Derek Martin wrote:
If walmart moves into a town predominated by little shops, and they all can't compete with walmart (and rest assured they can't), then the owners of those shops will have to close down, and go get jobs at walmart. Their incomes will likely be reduced by between 50 and 75 percent, and along with it their disposable incomes will be drastically reduced, meaning they have almost no money to spend on things besides basic necessities.
Ironically, the average price of goods is *not* less at Wal-Mart than at pre-existing stores. I read an article on it a couple years ago -- Wal-Mart specifically marks down the goods that are sold at the local stores, in an attempt to put them out of business, since the chain-owned store can operate at a loss until those stores are gone. Once they're gone, the new Wal-Mart then re-adjusts the prices, often to become even *higher* than they were originally, so the consumer just ends up getting the shaft.
Also, next time you walk through your local Wal-Mart, note how the amazing prices are all on the end-caps of the aisles and the attention-grabbing product stands in the middle of the "main" aisles. Once you get deep into the store, you'll find that the average price of a Wal-Mart item is not any better than the average price of an item at any other store.
Erik
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