"People Who Hate Wal-Mart Hate Success"

Great rant from Greg Gutfield, and so true:

As any Manhattan masseuse will tell you, I love a happy ending. And that's exactly what I've found in this story about angry locals who tried to keep a Wal-Mart out of their town.

In this case, after years of tangling with selfish, poorly informed citizens, Wal-Mart finally took its toys and left, leaving the idiots of Plainfield Township, Pennsylvania, to fend for themselves.

Now, that's not the happy ending. This is: What took Wal-Mart's place was a metal-shredding plant. A massive, recycling noise machine, louder than a freight train and prone to accidental explosions. The citizens now have a monster in their midst -- so, make way for more petitions.

And I love every minute of it!

As you know, Wal-Mart has been an object of spite, usually from fools too cowardly to admit that their bile has less to do with the store than with their own insignificance. People who hate Wal-Mart really hate the success that's eluded them. As for the attacks on Wal-Mart from elitist media hacks — that's bigotry, for they assume you must be genetic trash to shop there.

Fact is, Wal-Mart is just a symbol of America — a successful phenomenon that brings you what you need cheaply. But to its opposition, it's the daddy that never hugged them -- poor things.

So, Plainfield got what was coming. I hope every night they go to bed hearing the mangling of metal, thinking, "If only a Wal-Mart was nearby, we could buy earplugs."

And if you disagree with me, then you sir are worse than Hitler.

Technorati Tags: wal-mart walmart

"Wal-Mart unveils details of new super center planned for Clarkston"

The PARDners claim that they have saved the city of Pullman hundreds of thousands of dollars through their efforts at fighting Wal-Mart by "forcing" the retailer to pay a portion of installing traffic lights and traffic calming devices on Bishop Blvd.

Like everything else they have said, this is also a lie.

Down in Clarkston, where Wal-Mart has faced zero opposition, Wal-Mart is spending $500,000 on traffic upgrades, including two stoplights, widening a street, building a bus stop, erecting a sound barrier, and landscaping to limit vehicle light, VOLUNTARILY.

In addition, Clarkston is going to get the first Supercenter in Washington, and one of the first in the country, that incorporates a very cool new store branding. I'll have pictures later.

I'm sure much of the traffic improvements and coolness factor that could have been Pullman's was burned up along with the hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal expenses Wal-Mart likely had to pay to fight PARD's numerous frivilous and baseless legal challenges

Not to mention the fact that Clarkston will have their store and start reaping the sales tax benefits many months before the one in Pullman is built.

From today's Lewiston Tribune:

Wal-Mart officials said a new design is being considered for the Wal-Mart Supercenter to be built in Clarkston, in the Port of Clarkston area.

The super store Wal-Mart plans to build across from Costco in Clarkston will be an 180,000-square-foot building with a tire center, drive-through pharmacy and garden center.

Those services will be in addition to the groceries, clothing, toys, cosmetics, and electronics typically sold in Wal-Mart Supercenters.

A spokeswoman for the world's largest retailer shared more of the details about the store in an interview this week.

Jennifer Spall, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman in Seattle, couldn't immediately provide a date for the groundbreaking.

Construction, which Wal-Mart hopes will be finished by July, normally takes between nine and 12 months. Wal-Mart spends about another three months hiring employees and outfitting the store.

The Wal-Mart in Clarkston will be the first in Washington, and among the first in the nation, to have an updated look associated with a new branding effort, Spall said.

The front facade will have three entrances of various scale and design to break up the "mass of the building," Spall wrote in an e-mail.

Canopies will extend from the building walls over the sidewalk, according to the e-mail. "The roof line is broken up in varying roof styles and heights."

A large landscape feature, such as a mature state tree, will be placed in the vicinity of the entrance, Spall said.

Wal-Mart has promised to make upgrades of more than $500,000 to handle the 9,000 to 10,500 vehicles that will be driving to the store each day at Fifth and Fair streets.

The largest items in the package are two traffic lights, which will likely cost $250,000 each. One of the signals will be at Fifth and Fair streets. The other will be at 15th and Bridge streets.

Other improvements Wal-Mart will make include widening Port Drive adjacent to the Wal-Mart property from two to three lanes, a bus stop on Fair Street, a sound barrier on the south and western edges of the property that are closest to residential neighborhoods and landscaping to limit vehicle light from entering residences.

Technorati Tags: wal-mart walmart

Say What?

Perhaps 10,000 persons who won't shop there might cause a funding problem. Why is there no discussion about the independent study? Are we looking at another typical Pullman fait accompli?

Thank you PARD for looking out for the future well-being of Pullman and attempting to make the decision makers accountable. It is too bad that the recent independent study could not have been included in your lawsuit. It proved Day's claim regarding traffic and congestion on Bishop Boulevard.

- Roger Pettenger, Letter to the Editor, Moscow-Pullman Daily News, July 25, 2008

Huh?

If thousands of petition signers from Moscow, Australia, Chile, Finland and other places around the globe won't shop at the Pullman Wal-Mart, then there will be no traffic problem on Bishop Boulevard. This has been the basic flaw in PARD's reasoning from Day One. They simply can't have it both ways. It's either Boom Town USA with unbearable traffic or economic blight. Pick one of the above.

Let me put it another way, again. If those "10,000 people" had only donated $4.50 each, then PARD could have paid to have their own traffic study conducted. As it was, they didn't. The Hearing Examiner and the courts looked at the studies conducted by Wal-Mart, the city, and WSDOT, and those studies all came to the conclusion that traffic on Bishop, with Wal-Mart's mitigations, would be fine. Law 101: Present evidence to support your case or go home.

This latest traffic study factored in Wal-Mart's contributions to help control Bishop traffic.. I'm sure the city is grateful to have Wal-Mart help pay for traffic lights (no other Pullman retail business has ever been made paid to pay for traffic lights before), as well as the extra $1 million plus a year in sales tax revenue to help with roadway improvements.

Pettenger and all the rest can just stop their sour grapes. Nothing can be done now. The decision about Wal-Mart cannot be reversed based on evidence presented now The federal and state constitutions prevent such ex post facto and violation of due process effects.

Technorati Tags: wal-mart walmart

An Elitist Snob's Take on Wal-Mart Shoppers

Attention Wal-Mart Shoppers: Here's what the educated elite really think about you. Coastal liberal and long-time Wal-Mart hater Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic magazine wrote the following description of how he saw folks at a Wal-Mart in Martinsburg, WV back on June 23, 2008:

But about those down-and-out customers: If you want to see the underside of the unregulated capitalist economy, the people who can't find the non-existent escape ladder from poverty and its pathologies, visit the Martinsburg, West Virginia Wal-Mart. Morbid obesity; spontaneous, public bouts of corporal punishment directed against dirty children; ten-year girls dressed as whores; tattoos running up necks and down legs; smoking like you only see these days in Baku; it's all here. I considered myself a socialist until I was about 23 (that was when I fled my kibbutz for the final time) but a visit to the Martinsburg Wal-Mart reawakens my distaste for steroidal capitalism.

