, and reports where communities have suffered negative consequences.

"In Maine, existing businesses lost over 10 percent of their market in 80 percent of the towns where Wal-Mart opened stores. [Georgeanne Artz And James McConnon, The Impact of Wal-Mart on Host Towns and Surrounding Communities in Maine, 2001]."

They also have a blog that their team put together, and the July 14th post has the above picture, which is actually a video that shows the growth of Walmart from 1962-2007 . . . it is scary. One of the tabs is specifically for community fights, showing eaching town in each state that has a website or group that is currently fighting to keep Walmart out. None for Alabama or Georgia, but "save or gateway" is a group fighting to save green space in Virginia.

It is a great site with resources to fight, worker stories, and the opportunity to Join their Campaign and fight!! Check it out

Meghan Ann

Wal-Mart and Rural Communities

Walmartwatch.com has a lot of resources, publications and research relevant to Wal-Mart and the issues we've been discussing. One of the reports that I thought was particularly interesting is here, and involves research that was conducted by the Farm Foundation to determine Wal-Mart's impact on the retail areas of rural communities. The study used 34 towns in Iowa where Wal-Mart has had stores for 10 years or more, and found that many of the towns lost between 34-47% of their retail trade after 10 years of Wal-Mart being in business in the towns.

Zoning as a political tool

As many communities try to fend off big-box stores such as Wal-Mart, zoning regulations have emerged as an effective tool for fighting these developments. Is this an effective way of keeping unwanted businesses from moving into town, or is it simply a political maneuver that serves the interest of local businesses? I thought this article was interesting, especially the commentary on free choice in the marketplace. Although those who oppose Wal-Mart are usually the most vocal, there are many people who support new stores, due to job opportunities, lower prices and hard to find batteries, apparently. Plus, the article mentions smart growth, so its two for one!!


http://realtytimes.com/rtpages/20040622_zoning.htm

Wal-mart: In the end they win

The news article below addresses ordinances against super-centers like wal-mart. I think as a result to ordinances like these; Wal-marts have developed Neighborhood Wal-marts to comply with square footage requirements and to also compete with Walgreens and CVS chains. This article show that no matter what measures are put into place, Wal-mart has ways of getting around them.





http://www.kvue.com/news/local/stories/062408kvueNorthcrossWalMart-cb.34f48fd2.html?npc

The High Costs of Low Price: Bad Guy or Good Guy

I found a lvery interesting article entitled "Walmart: Still Unstainable." It addresses Wal-mart and the major effects that it has on small towns, but it also shines light on Wal-Mart as a corporation as a whole. It shows how Wal-Mart as a "bad guy corporation" that demands lower prices from their suppliers which actually puts burdens on the workers who have to make the products. It points out rights violations that are found in the foreign factories that make the Wal-Mart products, such as locked bathrooms, low wages, denial of health care, pregnancy tests, etc. The idea that Wal-Mart products were being made in sweat-shops violating human rights really disturbed me. Another interesting prespective about the corporation that the author's Garcia and Buffa depicted is the land usage and the role that it plays in the environment. It's a large store so it takes up alot of space which in turn the city or town has to place it on the outskirts of town. This is where the corporation contributes to the environment in a negative way. Individuals who shop at Wal-Mart will have to drive long distances to the store creating more pollution.
The article is great and puts the Wal-Mart corporation in persepective. "Bad Guy or Good Guy"? You be the judge....the link is http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/09/27/4167/