Posted on 04/11/2005 7:08:56 AM PDT by Rhoades
"I'm writing this column in West Virginia, USA having just come back from shopping in Wal-Mart, the extraordinarily successful supermarket chain that makes our own look slow and tiny -- not to mention expensive! I had to keep blinking at the price labels. With my notion of prices tied to British expectations, Wal-Mart's just look as though the staff can't do their sums."
- John Blundell in the New Scotsman
Wal-Mart is rarely the object of such praise. To be the best is usually to be the object of scorn. Wal-Mart knows this well. They are the best, and their critics would have you believe that the mammoth retail chain earned its laurels through unfair competition, civic destruction, even third world exploitation. The stories are familiar: In order to offer such low prices (always), Wal-Mart:
- Puts Mom-n-Pop shops out of business.
- Contributes to the burgeoning of third world sweatshops.
- Degrades communities by introducing a big box aesthetic.
- Makes the Walton family and shareholders even richer.
But it's time we looked a little deeper into what can only be called the "Wal-Mart effect."
Boone, North Carolina (named for the famous Dan'l) is a college town nestled in the rustic mountains of Appalachia. The population is divided roughly among groups of students, locals, and the academic elite. Such a microcosm of American diversity works in its own way. The locals realize how much money the university brings in. The students love the Smoky Mountain amenities and the bluegrass music. Academics find the local folkways charming and complementary to their status as, well, elites. But when Wal-Mart decided to come along in the 90s, locals, students, and academics also had a common purpose to bind them: to keep Wal-Mart out.
As it often does, Wal-Mart won. And since then, Boone has experienced the Wal-Mart effect. First, some Mom-n-Pop shops in Boone may have gone out of business due to the intense competition. But something interesting has happened: many new businesses have sprung up and they're cooler, more interesting, and more highly specialized than most of the old ones were. Mom-n-Pop have decided to move into more boutique-style businesses -- and not even Wal-Mart can compete with that.
For example, Hands Gallery -- formed c. 1998 -- is an interesting fixture for visitors to the downtown King Street area, offering indigenous art and sculpture for more refined tastes. While taking in the spring verdancy or autumn foliage of the high country, visitors can take jaunts through nearby Blowing Rock and Banner Elk for the utterly zoned and picturesque experience (and, of course, denizens of these planned towns take advantage of Boone's big boxes along highway 321).
But big boxes and all, downtown Boone offers its own home-grown order, complete with quirky restaurants and shops one might have found on the corner of Haight and Ashbury. An eclectic mix of businesses line the main thoroughfare. Earth Fare, an organic foods store, has come to King Street. Older fixtures such as the Appalachian Antique Mall and Mast General Store (retail) have enjoyed continued success and remain favorite establishments for shoppers. You'll even find "Josh," a vagrant everyone in Boone knows, selling poetry and beaded jewelry to passers by.
The question becomes: do we really need small, inefficient and expensive shops to supply us with our shaving cream and plastic laundry baskets? How vibrant is a downtown where such items are being hocked? Since Wal-Mart consolidates these kinds of goods into "big boxes," we, like John Blundell, can get them for dirt cheap all in one place. Charming downtown areas can then evolve into gorgeous window-shopping and restaurant-hopping districts for both locals and tourists. In the meantime, everyone knows where to go to get the bare necessities quickly and at a lower cost.
The Wal-Mart effect is happening all over the country, allowing many municipalities to renew their town centers. In fact, residents able to reduce their day-to-day shopping budgets at Wal-Mart have more money left to spend on the things that make life great and towns charming -- whether it's hand-blown glass or delicious roadside produce grown by local farmers. (Take it from me, no big box can do Silver Queen corn like North Carolina farmers on the side of the road.)
Wal-Mart has also made concerted efforts to work with communities to stylize their stores, especially in cases where such is desired by the locals. The result is that the big box look is not always battleship blue corrugated metal with plastic letters. Wal-Marts come in all manner of brick, stone and Mediterranean styles.
The Wal-Mart effect may be destructive from time to time, but it's also profoundly creative. Wal-Mart has inadvertently hastened the pace of specialization and municipal renewal. As consumers, of course, we only benefit from the presence of Wal-Mart and other big box retailers. People in developing countries and at home are being lifted from squalor because Wal-Mart seeks out the great, low-cost products they offer. Wal-Mart is also giving a lot of people opportunities to earn a living -- including retirees who want to stay active as well as immigrants prepared to accept the wages Wal-Mart offers. Don Boudreaux puts it succinctly here:
"And because Wal-Mart indisputably keeps prices to consumers low, by far the most plausible conclusion is that Wal-Mart promotes the economic prosperity of the places it which it operates -- it creates better jobs and increases the availability of goods and services. In short, Wal-Mart makes its workers and its customers (and, yes, its stockholders) wealthier."