Goldberg later refers to Wal-Mart workers as "hopeless and toothless." What a collection of stereotypes of working class Americans, straight out of Marx's Grim Fairy Tales of the Lumpenproletariat.

Now, as you can imagine, this column set off quite an uproar in Martinsburg. Rather than apologize, Goldberg states:

It's interesting to me how many people conflate an attack on Wal-Mart with an attack on their community. I suppose this just how the malevolent merchants from Bentonville, Ark., would have it.

Yeah. Wal-Mart made Goldberg an arrogant and self-righteous asshole. Who knows though? Maybe Goldberg is a double agent for Wal-Mart; his overbearing pretentiousness discrediting other Wal-Mart haters. But let's face it. "Ten-year girls dressed as whores?" It WAS a vicious attack on the Martinsburg community, and more generally an attack on all the people who shop at Wal-Mart.

And that ultimately is what the war on Wal-Mart is all about. It's rank class hatred, bigotry and pure snobbery from wealthy elitists towards the people they claim to be "protecting" from Wal-Mart.

But I for one am glad for Goldberg's hateful rant. Next time you read in the Daily News about "$45,000 traffic studies" and "wreaking havoc on small towns," you'll know what those code words really mean.

Technorati Tags: wal-mart walmart

Say What?

I know the importance of civic engagement, supporting local businesses, and the havoc that giant corporate entities like Wal-Mart can wreak on a small community.

I've lived it more than once in small towns in South Dakota and Iowa. But that story has been told over and over, and some just don't want to believe it, so we'll leave that one for the history books.

- "Efforts of PARD must go on," Patricia Freitag Ericsson, Letter to the Editor, Moscow- Pullman Daily News, July 18, 2008

I'm wondering if Dr. Freitag Ericsson, a WSU English professor and professional colleague of PARDners T.V. Reed and Alex Hammond, would be willing to elaborate more on how Wal-Mart "wreaks havoc on a small community."

According to her CV, she graduated from the University of South Dakota in 1972 and then worked as a high school teacher in Vermillion, SD. Wal-Mart did not open any stores in South Dakota until 1990. In any case, she worked at Dakota State University in Madison, SD from 1982 to 1997. There is no Wal-Mart in Madison, SD.

I'm not sure where Iowa fits in. Wal-Mart didn't open any stores in Iowa until 1983, when Dr. Freitag Ericsson was living and working in South Dakota. She did receive a master's degree in 1988 from Augustana College in Rock Island, IL, which is on the border with Iowa. But Rock Island is part of the Quad Cities area that has over 400,000 people. Hardly a "small town."

She then taught at Michigan Tech in Houghton, MI from 1998 to 2003. Houghton does have a Wal-Mart Supercenter, as well as a ShopKo. However, Houghton was recently included in the book The 100 Best Small Towns in America. That doesn't sound very havocy. But to be fair, she didn't mention Michigan.

I'm anxiously awaiting Dr. Freitag Ericsson's next letter to the editor where no doubt she will detail the exact havoc that was wreaked, as well as the specific places where it occurred. Like Agent Mulder, I want to believe.

PALOUSITICS EXCLUSIVE - Wal-Mart: What's Next? Part Six

This is Part Six of a series of articles that will explore what happens when a Wal-Mart Supercenter comes to town.

The information contained below is being made publicly available on the web for the first time.

Back in 1994, in the Central Washington city of Wenatchee, one of the first Wal-Mart stores in our state was built. As this store has now been open 14 years, it can provide a good example of the long-term effects of Wal-Mart on a community

Michael Luis & Associates, a public affairs, communications and civic leadership consulting firm in the Seattle area, has prepared profiles assessing the impact of the opening of Wal-Mart stores in communities throughout Washington. The one concerning Wenatchee can be downloaded here.

Some highlights:

...the retailing world discovered Wenatchee. Allison Williams, of the Wenatchee Mayor’s office, and who was with the Wenatchee Downtown Association at the time, says that she “can’t isolate the arrival of Wal-Mart from the arrival of the rest of the ‘marts.’ Within two years we had new K-Mart, Target and Costco stores. Word had gotten out that the region was underserved.”

The outside “discovery” of Wenatchee, combined with internal economic development efforts, transformed Wenatchee into a major retailing center for a largely rural area with about 200,000 people. According to Williams, it was “the story of every community that has gone from small to medium. Some businesses found that they weren’t serving the market, but many very good businesses survived and thrived, despite the opening of not just Wal-Mart, but several other large retailers.”

According to those who observed the arrival of Wal-Mart and other major retailers in the 1990s, the impact on existing Wenatchee retailers was not huge. Most stores survived and adjusted to the new environment.

...in most respects the retailers of Downtown Wenatchee do not compete directly with Wal-Mart and the other big boxes...the region still has a large population of low income people and agricultural workers who shop at Wal-Mart but probably would not shop in Downtown Wenatchee....the typical downtown customer...having significant disposable income and a desire for unique goods.

Purchasing power is spread fairly evenly around the county, so Wenatchee is collecting more in sales tax revenue than its residents alone are paying out, making retail sales a valuable attractor of City tax revenue.

...well-established training programs..help people make the transition from agricultural work to other industries...retail tends to be an entry point for these workers, and that stores like Wal-Mart provide excellent opportunities.

Monday: We'll go back over to the West Side and look at Wal-Mart in a town that was devastated in last year's floods: Chehalis.

Technorati Tags: wal-mart walmart

PALOUSITICS EXCLUSIVE - Wal-Mart: What's Next? Part Five

This is Part Five of a series of articles that will explore what happens when a Wal-Mart Supercenter comes to town.

The information contained below is being made publicly available on the web for the first time.

Covington, WA, is a fast-growing suburb of Seattle located in southeastern King County. I used to live just up the road from Covington in Kent.

Covington is booming, with many new retail and housing developments. I was there not too long ago. There is a new Safeway, I believe, with a Starbucks in it, and another Starbucks across the parking lot in the same strip mall!

In 2005, Wal-Mart opened a store there after some opposition. Building a Wal-Mart anywhere in the metroliberal Seattle area is next to impossible, as you can imagine. I've been to the Covington Wal-Mart. It is very nice and very unobtrusive, located well off the main drag of Kent-Kangley Road.

