Interesting. The Wal-mart haters here don’t sound any different than the Democrat and union Wal-mart critics.
Years ago, there was a thread on Wal-Mart here. I followed a link, and someone had actually done a study on this and there were several interesting conclusions.
1. When Wal-Mart comes to town, the for most of the people there it is like everyone got a 10% raise. Even if you don’t shop at Wal-Mart you benefit because other stores try to match prices.
2. The number of mom and pop operations in the town actually increases. The type changes. If you own the corner pharmacy, you are going to be in trouble—Wal-Mart is lower priced. If you own Frank’s Custom Mufflers you are going to do better than you were. Wal-Mart will bring more traffic, and they don’t compete with you. All kinds of specialty stores thrive with Wal-Mart next door. The common feature is that they are selling something Wal-Mart doesn’t.