The Wal-Mart effect is overwhelmingly beneficial.
As prices continue to fall and quality continues to improve, critics of Wal-Mart will have a tougher time resisting the temptation to shop there. In the meantime, I'll be enjoying shorter lines, lower prices, quality products, and smiley-face stickers.
Max Borders is a writer and Wal-Mart shopper in the Washington, DC area.
Add to that a law that forces U.S. companies to buy from U.S. companies. Think of the resulting boom! /sarc
I don't know that I'd go so far as to say it's bad for the country OVERALL, once all factors are weighed, but to pretend that the rosy scenario painted in this article is an accurate portrayal of the whole is utter nonsense.
For while businesses do spring up around Wal-Mart and people can buy a larger quantity of products due to Wal-Mart's lower prices, every single one of the negatives that the author lists, then dismisses as if with a magic wand, is absolutely true, as you point out in your post. People who claim otherwise, who try to convince everyone that Wal-Mart is nothing but positive, base their views on selective perception, ignorance, or a combination of the two.
Also note this: Pay attention to the "boutique" businesses that pop up to differentiate themselves. Wal-Mart does. And the moment those niches start to become widely accepted and dependably profitable, Wal-Mart will step in and take them, too. Of course, Mom and Pop can just pack up and hustle down the street to a different boutique, right? Yeah, right.
MM
What a great and innovative idea...then only Mom and Pop will be able to work there. John F'n Kerry, is that you?
When Wal-Mart first came to our area about 10 years ago, we used to make a family trip out of it. That's because we saved so much money buying our household goods at Wal-Mart that we all went out to eat afterwards at one of the half-dozen restaurants that immediately opened up all around it. We didn't get out to eat that often in those days as money was tight, but Wal-Mart put the extra money in our pocket to do things like that on a more regular basis.
Holy toledo, you would think that Walmart has singlehandily destroyed the American economy. Have you seen Walmarts stock price lately? It's down. Do you really think private enterprise is BAD for the economy? Are low prices and the shoppers who shop at Walmart just part of the evil Red China plot to destroy America?
Competition. Capitalism. They go hand in hand.
Sorry haven't seen any of Mom and Pop "specialty" stores close as a result of Walmart but I'll be watching. Besides, Mom and Pop don't pay so well either and since they don't employ that many people they are a small business and they don't have to comply with the same labor laws as does Walmart. Funny I don't hear about people complaining about workers working "off the books" while they collect seasonal unemployment. One could make the case that these workers are expecting Walmart employees to pick up their share of taxes while they do jobs on a "cash only" basis.
I guess you hate capitalism then..
1) If Walmart is cheaper than my local grocery store its on the order of 5 cents or less. I haven't come across many products that are so much cheaper they justify the longer drive to the Walmart.
2) If Walmart attracts new businesses like the "Hands Gallery ... offering indigenous art and sculpture for more refined tastes" and "Earth Fare, an organic foods store" then Walmart is pure evil in my book. :^)
"The Wal-Mart effect may be destructive from time to time, but it's also profoundly creative."
Pure comedic gold.
I can't wait until the author’s next article, "Prostate cancer: biological meanie or WONDERFULLY FABOULOUS WEIGHTLOSS PLAN!!1!1one"
Knock yourself out, but you'll be paying more to Mom and Pop who pay LESS than Walmart and offer NO benefits at all.
He makes some very excellent points.
(bookmark for later)
In many areas local government "gives away the farm" in freebies to WalMart in roads,sewer,property taxes and anything else Wally can squeeze from them by working one town against another. This cost is carried by every citizen and business.
It left out the most important thing - by selling 9mm (WWB) at $11/100, Wal-Mart forces the local gun shop commandos (who used to sell the same stuff at $10/50) to think about focusing on quality firearms, quality gunsmithing, and knowledgable counterfolk.
Well, the speciality shop theory will only work when you have a fairly rich and educated segment of the community. If the college wasn't there, dumb-@ss overpriced nonsense wouldn't be sold.
Or if we look at simple capitalism. Walmart comes in, Mom&Pop goes out of business, Landlord has to lower rents, Dirty Hippies with more money than sense opens a business. With the success of the hippie shop they start to contribute money to the DemoRATS, the DemoRATS take over. America is doomed.
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