Michael Luis & Associates, a public affairs, communications and civic leadership consulting firm in the Seattle area, has prepared profiles assessing the impact of the opening of Wal-Mart stores in communities throughout Washington. The one concerning Covington can be downloaded here.

Some highlights:

The Covington Wal-Mart has only been open two years, but the impact of that store opening is clear. The major jump in sales from 2004 to 2005 reflects the opening of the new Wal-Mart in Covington, which opened its doors in early 2005.

Retail store sales growth in this fast-growing community has been even stronger and more consistent than Covington since 1998. Sales growth in Maple Valley slowed only very slightly from 2004 to 2005, during the opening year of the Covington Wal-Mart, indicating that the new Wal-Mart did not take a big bite out of retail in Maple Valley.

The retail customer traffic drawn by Wal-Mart has been a catalyst for additional retail development in the emerging “downtown” of Covington.

Covington has benefited from increased tax revenues generated by expanded retail. A major new retailer like Wal-Mart shows up most prominently in increased local sales tax revenue, but also shows up in property taxes paid on the new building and whatever mix of business and utility taxes levied by the local government.

...the jump in inflation-adjusted revenues to the City of Covington between 2001 and 2005. During this four year period alone, sales tax revenue grew an inflation adjusted 54 percent.

As part of the development of the store, Wal-Mart made significant contributions to traffic mitigation measures that will serve other retail and future residential development in Downtown Covington. According to Hart, a well-designed store and adequate traffic improvements have made Wal-Mart a major net plus for the City.

According to Messer, of the Covington Chamber, Wal-Mart is a “fantastic” contributor to the community. Store personnel are active in the chamber and in local service clubs, regularly attending events.

In 2006, Wal-Mart made two important community contributions. When the annual “Covington Days” festival was threatened with cancellation, due to lack of funding, Wal-Mart stepped up with a check for $10,000, ensuring that the festival would take place. Wal-Mart also participated in a volunteer recognition event at Covington Elementary School, providing clothes for students to wear at a fashion show.

Thursday: We'll hop over to Apple Country and look at the effects of the Wal-Mart that opened in Wenatchee.

Technorati Tags: wal-mart walmart

PALOUSITICS EXCLUSIVE - Wal-Mart: What's Next? Part Four

This is Part Four of a series of articles that will explore what happens when a Wal-Mart Supercenter comes to town.

The information contained below is being made publicly available on the web for the first time.

In 2003, after Wal-Mart announced plans to construct a Supercenter in the Olympic Peninsula town of Sequim, WA, a small, vocal group of snobs got together and decided to oppose it. They called themselves "Sequim First." These opponents of "cookie-cutter development" picked a cookie-cutter name right out of Weird Al Norman's playbook (e.g. "Give it [your Wal-Mart hating club] a short, upbeat name like 'Freeport First.'”) Sheesh.

Sequim First's tactics will sound very familiar to Pullman readers. Initially, the city council approved the project. Then Sequim First filed a lawsuit appealing the SEPA approval and the decision not to require an independent Environmental Impact Statement to the Thurston County Superior Court. The group cited significant impacts to stormwater runoff, traffic, emergency services, water supply, and other municipal services, and damaging effects on the downtown core. The court rejected the appeal on March 19, 2004. Sequim First then appealed to the state Court of Appeals in June. Nevertheless, the new Wal-Mart opened on October 22, 2004. [Note: On August 18, 2005, Sequim First wrote to the Department of Ecology requesting that Sequim be added to the same costly NPDES Phase II stormwater permitting that Pullman is saddled with, because of "the continued emphasis on almost-uncontrolled growth in Sequim." Gotta love the spitefulness of these urbanistas.]

So what happened next?

Michael Luis & Associates, a public affairs, communications and civic leadership consulting firm in the Seattle area, has prepared profiles assessing the impact of the opening of Wal-Mart stores in communities throughout Washington. The one concerning Sequim can be downloaded here.

Some highlights (notice the similarities with Pullman):

...sales in retail stores in Sequim and Clallam County as a whole were relatively flat in the first part of the decade. Sales began to pick up steam across the county in 2004, and especially in Sequim, where Wal-Mart opened in October.

Not all of the increase in retail store activity in 2004 and 2005 was due to Wal-Mart, however. ...sales at stores in Sequim, other than Wal-Mart, [saw] a substantial bump upward in 2004 and 2005. The opening of the Wal-Mart clearly did not hamper overall progress in retail expansion in Sequim.

...only a few small stores closed after Wal-Mart opened, and those were owned by people who were ready to retire and close up shop anyway. Mayor Schubert, whose professional background is in retail, believes Wal-Mart’s arrival was a useful “kick in the backside for local retailers. It forced them to get on the ball.”

The strict lids that have been instituted on property tax collections in Washington have kept these taxes from rising in areas without substantial new construction. Thus, in a city like Sequim, municipal finances have begun to rely more on sales tax for growth. ...sales tax collections in Sequim have increased substantially as large new retailers have opened in the city.

...four revenue sources...generated about $2.5 million in 2001, or about $575 per resident. This had increased to $3.9 million by 2005, or about $835 per resident. By
accommodating Wal-Mart and other retailers, Sequim stemmed the leakage of sales tax revenue to Port Angeles and other communities, and captured tax revenue from shoppers living in surrounding unincorporated areas.

Between 1995 and 2005, while the population of Clallam County grew by 10 percent, retail employment grew by over 40 percent. Overall employment in the county has been growing steadily, and the current unemployment rate, about 5.5 percent, is low by recent historic standards. Schubert says that with employers like Wal-Mart, “people who didn’t have jobs eight years ago now have jobs.”

As Sequim grew from a small rural town to an important tourist destination and retirement community, local retailing did not keep pace. Local retailers were adept at catering to visitors, but not at filling basic needs of residents, many of whom are on fixed incomes. Wal-Mart and other big box retailers have met this need, saving local residents from having to drive to Port Angeles or Silverdale.

Wednesday: We'll take a look at the effects of a Wal-Mart that opened in the Seattle suburb of Covington.

Technorati Tags: wal-mart walmart

PALOUSITICS EXCLUSIVE - Wal-Mart: What's Next? Part Three

This is Part Three of a series of articles that will explore what happens when a Wal-Mart Supercenter comes to town.

The information contained below is being made publicly available on the web for the first time.

I've always dreamed that one day the opponents of Wal-Mart in Pullman will make a factual argument to support their case, rather than resort to "special-interest propaganda," "symbolism over substance," "pejorative labels," and "playing on the average citizen's distrust of corporate America," as detailed by Richard Carson. I'm still waiting.

"Progressive" Amir Hassan writes in today's Summer Watermelon:

Likewise, small businesses find themselves unable to compete with Wal-Mart’s rock-bottom prices. A Pullman Supercenter will choke and kill much of our beloved local commerce.

