Walmart: Is It Possible To Drive Far?

Walmart-Stores Inc. (2012). Shoppers Spending $100 a Week Could Save An Average $700+ A Year on Similar Packaged Groceries at Walmart. Retrieved from http://news.walmart.com/news-archive/2008/09/12/shoppers-spending-100-a-week-could-save-an-average-700-a-year-on-similar-packaged-groceries-at-walmart.

Is Wal-mart the ideal store to shop it? Austrian economic and business professional Karen De Coster and banker Brad Edmonds believe that Wal-mart improves the lives of people in rural areas because it gives them access to a lifestyle that they would not have if Wal-mart did not exist.

From a functionalist perspective, Walmart offers low prices on many everyday items, all under one roof, which our convenience first society makes a top priority. We know that a trip to Walmart will also, many times, offer us the opportunity to socialize with one we seldom see or talk to; everyone shops at Walmart after all. Unfortunately, this bigger is better mentality often times means small business owners can no longer compete and local businesses close; they simply cannot compete with selection or volume buying power. Let us not forget the guilty

Wal-Mart has opened Neighborhood Stores in several communities and the prices are higher than Dollar General and the regular Wal-Mart stores. Sometimes bigger is not better. You get what you pay for and convenience is the main product for me. Unless I am looking to purchase a high dollar item or a major appliance, Dollar General Store in the first place that cross my mind. I cannot remember what item I last purchased at Wal-Mart or

Although many may think of Wal-Mart has many good aspects, it also has its flaws. Wal-Mart’s low wages, cause for closing business, jobs that were taken away, and lack of union support.

A fundamental point of economics; trade happens because both parties know they’re getting the better deal. This drives the decisions of everyday consumers when they take part economically. When people make these decisions at Walmart it is good for America because they pay well, competition isn’t necessary, and globalization helps everyone.

Not only Wal-Mart is saving money for consumers, Wal-Mart creates jobs, improve economic conditions and overall improve the areas in where they operate. Wal-Mart usually open in rural and down trotted areas. A perfect example is Carol Foote. She and her friend Paula Beaulieu started a petition to open a

Would you like it if your neighborhood slowly fell into ruin? Walmart and other big box stores destroy neighborhoods and should be banned. First of all, big box stores are bad for local business owners. Specialty stores lose customers, because of the convenience and a wide selection of products, people tend to shop there instead. For example, many butcher shops shut down, because Walmart has its own meat Section. In addition, having a big box store built in your area can change your daily life. They bring in more traffic and noise, clogging up the roads you usually take, and exchanging the chirping of birds for honking car horns. Dan Freeman, lives on Bleaker Street, had a store built in the area recently and he says, "its changed so much".

I cannot emphasize enough saying there is more WalMarts than needed in many cities but not only that, thanks to all the power they have

Beginning with the cons, Walmart has been known for having low pay and unpredictable work schedules for their employees. Employees have held numerous protests regarding these issues about labor policy. The workers are being paid too little to afford to live at their accustomed lifestyle (low-class, middle-class, or high-class as discussed about in lecture). Additionally, the unpredictable work schedules often require employees to constantly work overtime, start early in the morning, or create difficulties with life outside of work (such as making an appointment). Alongside those issues, the most known problem about Walmart is that local businesses tend to close when a Walmart gets built in an urban area. Local businesses simply can’t compete with Walmart in the marketplace

Wal-Mart is a producer who has the sole purpose of promoting consumption of the consumer. Wal-Mart and its quest for capital improvement are playing a major and vital role in the evolution of economic life. Wal-Mart brings positive change to towns in the U.S. They increase competition between retailers, stimulating the economy, and they also bring more capital and tax revenue to at town, some of which desperately need a positive change.

As you may have noticed by now, Wal-Mart has wiped out all/any small or family businesses when they first open in a small town/city. Take Lacombe, Alberta for an example. Lacombe is ranked with the #1 spot in all of Canada to have the best downtown. The whole reason for this is because Lacombe does not have any business like Wal-Mart, Canadian Tire, or Costco etc to wipe out any smaller

Not only does Walmart directly affect the economical situation of your community, it also puts significant strain upon the environment we live and depend on. In October of 2004, North America sued Walmart for violating the Clean Water Act CWA in nine states, causing a huge uproar both from the defensive Walmart corporation and more so from the targeted communities. Relying upon a communities oblivion, Walmart takes advantage of the situation in which it's presented, posing a threat to all nearby water supplies because of all the toxins and pesticides literally oozing from Walmart facilities worldwide. Much more costly towards the environment than the tinkling of spare change resounding in our pockets. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that a single Walmart location expends countless amounts of energy to maintain,

In a typical Walmart store one can get a prescription filled, get their car serviced, buy school supplies, garden supplies, clothes, electronics, etc., and even do their grocery shopping.

Some may claim a Walmarts’ arrival in a community is helpful to improve the growth and development in the community, but others tell a different story. Many claim that a Walmart is great way to create new jobs in the community. They are partially right, between construction and development, plenty of jobs are created. Also, about 300 retail jobs are created based on the amount needed to run a Walmart super center twenty fours a day, seven days a week. However, Kenneth Stone, a professor of economics at Iowa State University, conducted a study in which two Super Walmart centers in two different states were evaluated. The study lasted about two years and showed that for every one job Walmart had created, 1.4 jobs were lost in local communities (Davidson 1). Walmarts’ low prices come with additional costs that we are