are you against this what are your arguments?

Question

They are hardworking residents who have struggled to keep their small businesses open. They feel that the Walmart Superstore, which includes a fully stocked food market and a discount mega-store will take them out of business. They also feel that the city should be supporting community economics development and self-sufficiency.

Answer 1

This is a common problem in North America, large box stores move in and the neighbourhood businesses struggle to survive.
The typical response from everyone is what is the local government doing to support the small business environment?

Community economics starts with you in the area of town that you live in, it is a micro economy feeding the larger economy of the city, county and state.

As a consumer it is you who votes with your wallet, you who makes the conscious decision of where to spend your money.
If you continue to support the local businesses you will pay a higher price, but in return you will keep local entrepreneurs who have risked their life savings to provide a service to the community they live and work in.

This brings diversity to your local community and chances are they have also raised children in the community who have attended the local schools and donated to local community events. This is the living history of your community and the landmarks that you will fondly recall about your youth as you move away and return for visits.

This is in essence, the history of your community, the establishing of your community and it's growth to the point where a large box store like walmat will take advantage of the hard work done by others with the pursuit of employment and low prices.

What people need to do is pass on the convience of everything under one roof and support the people who have businesses and homes in the community, and most importantly, employ and spend their money in the community and not remove the profits to some corporate head office where all the community represents is a better bottom line.

Loosing such enterprises is not only a loss for the community, it is also a loss of that little piece of Americana that makes our communities so special.

Peace

Answer 2

Tough question. I work for a small business and we find that many times WalMart can sell a product for less than what we can buy it for wholesale. There's no way to compete against that. What we have found is that we carry things that WalMart does not. And there are a lot of things that WalMart has that is not their "power sellers" that we sell cheaper with our full markup. Competition with WalMart is possible. It takes some research and creativity, but it can be done.

Another thing to remember is that if WalMart is looking to come into your area, and the city keeps them from doing so, they will find a place close by and people will drive out of your town to WalMart, and probably do other shopping as well in a neighboring town. I saw this happen in a small town I was living in a few years back. The town now has almost nothing to offer it's citizens and they lost all the revenue (from B & O taxes, etc..) by keeping WalMart out. It's a sad situation.

So, the big coporations kind of puts the community between a rock and a hard place. Small business is what makes up the majority of businesses in America. So, I say hang tough and compete any way you can.

Answer 3

that's a mixed bag, on the one front, Sam Walton started "wal-mart" such as other well meaning small biz owners, but he grew the business, and then the others who have taken over continue to grow the business.

While some people are quite happy being a small/(to medium) business there are others out there who do want more etc.

While I never shop at Wal-Mart b/c the bulk of their client el are low-income, low-class, and just plain yucky looking, I cannot fault Wal-Mart for the service they do offer that clientelle. (it at least keeps them out of the stores I DO want to shop in).

the reality is if you disagree with what a company is doing, then dont give them your money, you can do more w/ your greenbacks then any govt can do w/ restrictions and limitations. It is almost to the point that unions are losing their ability to enact change as their own memberships are down alot.

I am for companies that grow up and make money etc.b/c after all that is part of the american dream, I am however not a fan of Wally-World b/c it caters to low class vermin..

Answer 4

When u r retired and on a limited budget, it makes it easier to have Walmart around. They beat everyone's price and that's what matters to me.

The small business owners can carry different brand products that Walmart doesn't.