I suppose one can't argue with a self-styled "expert" on Pullman economics who is also a Rhetoric and Composition grad student from Seattle who uses apocryphal stories and far-left websites to support his arguments. Nevertheless, let's take a look at some hard data anyway.

The Simeon Partnership, an economic and public policy consulting firm in Bainbridge Island, WA, prepared a study in 2005 of long-term economic impacts of the Wal-Mart that opened in the small coastal Washington city of Aberdeen back in 1994. The study examined impacts on local businesses, as well as tax revenue and worker wages. The brief summarizing the study can be downloaded here.

Some highlights:

“Not one business went out of business because of Wal-Mart,” says Michael Tracy. He should know. Tracy heads up the Grays Harbor Economic Development Council. His organization has tried to identify and help businesses affected by Wal-Mart’s decision to locate in Aberdeen in 1994.

“Understand,” says Tracy, “there was high unemployment at the time and businesses were going out of business right and left. But, not because of Wal-Mart.” Wal-Mart slowed the flow of people leaving Grays Harbor to do their shopping in Olympia, he says.

Aberdeen and Grays Harbor County had real gains of 13 percent and 7 percent, respectively in taxable retail sales from retail trade from 1995 through 2003.

“The threat to locally owned businesses is not Wal-Mart,” Tipton says, “it’s I-5 to Tumwater, Lacey and Portland. Wal-Mart has slowed [Aberdeen’s retail sales leakage] considerably.” When local shoppers stay in town to buy their basics at Wal-Mart, he says, they are more likely to look locally first for their other needs and to comparison shop at home, given the opportunity.

Wal-Mart captured an increasing share of a increasing retail sales base in Aberdeen and Grays Harbor County between 1995 and 2002. As Figure 3 shows, taxable retail sales from retail trade in Aberdeen and Grays Harbor County kept pace with inflation even without Wal-Mart over this period, demonstrating that Wal-Mart not only increased its market share, it helped grow the size of pie.

...the city’s revenues have grown in all categories since 1994. Sales and Use Taxes have been a good source of revenue growth – up 9 percent after inflation from 1994 through 2003 – but the big growth category for the city’s general services has been Business and Utility Taxes, which was up 16 percent after inflation. These are taxes levied by the city on various special services like water, sewer and garbage.

Adjusted for inflation, Wal-Mart’s sales tax contribution to the city grew 89 percent from 1996 to 2002. At the same time Wal-Mart’s share of city sales taxes paid doubled as its tax contributions grew well ahead of overall city sales tax growth.

Total wages in Grays Harbor County paid by stores in the general merchandise category, like Wal-Mart, grew from $4.6 million in 1993 to $6.5 million in 1994 the year Wal-Mart opened – a 39 percent increase after inflation. And, average general merchandise employment went from 345 to 477 jobs.

On average general merchandise stores in Grays Harbor County paid their employees about $13,263 annually in 1993 before Wal-Mart came to town. By 2003 this average annual wage had grown to $21,432. Even after adjusting for inflation, general merchandise workers experienced 21 percent growth in their real average wages.

Tuesday: We'll take a look at what happened over in Sequim, after much controversy in opening a Wal-Mart Supercenter there.

Technorati Tags: wal-mart walmart

Our Local Urbanistas Versus Wal-Mart

Rabid Wal-Mart hater Tom Hansen sent select Venom 2020 subscribers a link to a website containing essays by Richard Carson, a professional urban planner in Oregon. For some reason, Carson's essay titled "The Urbanistas versus Big-Box Retail" was not on Hansen's list of favorites.

Carson totally skewers all the big-box bashers like Hansen, No Super Wal-Mart, PARD, et. al.

Some great quotes:

Unfortunately, too often people blur the line between land use issues and social issues. These days big-box is intentionally being associated with "suburban sprawl". But the illusion created by special-interest propaganda is the real issue. It is not necessarily about the economic or social reality. What we really have going on is the usual symbolism over substance tactics that are typical of many anti-growth organizations. Americans believe in a free citizenry and a free market economy. However, the Urbanistas do not believe in a free market when it comes to big box retail and they want citizens to live in their urban design fantasy land. They believe Americans need to be forced to live Potemkin villages reminiscent of the movie "The Truman Show".

In order for these social engineers to attract financial supporters and sympathetic voters, they use pejorative labels like "sprawl," "big-box" or "McMansion" and "category killers". They intentional play on the average citizen's distrust of corporate American and their tendency to say "Not in my back yard" in the face of any community change.

[snip]

In my opinion, the "Urbanistas" need to start dealing with the retail reality that Main Street America literally buys into big-box retail, and dump their negative rhetoric and their unsellable political agenda. May be they should take a tip from big-box retail and actually give American citizens something they actually care about. Like a political agenda that has an actual tangible value.

Al Norman has taken that "special-interest propaganda" nationwide and makes a nice living off of it.

Read the whole thing and learn the true agenda behind our "neighborhood activists."

Technorati Tags: wal-mart walmart

Wal-Mart: What's Next? Part Two

This is Part Two of a series of articles that will explore what happens when a Wal-Mart Supercenter comes to town.

After a Wal-Mart Supercenter opens in Pullman, what will happen to other neighborhood businesses? There is plenty of evidence from all over the country. This from the June 23 Washington Post :

Wal-Mart opened its store in Landover Hills -- the first inside the Beltway -- in a storm of controversy last year bred in part by its reputation for running small businesses like Ramdass's out of the rural towns and suburbs that for decades were the retailer's breeding ground. There was concern that the so-called Wal-Mart effect would be replicated, if not magnified, once it moved into more urban areas, such as Landover Hills.

No comprehensive study has been done on Wal-Mart's impact on this stretch of Annapolis Road, the heart of this redeveloping neighborhood. But local proprietors and community leaders say the fears have not panned out. Some say the dour economy is a bigger threat than Wal-Mart. Other store owners credit Wal-Mart for boosting their sales, through both its proximity and community outreach programs.

Despite much union-inspired fear-mongering to the contrary, existing local businesses routinely manage to maintain their status quo antebellum or even increase their sales when Wal-Mart comes to town.

A study conducted by two Economics professors at West Virginia University, Russell S. Sobel and Andrea M. Dean, titled "Has Wal-Mart Buried Mom and Pop?: The Impact of Wal-Mart on Self Employment and Small Establishments in the United States" concluded:

...that the process of creative destruction unleashed by Wal-Mart has had no statistically significant long-run impact on the overall size and profitability of the small business sector in the United States.

As Landover pharamcist Anthony Ramdass states in the Post article,"Wal-Mart was just the big gorilla coming into the community. I think it's perception more than reality."

