posted
There's been a lot of discussion in the media lately, and some on this website, about things that are destroying America. Some say it's Obama, some it's Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. I think that a lot of us are getting tired of the nearly constant bickering, especially when little is really getting done to actually help people and move this country forward. I'd like to get away from political discussion for awhile, just because any more of that nonsense, I think, may cause my head to explode.
However, there is one thing that's been bothering me for years now, and I just can't get away from it. Maybe it's Wal-Mart, as much as anything else, that's destroying this country.
For years, Wal-Mart has been opening stores in small cities all across the country. My own hometown, population about 15,000, got a Wal-Mart around 1992. The new Wal-Mart store opened near the central business district, not far from Main St., where the normal small-city pharmacies, jewelry stores, shoe stores and men's suits and tailoring stores were. As a young kid at the time, I was excited by Wal-Mart's arrival, because you could get just about any toy you could imagine. The Wal-Mart was great; it was huge, it was bright, and it was stocked full of the greatest merchandise the free world had ever known.
Like every other town Wal-Mart came to, it created low-end jobs. Also like every other town, it caused smaller businesses to close. Small, locally-owned shops on Main St. closed their doors forever. Maybe some of the people working at those stores found jobs at the new Wal-Mart; I really don't know.
The new Wal-Mart became a business district of itself; fast food chains started to locate beside the Wal-Mart. We got a Burger King and a Taco Bell practically in the parking lot. Consumer traffic started to divert away from Main St. and to the new Wal-Mart shopping district. Still, the new Wal-Mart was located close to Main St., and so was still downtown.
Then, several years ago, Wal-Mart decided to build a new Super Wal-Mart. Open 24 hours, grocery store included. I've seen this same scenario worked out in other towns all across the country, too. The Super Wal-Mart was built several miles outside of town. The traffic that was going downtown to the old Wal-Mart was now diverted out of town to the new Super Wal-Mart. The fast food restaurants that had grown up near the old Wal-Mart closed and moved to the new Super Wal-Mart. Pretty soon, there was that ugly urban sprawl around the new Super Wal-Mart. No reason to really go into town anymore. The shops on Main St. that had survived the old Wal-Mart died. And what did the company do with the old Wal-Mart building? Nothing. They hold onto it, not allowing someone to purchase it and develop the space; it sits there abandoned, a stake through the heart of the downtown district.
How has Wal-Mart been able to repeat this process countless times, in city after city, all over the country? Simple. They sell for less. They sell everything you need. They pressure suppliers to keep prices down, they import most of their goods from China. Wal-Mart sells certain products at a loss, hoping that if they get you into the store for what you need, you will buy more of what you want. And it's so convient; you can do all of your shopping at one store.
But there's an ugly side to all of this, one that most people probably don't think about. Wal-Mart, by undercutting the competition, has forced countless small businesses to close, resulting in hugh job losses. The people that Wal-Mart hires make a wage that barely qualifies above the poverty line, and most of them can't get health insurance through the company. Wal-Mart destroys the downtown business districts of towns and small cities, and it contributes to the blight of urban sprawl.
And most of the products Wal-Mart sells are garbage. That shoe store on Main St. where you used to buy your Florsheims closed because people can buy Deer Stags that kind of look like Florsheims (if you only glance for a second) for $20 at Wal-Mart. How many jokers have you seen walking around with a $500 suit and a $20 pair of shoes? They look ridiculous, right?
There's the myth that Wal-Mart saves you money, but it really doesn't. Oh, sure, if you only go into Wal-Mart to pick up a bottle of shampoo, and that happens to be 50 cents cheaper than you could have gotten it somewhere else, you just saved 50 cents. Congratulations. But usually, don't we go to Wal-Mart to pick up one or two things, and end up leaving with four or five things? Don't we usually see something else we have to have once we get in there?
And what about the poor suckers who have to work there? Do any of them seem happy to you? Do they look like they enjoy their job, or take any pride in their work? Pay someone barely minimum wage, refuse to offer health insurance or other benefits, and that's the kind of worker you get. Most of the people who worked at those now-closed small businesses at least appeared to be happier, maybe because the owners were local folk, people who treated their workers with a little respect.
I think Wal-Mart is a sympton of the laziness of this country. We're so enamored with the idea of doing all of our shopping at one place that we don't care about the harm we're causing. But why does a little convenience have to be the only important thing to us? God forbit that we'd have to park our cars on Main St. and walk to several different stores, that may be spread out over several blocks, to get all of our shopping done. I mean, we might get a little bit of exercise and fresh air! What could be more horrible?
I don't have any illusions that Wal-Mart is going to collapse, and that the downtown business districts are going to return. The only thing I can hope is that people start thinking about what they're doing when they shop at Wal-Mart. Maybe enough people will start to stay out of Wal-Mart, and demand the return of some stores to Main St.
So, the next time you go throught those sliding doors, think about what you're really doing. Do you want to keep sending your money to some hick-town in Arkansas, or do you want to shop at a local store? The choice is yours.
Posts: 4 | Registered: Oct 2009
| IP: Logged |
posted
Interesting topic, jxs, but it would probably be more appropriate on the other side, since it doesn't really have anything to do with Card.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
While this topic has been discussed many times over this years here on Hatrack, you might be interested in knowing that there's one currently happening on the other side of the forum. (Which, really, is where this thread should probably have gone.)
Printer-friendly view of this topic
