Women on Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart officials are looking to build one the company’s members-only wholesale storefronts near land in Fayetteville that produced former disputes regarding wildlife impact.

The corporation is under contract to purchase land off Arkansas 112 west of I-540 for a possibly 130,000-square-foot Sam’s Club, said Bob McAdam, vice president of corporate affairs.

Now the exact location hasn't been released, but it's speculated that it will be some property that the Sierra Club claims is wetland "containing rare species". And we all know what that means.

Wal-Mart is planning a statewide takeover of California. As if its regular sized megastores aren’t big enough, Walmart’s newest reign of terror are their twice-as-large Supercenters. The second largest employer in the nation next to the Department of Defense, Wal-Mart has 1494 regular stores in the US alone. In addition to this, 1386 of these Supersized consumption centers exist in 43 states – but none in California. Yet. Walmart headquarters is planning to expand its empire into California this year, choosing 40 locations in their expansion plans.

Marketing Expert News offers a great Friend or Foe Analysis:

So is Wal Mart good for America?

We say “yes”. It’s better for a family to be able to afford what they need and want and get it in the shortest amount of time so they can spend more quality time together.

When I was a kid growing up in New York City, we had to go to many different stores for everything. It took all day. Many times we could not go to the park or a movie because there wasn’t time.

Now with Wal Mart, not only is there time left over, but there is money left over too. Children and families throughout the country are benefiting from this.

But what about the stores that get “put out of business”?

Decades ago, when the automobile was first introduced, there was tremendous opposition from the railroad owners and workers. Their arguments were essentially the same.

“The automobiles will mean the end of the railroad.” “All of the railroad workers will be out of work.” “The shops, towns and companies that service the railroad will be out of business.” “It will be a disaster.” Etc. Etc.

This reminds me of conversations I had as an MBA grad student. I was the anti Wal-Mart student listening to future CEOs of America who said Wal-Mart was doing everything a business had to do to make money and keep consumers happy by providing low prices. All the other things (gender discrimination, race discrimination, ect) were irrelevant. Part of me agreed. So many people shop at Wal-Mart knowing full well the company discriminates on a regular basis. Why? Because it's the best deal in town.


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