That statement sums up the intellectual bankruptcy and futility of the anti-Wal-Mart movement.

Monday: The first of several case studies from around Washington state

Technorati Tags: wal-mart walmart

Wal-Mart: What's Next? Part One

This is Part One of a series of articles that will explore what happens when a Wal-Mart Supercenter comes to town.

One of the first things that we can expect as construction nears an end is the opening of a Wal-Mart hiring center to process job applicants.

In Avon Park, FL, population 9,056, a new Supercenter is nearing completion. Highlands Today printed this story on June 25:

The temporary Wal-Mart Hiring Center had more than 2,000 jobseekers hoping to fill its 350 open positions in time for the new Supercenter's opening in August, according to one of the new Supercenter's co-managers.

Sherri Smith, who manned five other hiring centers in the Tampa Bay area, said she was "shocked" by the number of jobseekers that applied at the hiring center the past four weeks since it opened.
"It's a lot of paperwork," she said. "For being such a small town, I'm astounded in how many we're getting."

As Jason Furman, a strong supporter of Wal-Mart and Barack Obama's economic advisor wrote, a Harvard applicant has a higher chance of being accepted than a person applying for a job at that Wal-Mart.

So much for Wal-Mart being such a bad place to work.

Tomorrow: Wal-Mart and Neighborhood Businesses

Technorati Tags: wal-mart walmart

Pullman Wal-Mart Supercenter: A No-Brainer

Dnews.com commenter David (Hall of Moscow, the New York Times quotin' anti-growthnik) wrote:

Considering the downturn in the economy, forget about building more superstores until conditions are more favorable?

Sorry David. Your understanding of economics is about as shallow as it is of water.

The Tacoma News-Tribune recently reported that:

Now, looking at an almost 20 percent rise in company stock since last year, [Wal-Mart] shareholders have much to cheer about.

Shares, which had been in the doldrums for several years, are now trading close to the top of the company’s 52-week range after Wal-Mart refined the “save money, live better” campaign, begun last year, as the economy hit the brakes.

Wal-Mart has benefited as Americans, squeezed by higher gasoline and food costs, tighter credit and a slumping housing market, try to shop at cheaper stores. The company, which had been bruised by unrelenting attacks by union-backed groups, has seen criticism diminish.

What better time could there be to build a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Pullman than when food prices are skyrocketing? It is a proven fact that the opening of a Wal-Mart Supercenter saves the average family considerably on food expenditures, not just from shopping at Wal-Mart but also by forcing other grocery stores to lower their prices as well. When budgets are squeezed, even the leftists will swallow their ideology and go strolling down the aisles of Satan's Big Box of Horrors.

And the old canard of just drive over to Moscow to Wal-Mart and Winco just doesn't hold water when gas is $4.30 a gallon.

Who the economic downturn is bad for is unreflective people blindly supporting Target, like Chris Lupke. The more upscale Target's sales are down and its stock had dropped 17% since September to trade near the 52-week low.

Say What?

We felt we did win some things with the mitigations regarding traffic, but we felt they didn’t go far enough to temper the effect of a massive super center on traffic.

- Chris Lupke, "PARD to Appeal Wal-Mart Ruling," Moscow-Pullman Daily News, March 16, 2006

In fact, our challenge resulted in Wal-Mart being forced to build an additional stoplight on Bishop Blvd. at an approximate cost to them of $400,000

- Chris Lupke, comment at Dnews.com, 6/4/2008

BWHAHAHAHAHA!!! Talk about revisionist history. But as I've said before, it's too late for PARD to claim victory now.

Yep, traffic is PARD's new mantra. They are transforming before our eyes yet again (before they were fighting for the workers, the small businesses, etc.) You can see where this current tack is heading. "We won a traffic light, saved the taxpayer's money, blah, blah, blah." But did they?

As a result of the Hearing Examiner's Decision, Wal-Mart agree to an increased contribution (anywhere from 21% to 100%) for a traffic light at Grand and Fairmount that was already planned. Wal-Mart also agreed to install a traffic light at Bishop and Pro Mall Blvd. if they addded a gas station. But is Wal-Mart going to build one now at this time of historically high gas prices? No way.

$400,000, Lu Laoshi? Not quite. Yet more lies from the people who will do or say anything to stop Wal-Mart (remember the one about how city attorney Laura McAloon was on retainer?)

Technorati Tags: wal-mart walmart

Say What?

Regarding Moscow's experience with Wal-Mart [Pullman Mayor Glenn] Johnson says, "everybody else has co-existed over there." Oh really? K-Mart didn't last long. The Emporium moved into the space that Penny's created when they left and now the Emporium is gone, leaving a major hole in the Palouse Mall (along with other mall vacancies) Winco took K-Mart's space but that did in Tidyman's. Many downtown businesses such as Myklebusts and Ken's Stationery have closed.

- Tri-State owner Gerard Connelly, "HIS VIEW: Mayor's reaction to Wal-Mart naive," Moscow-Pullman Daily News, December 16, 2004

Connelly said sales at the Tri-State in Moscow jumped 43 percent the first year Wal-Mart built its store.

- David Cole, "Experts offer Wal-Mart survival tips; When Clarkston gets a super center, other retailers may need to re-evaluate their methods," Lewiston Tribune, May 6, 2008

Gerard "The Man of a Thousand Faces" Connelly's position on Wal-Mart seems to change with regard to both the audience to whom he is speaking and the proximity of one of his stores to Wal-Mart. It does make for entertaining reading.

I'm wondering, however, why Clarkston needed a forum on Wal-Mart. There's already a Wal-Mart in the L-C Valley, as well as big boxes Costco, Home Depot, K-Mart and ShopKo and mini-box "category killers" Pier One Imports, Famous Footwear, Petco, Eddie Bauer, and Ross.

Technorati Tags: wal-mart walmart

"PARD campaign intended to promote local businesses"

Back in Spring semester of 2007, I worked on a project with the PR 313 class at WSU. So did Deirdre Rogers and PARD. This sounds suspiciously like their "project," especially the part about "instructors who will assign Web site creation projects to students as part of their class work."

It's too bad Don Pelton didn't live long enough to refute this hypocritical silliness.

From Saturday's Moscow-Pullman Daily News (annontated with my comments in red):

Stores that sell high fashion aren't limited to the big city.

Nate Schafer, co-owner of Straight Up Fashions, said he likely loses customers who figure designer duds can't be found on the Palouse - let alone in downtown Pullman.

"Because of Pullman's size, people have a mentality that they have to go somewhere else to get something," he said. "There's no place in Spokane, Moscow, or Lewiston-Clarkston that you can get fashions like ours."

