Yes, 30 supermarkets have closed. However, the ones that remain are of MUCH higher quality than before the superstore concept. It has also forced other chains to diversify. There are places besides Wal-Mart where they have smaller selection, smaller stores, lower overhead and therefore, cheaper stuff. We have more variety of food available at a lower price. I think it's a decent tradeoff.

The types of businesses that open around Wal-Marts off the top of my head have included bank branches, restaurants, fast food places, clothing stores, ALL of which provide jobs to people. Many of which are not just chains, but franchises which are really a type of small business.

The lowest prices on gas in the metro area can be found at the 7-11 across the street from the new Wal-Mart in Edmond, OK (about 30 minutes away from the OKC metro). As I type this, they are $1.58 the national average is currently $1.84. Other gas stations in this area charge as much as $1.83 for a gallon of gas. That is certainly not hurting the consumer.

I don't doubt that Wal Mart has its problems for society. But it's irresponsible to only cite those in making a case against it.

If you think it's a decent tradeoff I can't argue with that. OC isn't my community. But Walmart as a superstore doesn't always guarantee a superior quality in product.
The variety of food might be a decent tradeoff as of now but I don't see that in the future. You have other grocery chains dealing with the same suppliers that supply Walmart. Walmart demands the lowest prices from their suppliers and in turn find it very hard to sell at higher prices to other vendors because the consumers could simply go to Walmart and pay a lower price. I dunno though, there aren't even 30 grocery stores in the city I'm from and it's not all that little...

A franchise really isn't a type of small business though so I can't agree with you there. A person owns the franchise (maybe, many times franchised stores are actually block owned by other corporations) but even if a single individual owns one they still get marketing, advertising and the recognition of the name. When you franchise you pay for the name and the recognition really.

Again, I don't disagree that many of the larger corps that could open around a Walmart offer jobs to people. Like I've stated twice, it has nothing to do with the small business debate. Walmart isn't good for small business...now I can't say the same for large business.

Either way this debate is pointless now so I say we just agree to disagree....

see...this is what happens when you get coke heads in the white house

Rudith, you need a new graph with prettier colors. I also think there's something wrong with that graph but I'm too excited about balance of payments right now to figure out what.

In March 04, Bloomberg (Bloomberg Markets magazine but I really have no idea where you can find the magazine) carried a good article called Wal-mart's nasty labor war.

"During the past 20 years, Wal-mart shares have risen almost 43-fold compared with six-fold for the S&P 500".

Now here are some interesting stats"

Walmart's annual sales of $244.5 billion are almost as great as Switzerland's GDP.

Wal-Mart sold enough Ol-Roy multiflavored dog bisuits in one year to circle the earth twice.

Wal-Mart account for 25 percent of Clorox's sales and 18 percent of Procter & Gambles.

If Wal-Mart were a country, it would be China's eight-largest trading partnet, with $12 billion in imports (2002 only)

Wal-Mart is the largest private employer in the U.S., with 1.2 million workers.

Now I don't understand how you guys started talking about Wal-Mart, but maybe you'll want to read that article.

-Rudey