Whether you think Tucson needs another Walmart like we all need another hole in the head, we may be getting one anyway.
After a judge’s decision this week, Walmart is getting ready to hone in on El Con Mall. Demolition of the structure that once housed Levy’s, then Macy’s, has already begun, as has the outrage about another Walmart coming to town.
To be fair, there are only a dozen or so Walmart locations in the Tucson area. The retail giant still has a long way to go to match the 140-plus used-car dealerships in the area.
Certainly, one more Walmart couldn’t mess things up too bad—or could it?
Surrounding midtown neighborhood residents certainly think so, with five historic ‘hoods opposing the store’s proposed location. The biggest complaints on their list are that the behemoth would have only a single entrance, which would face nearby homes; that it would be open 24/7; and that it would sell booze until 2 a.m. and guns and ammo until 10 p.m.
Perhaps the only folks who would not oppose such unattractive conditions in their own backyard are those who like to get drunk, shoot things and tend to run out of bullets at 9:59 p.m.
The anti-Walmart sentiments include rumors that, even if untrue, are vile enough to pump terror through our veins. Some have cried that installing a Walmart in a particular area turns the entire neighborhood to, well, shit. Complaints include fears of higher crime rates, messy parking lots and shopping carts deposited at nearby intersections, bus stops and front-yard flower gardens.
Tucson police crime statistics for the past six months show 29 incidents near the Walmart Neighborhood Market at Grant Road and Alvernon Way, and 13 incidents near the store at Wetmore Road and First Avenue. None of them involve shopping carts or flower gardens. And some appear to have no relation to Walmart at all.
Or do they? Too many questions arise. We have to wonder, if a store other than Walmart were in the area, if the stats would be higher or lower. We also have to wonder if a high-crime area that includes a Walmart was high-crime to begin with, or became that way after the big “W” moved in.
Then we have the murmurs about employee abuse. Walmart supposedly mistreats its employees. But customers do the same.
A 71-year-old Walmart greeter was allegedly choked by two Ohio women. An 80-year-old greeter in Los Angeles was clocked in the head with a liquor bottle by an alleged shoplifter. Both involved greeters who had asked to see the customers’ receipts.
And we can’t forget the photos of certain Walmart shoppers. Unless you live sans computer, you’ve probably seen the photos depicting Walmart customers from across the nation. Without getting into too much detail, suffice it to say many of these customers have exposed butt cheeks.
Despite the moans, groans and saggy butt cheeks, Walmart continues to thrive in America and beyond. Walmart founders Bud and Sam Walton helped build the family fortune to a staggering $93 billion, Forbes reports, making the Waltons the richest family in the world.
Why the massive chain continues to enjoy massive success comes from the bottom line: Walmart has some of the cheapest prices around.
No matter how loudly or vehemently you may oppose a Walmart in any way, shape or location, plenty of people will continue to shop there. And shop there again. And again.
Unless people figure out that the only way to stop more Walmarts is to stop buying from the company, new stores will continue to take over our towns. And with more exposed butt cheeks right along with them.
This article appears in Jul 12-18, 2012.
Walmart’s genius move was to beat into everyone’s heads that their prices are the lowest. Seemingly everything written about them, be it positive or negative, mentions that they have low, low prices–it’s simply taken as fact. That’s why people who are morally, ethically, or fashionably opposed to the company shop there anyway. The thinking goes: if they shut down stores to stop unions, if they pay their employees so poorly they have to be on food stamps and AHCCCS, if they squeeze profit margins on suppliers to the breaking point, if they wring huge tax breaks out of municipalities, if they kill off smaller competitors in each town they expand into, then that MUST mean they have the best prices!
Walmart has mastered marketing to the point that the message that drives their business is self-perpetuating, because it comes from fans and critics alike. They’re not insanely profitable because their prices are the lowest, they’re insanely profitable because people think they’re the lowest.
In short: ARGH
I agree that lower price myth is just that. I have comparison-shopped the Wal-Mart and the Safeway in Benson. The Wal-Mart store is only pennies cheaper on most grocery items. That is not enough to make up for the inconvenience of all the walking across the huge parking lot and all the extra hiking in the store. Not to mention the “greeters” who want to check your receipt. I am so glad Safeway stayed open in Benson. Where there is no competition to Wal-Mart, there are no bargains.
Let those who have never shopped at Walmart for whatever reason throw the first stone, including the author of this piece. My OTC allergy pills are always much cheaper there, so I’m not going to throw any. And I like the $5 DVD bins.
The only way Walmart will ever go away is if people stop shopping there and that ain’t happening anytime soon. Don’t like it? Don’t shop there. Don’t want it moving into a neighborhood? Speak up where it counts, at the council meetings. Carping about it after the fact is not only unproductive, it’s unimaginative.
In Benson, only city residents were allowed to vote on a referendum, not anyone else in the county that was also impacted. Wal-Mart is well practiced at getting their support lined up going in. Recent revelations of bribes paid in Mexico come to mind.
I hate Walmart because of their business practices. The beat down their suppliers to the point that some become so dependent on Walmart that they go out of business if Walmart can buy it a few pennies cheaper elsewhere.
In one of his books, Sam Walton said don’t be afraid to hold a gun to your suppliers head and don’t be afraid to pull the trigger. How’s that for encouraging suppliers to cut their profit until they go out of business?
At one time, Walmart actually drove the last American company making consumer electronics in the USA out of business because they couldn’t lower their profit margin on television sets by another 50 cents per unit. Walmart went overseas and because they were the electronics manufactures biggest customer, they closed and another 400 Americans lost their jobs.
Do some comparison shopping and you will find that many if not most of the things Walmart carries are just as cheap at other retailers.
To me, their whole business plan seems monopolistic and designed to drive all competition out of business. Then when there is no competition, you are at their mercy.
Sorry guys, we need another Walmart like we need Sams proverbial gun held to our head.
The whole artical is immature. Busy POPULAR business generate activity and garbage. If the point was people will always go where their junk is cheaper, that could have been said in one sentence. What do buttocks have to do with anything?