The 2-year-old Straight Up Fashions is an example of targeted businesses in the Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development's recently launched "Think Local First" campaign.

PARD member Christopher Lupke said the project is meant to encourage area residents to purchase goods from a small business rather than head to big-box stores like Wal-Mart.

"There's a bit of a trend toward corporatization," said Lupke. "I'm not saying we can eliminate and get away from it ... but what we really hope is that we can protect, enhance and maintain local businesses." [Corporatization. Spoken like a true leftist. I'm sure he had disdain in his voice when he said that.]

Lupke said support for small businesses will keep tax dollars in the community to boost the economy and provide jobs. Small businesses also tend to reduce environmental impacts because they generally contribute to less sprawl, are on public transportation routes and add to a vital community. [Excuse me, Lu Laoshi? Keep tax dollars in the community? Reduce environmental impacts? On public transportation routes? Contribute less to sprawl? That's why on the "Think Local First" website, PARD directs you over to Moscow if you can't find something in Pullman, as is likely, since according to the CLUE study commissioned by the No SuperWalMart group in Moscow, Pullman is underretailed in every category except dining out. In fact, they state that "we don't buy into the silly idea that Pullman and Moscow are at economic war." That's funny, because in Chris Lupke's last Town Crier column, he stated that, "Driving seven miles is not going to save any Pullmanite a penny's worth of gasoline." Not to mention it's not going to help those pesky carbon emissions. I've said before that Moscow is Pullman's automobile sprawl. Forget about the thousands of trips made daily by Pullman residents to shop in Moscow stores. How about the 3,000 or so WSU faculty members who live in Moscow and make 20 mile round trips to work every day? It's not sustainable!!!

Chris also said that the Hawkins development is a bad idea because it will "permanently situate the retail center in and near Moscow, miles from Pullman." Read on, The tortured logic and hypocrisy get worse.]

"I think everyone needs to make this decision for themselves, but the goal is to help people realize the whole picture," he said. ["Everyone needs to make this decision for themselves?" That's obviously why PARD has fought Wal-Mart every step of the way. They want to make the decision for everyone else on where they shop.]

The campaign is outlined on the Web site www.pullman-ard.org/thinklocalfirst, which touts a comprehensive list of area businesses. PARD member T.V. Reed admits there are businesses outside of Pullman promoted on the site, and ShopKo - a national chain - also is listed. [ShopKo??? Well, of course, PARD lists ShopKo, or you couldn't even buy a pair of sneakers in Pullman. But ShopKo? PARD does realize, of course, that by listing ShopKo, they invaldiate many of the arguments they make about Wal-Mart (e.g. big boxes killing Mom-and-Pop stores, proximity to schools, utilization of sweatshop made goods, selling cheap Chinese crap, making Pullman a big-box clone of a thousand other places, etc.) Not to mention the fact that ShopKo violates all the benefits of "locally owned businesses" PARD praises on its "Think Local First" website, such as "a dollar spent in a local business circulates through a community at rate 3-5 times greater than a dollar spent on a mega-retailer that goes mostly to the home office somewhere else." The bullshit here is of Augean proportions.

Noticeably absent from PARD's list are grocery stores, as Pullman has had no "local" grocery store since Jerry Finch retired. And I guess directing folks over to the Moscow Food Co-Op would have been too much hypocrisy even for PARD.]

He said the ultimate goal of the campaign is for people to shop at small, local businesses in Pullman. The next best thing would be to keep their money in the region. [How does "keeping money" in Moscow help us? Those tax dollars are gone forever, headed off to Boise. We in Pullman get absolutely no benefit from shopping in Moscow at all. Better that PARD tell people to shop in Spokane or Clarkston, as at least we may get a tiny return on our sales tax.]

"The reason we called it 'Think Local First' instead of 'Shop Pullman' is because we recognize that not everyone can find what they want in a small town like Pullman," he said.

The campaign also includes free Web site development for businesses who want to increase their customer base. Reed said PARD has coordinated with several WSU instructors who will assign Web site creation projects to students as part of their class work.

WSU students will be the primary targets for the campaign, Reed said. He believes many students are not familiar with vendors in Pullman because they don't frequent areas off-campus. The students - who account for a large percent of Pullman's population - also likely are more familiar with businesses in their hometown, where they may shop during school breaks.

"They're not as aware of what is local and they are by far the most potential market and the least developed market," Reed said.

Fritz Hughes, executive director of the Pullman Chamber of Commerce, applauds PARD's efforts. He said the chamber does have several shop-local campaigns throughout the year and added that PARD's project won't interfere but may in fact help reinforce the idea.

"Anything that promotes shopping locally, the chamber is behind," he said. "Shout it from the rooftops. Anything to get the word out there is good." [Fritz, by the way, has worked tirelessly to bring Wal-Mart to Pullman. He believes, as do the vast majority of Pullman business leaders, that we need a mix of national and local retailers for a healthy economy.]

Schafer also praises PARD's efforts to support local businesses - especially via the Internet.

"Everything is Internet-based. These kids are so computer savvy. Anything you can do Internet-wise is going to be beneficial. It's a huge tool and it's a successful tool," he said. The official Straight Up Fashions Web site will be online soon to provide high fashion to customers worldwide. [Nothing against having web sites for local stores, but that won't solve Pullman's sales leakage problem.]

Leslie O'Dell, owner of At Home Designs, a custom frame shop on Main Street, wasn't aware of PARD's campaign but said shopping locally should be a consumer's first instinct.

"We are the people of the community; that's what people should do," she said. "People should support small business."

Reed isn't surprised some business owners weren't aware of PARD's project. He said the first step of the campaign was to launch the Web site. The next step will include fliers and advertisements, and the group then will gauge the campaign's effectiveness by talking with local business owners.

"It's not centered around the businesses," Reed said. "They're not helping us. We're doing this for them." [That's the one thing in this article I believe. Dale Hammerly and our own April Coggins, both of whom have been attacked publicly by PARD, have their businesses listed (Jerry's Auto Repair is conspicuously missing. Hard feelings still I guess.) There are several other businesses listed whose owners are no fans at all of PARD either. I have a feeling that the list will grow somewhat shorter in the next few weeks.]

O'Dell said she's appreciative of the free advertising, but isn't sure she wants customers to associate her with PARD's longstanding opposition to a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter in Pullman. She has mixed feelings about the retail giant potentially locating on Bishop Boulevard and doesn't want her business to suffer if customers see her name on a PARD Web site.

"Being listed on that, maybe they'll connect me with that," she said. PARD was formed several years ago to appeal the store's environmental checklist and traffic studies. The appeal still is pending. [I said this in an open letter to TV Reed almost two three years ago. By pushing this Wal-Mart issue so aggressively and by continuing their costly legal appeals when there is no further point, PARD has burned their bridges with the community. Even if this wasn't a anti-Wal-Mart smoke screen (it is) and the "Think Local First" effort was being conducted for the best of reasons, it doesn't matter. PARD has destroyed any political capital they may have once had. They are too hated and too controversial to be effective at doing anything in Pullman.]

Reed said the local campaign is not related to PARD's protest of Wal-Mart locating in Pullman per se, but mirrors efforts nationwide to encourage consumers to buy goods from small businesses in their communities. The time is right to spread the word about the benefits of keeping dollars local. [Per se, that's baloney. This campaign is right out of the Wal-Mart Haters handbook: "Step #6 Present An Alternative"

On their "Think Local First" web site, PARD says, "try a local small business first, if they can't meet your needs, then try a Pullman-based national chain, or a Moscow independent business." Well, I think we all know what non-independent Moscow business they don't want you to go to, and the initials are WM. Come on.

Speaking of the "Think Local First" web site, it is located on the PARD web site. I'm sure they are hoping that people who visit there will look around at the anti-Wal-Mart propaganda elsewhere on the site. It's just a publicity gimmick. If PARD truly had wanted this effort to be separate from their Wal-Mart bashing they would have used a separate domain name. Domain names are very inexpensive to purchase.]

"It's long overdue," Reed said. "I hope the whole community will get behind this." [I'm sure they will TV, just like your "affordable housing" campaign.]

Technorati Tags: wal-mart walmart

"Real Katrina hero? Wal-Mart, study says"

According to ConsumerAffairs.com, a new study has shown that in an emergency, you can expect more help from your local Wal-Mart than the federal government.

We can a find better neighbor, right PARDners?

Empowered to 'do the right thing,' employees gave away supplies and offered sleeping space after the 2005 hurricane. Local knowledge allowed big-box retailers to respond before FEMA could.

Hurricane season is just around the corner, so Americans should know where to turn to if disaster strikes.

It's not the Federal Emergency Management Agency. A new study suggests Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Lowe's would be a lot more helpful.

The study, by Steven Horwitz, a professor of economics at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y., stresses that successful disaster relief depends upon responders having detailed knowledge of a local area and the right incentives to act on that knowledge.

Examining federal and private responses to Hurricane Katrina, the study says why FEMA was destined to fail and why for-profit companies succeeded at disaster recovery.

It also looks at the Coast Guard -- the only federal agency lauded for its Katrina performance -- which rescued more than 24,000 people in the two weeks after the storm.

Local knowledge critical
The study says Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Lowe's made use of their local knowledge about supply chains, infrastructure, decision makers and other resources to provide emergency supplies and reopen stores well before FEMA began its response. Local knowledge enabled the big-box stores to make plans ahead of the storm and then put them into effect immediately.

"Profit-seeking firms beat most of the government to the scene and provided more effectively the supplies needed for the immediate survival of a population cut off from life's most basic necessities," Horwitz wrote in the study, which was published by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. "Though numerous private-sector firms played important roles in the relief operations, Wal-Mart stood out."

Also, Wal-Mart leadership gave tremendous discretion to store managers and employees to make decisions rather than waiting for instructions from upper-level management, allowing for more-agile disaster response. CEO Lee Scott passed down a guiding edict to regional, district and store managers: "A lot of you are going to have to make decisions above your level. Make the best decision that you can with the information that's available to you at the time, and, above all, do the right thing."

The report calls out several examples of that principle in action:

A Kenner, La., employee used a forklift to knock open a warehouse door to get water for a retirement home.

In Marrero, La., employees allowed police officers to use the store as a headquarters and a sleeping place, as many had lost their homes.

In Waveland, Miss., assistant manager Jessica Lewis ran a bulldozer through her store to collect basics that were not water-damaged, which she then piled in the parking lot and gave away to residents. She also broke into the store's locked pharmacy to supply critical drugs to a hospital.

Freedom to act
Horwitz said the Coast Guard also places a strong emphasis on local knowledge. A flat organizational structure and unique agency culture allow for subordinate officers to alter the plans for a specific operation so long as they follow the commander's intent.

The Coast Guard's experience with search-and-rescue operations and marine work, and its division by geographic area, provide greater expertise for disaster response, Horwitz said.

He also examined the conventional wisdom that businesses take advantage of disasters through price-gouging and other unsavory business practices.

Though some price-gouging does occur during disasters, Horwitz's report details how Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Lowe's sent truckloads of free supplies to the hardest-hit areas in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He noted that's good public relations, of course, to help build long-term customer loyalty.

"Disaster response happens at the local level," Horwitz said. "FEMA is not local to anyone except people who live in Washington, D.C."

As usual, the free market solution is always the better one.

HT: Mike D.

Technorati Tags: wal-mart walmart

"Competition from Wal-Mart lowers prices at local retailers"

This is another story about one of those "no-duh" studies. University of Massachusetts researchers have found that Wal-Mart supercenters affect the prices of conventional supermarkets located within a five-mile radius, resulting in lower prices for consumer goods.

And of all places, I found this story at the Wal-Mart Watch website! According to the UMass Daily Collegian:

Lavoie said that from the results, she could conclude that "families that shop exclusively at supermarkets within five miles of a Supercenter can expect to save between $37 and $104 per person each year, since Wal-Mart will cause these stores to lower their prices."

Families that shop exclusively at Supercenters "can save $88 to $223 per person," Lavoie said.

For towns and cities that do not have a Supercenter nearby, the supermarket prices did not lower in response to the competition. Shoppers who are willing to travel away from these towns and cities to Supercenters can expect to save from $186 to $298 per person each year.

Plans for a Wal-Mart Supercenter near the UMass campus recently fell through. So, insert brainwashed co-ed comment here:

"I try my hardest to avoid shopping at Wal-Mart and giving them business, because I know now how evil of a company it is and I do not want to support that."

Obviously the writers of the Collegian are not like the writers at the Watermelon, as they conclude:

Although it is a fact that some students would rather support local businesses that shop at big chains, it is also a fact that individuals and families can save money if they shop at Wal-Mart.

Refreshing. Thanks Wal-Mart Watch!Technorati Tags: wal-mart walmart

"What Wal-Mart Gets and the Candidates Don't"

Terrific op-ed from the Washington Post from Sunday a week ago. Warren Brown, self-admitted union man, explains it to the elitists like Obama, Clinton, and the PARDners. It's not about globalism, offshoring, or union-busting. The average person doesn't think about politics when they shop. I made this point last week. It's about being able to buy quality goods at the lowest price. Period.

I wish to say at the outset that I hold no grudges against Wal-Mart. In fact, my family and I are rather fond of that giant retail chain, where we often find the best prices, especially on pharmaceuticals.

It is an odd thing to admit. Many in our clan, including yours truly, hold union memberships. Politically, with me being the sore-thumb exception, we run from left to leftist. Yet, regardless of politics or union affiliation, when it comes to searching for the best quality at the most reasonable prices, Wal-Mart is one of the places we look first.

As I said, this is odd, almost embarrassing. Wal-Mart is no friend of unions. Wal-Mart is one of those American retailers keeping foreign factories humming and foreign workers employed. Viewed from that perspective and in context with the current political debate on international trade, Wal-Mart is something of a bad actor, one of those companies supposedly putting people out of jobs in places such as Ohio.

Poor Ohio. It has become one of the rustiest parts of the Rust Belt. It has lost tens of thousands of jobs, largely in the automotive and related industries, and it has shed nearly 200,000 residents over the past couple of decades.

In last week's titanic Democratic presidential primary battle, Ohio, one of the most unionized states in the nation, was made the prime example of what happens in America when international trade supposedly runs amok.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), the victor in that contest, rose to electoral glory on promises that she would fix what is wrong with international trade, that she would somehow find a way to reverse job losses allegedly caused by contracts such as the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who was made to look a bit wishy-washy on the free trade issue, largely lost Ohio as a result.

But here's suggesting that none of us should take seriously anything that politicians, Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, have to say against NAFTA in particular or international trade in general. The reason is simple: They neither understand Wal-Mart nor do they routinely shop there.

Consider Ohio: Wal-Mart is one of the largest employers and biggest taxpayers in the state. As of March 2007, there were 99 Wal-Mart Supercenter stores in the Ohio, 38 Wal-Mart discount stores, 30 Wal-Mart Sam's Clubs and five Wal-Mart regional distribution centers.

In Ohio state sales taxes alone, the company paid $410.2 million in 2007. In other state and local taxes, it paid $82.4 million.

All of those Wal-Mart facilities and the money they generated were supported by one phenomenon: consumers, union and nonunion, employed by and laid off by domestic car companies and other manufacturing entities, seeking the highest quality products at the very best prices.

If Wal-Mart could not meet that essential consumer demand, it would not exist in Ohio or anywhere else. It certainly would not be the formidable retailer it is today.

What does that mean for the current political debate on international trade? Simply this: As long as politicians continue to ignore the Wal-Mart phenomenon, the consumer-driven reality of international trade, they are being dishonest. They are blowing smoke.

The truth is as simple as it is harsh. Automotive and other industrial jobs lost in Ohio are not coming back, certainly not the way they were, because the same consumers who shop at Wal-Mart stores in Ohio and everywhere else there is a Wal-Mart store are not willing to pay for those jobs and the products they represent.

Look at it this way: If I buy enough Honda cars made at the lower cost, nonunion Honda plant in Marysville, Ohio, I'm putting pressure on my union buddies at the higher-cost General Motors, Ford and Chrysler plants to offer me equal or better products at prices equal to or better than those offered by Honda.

I might drink with my union buddies. I might tailgate with them. I might even join them in shouting "hooray" for Clinton or Obama. But if they can't give me the car I want at the price I demand, I'm buying that nonunion Honda. If that means GM, Ford and Chrysler plants close, I'm sorry about that and all that means for my friends who will lose their jobs.

But they should have found a way to give me what I was willing to pay for. They should have understood why so many of us shop at Wal-Mart.

Technorati Tags: wal-mart walmart

Pullman Enemy #1

KLEW TV has more on the Moscow Civic Association forum on the Hawkins water deal, and you won't believe what Tri-State owner Gerard Connelly had to say.

Connelly said he supports the "pro-business" makeup of the new council, but said there's a difference between economic expansion and retail displacement. He used the proposed Wal-Mart supercenter in Pullman as an example.

"Currently, in Pullman, they think that when Wal-Mart opens a 100,000 square-foot grocery store there that people are going to eat more food. They're not," he said. "Nationally, when Wal-Mart opens up a 100,000 square-foot grocery store, two grocery stores in that market go out of business. Nationally, for every two people that Wal-Mart employs when they open up, three people lose their jobs. That's not a matter of philosophy, it's a matter of record."

Bullshit. "That whole 2 stores closing for each Wal-Mart and 2 Wal-Mart employees for 3 losing their jobs" argument is a bunch of weak, unsupported lies right off the Wake-Up Wal-Mart website. If Safeway was so concerned about Wal-Mart closing them down, why in the hell did they just do a very expensive remodel of their Pullman store? And there are only two grocery stores in Pullman to begin with. Does anyone seriously believe that Wal-Mart would shut both of them down and leave only one grocery store in a city of 27,000 people? That's ridiculous.

Again, I know Connelly has been too successful in business to believe that we think that "when Wal-Mart opens a 100,000 square-foot grocery store there that people are going to eat more food." What we believe is that THOUSANDS OF PULLMAN RESIDENTS THAT CURRENTLY SHOP AT WAL-MART AND WINCO IN MOSCOW FOR BUDGET GOODS AND GROCERIES WILL START SHOPPING AT WAL-MART IN PULLMAN INSTEAD. Certainly all the Pullman developers believe that, as evidenced by new and planned construction in and around Bishop Blvd. Connelly knows that. That's why he is only against a Pullman Wal-Mart, not a Moscow one.

Then Connelly mentioned SEL:

Connelly said Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories in Pullman is a good example of economic development, because SEL continues to adds jobs without displacing any current businesses

HELLO, GERARD????!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU'RE RIGHT. SEL HAS ADDED JOBS AND PEOPLE TO THE AREA. IT HAS BROUGHT SOME 1,100 JOBS TO THE PALOUSE. MANY OF THOSE EMPLOYEES AND THEIR FAMILIES ARE NEW TO THE PALOUSE, ABOUT HALF OF WHOM HAVE LOCATED IN PULLMAN, LIKE MYSELF. WE'RE NOT GOING TO EAT MORE FOOD. THERE ARE MORE MOUTHS TO FEED. DO YOU NOT GET THAT???? DID NO ONE PICKUP ON THIS PIECE OF ILLOGIC??? And SEL does cause business displacement, just not in Pullman. Every company that buys SEL relays costs some other relay maker a sale. Eventually, that might result in that other company having to lay off employees or even close. That is the nature of business. There are winners and there are losers. Unbelievable.

And WTF is Connelly doing going off on Pullman and Wal-Mart at a forum ostensibly about the Moscow City Council's decision to sell water to a developer in Whitman County. Neither Pullman and Wal-Mart fit into that equation at all.

I've always disagreed with attempts at boycotting local businesses to express dissatisfaction with the owner, but I'm starting to consider it.