Even wanted to know what it is like to live near a new Walmart store as it's being developed? Well today is your lucky day! This blog, ENDURING THE NEW HURRICANE WALMART: A Daily Diary Of What It's Like To Have A Massive Supercenter Built In A Formerly Quiet Neighborhood, from a local West Virginia news site is an ongoing first hand account of just that.

Here's just a sample of what you would be in for if Walmart decided to move in to your backyard:

A beautiful tree-covered hill and a quiet Hurricane neighborhood have been destroyed in order to build the new Walmart and Hurricane Marketplace.

Neighbors, including me,
are being subjected to
loud noise that I can hear inside my home with the windows closed, bright lights shining in my bedroom window before sunrise, and several cases of our water being cut off.

Greedy city and county officials looking to grab more property and Business and Occupancy taxes are refusing to enforce city and state noise ordinances, and are also refusing to buy out the homeowners that are living next to the construction site.

Hurricane City Manager Benjamin Newhouse, and Cleveland Construction Supervisor David Koon have both demanded that homeowners move if we don't like the noise. However neither is willing to cut a check for our homes.

The Putnam County Development Authority, which created this mess, refuses to buy us out and develop our land.

Has anyone else had an experience like this? Did Walmart bring excessive noise, traffic, crime, or pollution to your neighborhood, as they so often do?

This piece originally appeared at The Huffington Post:

More bad headlines for Wal-Mart, the sexist employer. The company was nailed again by its own employees--this time in Kentucky.

In Wal-Mart's Annual Report to shareholders there is a two page note simply called "Legal Proceedings." In it, the company summarizes "a number of legal proceedings" which, "if adversely decided...may result in liability material to the Company's financial condition or results of operations." In addition to the well-known collection of wage and hour 'off the clock' class action lawsuits, are the gender discrimination lawsuits, including the massive Dukes v. Wal-Mart case which began 9 years ago. Damages sought by the women in the Dukes case could be so large that Wal-Mart admits, "the Company cannot reasonably estimate the possible loss or range of loss that may arise from the litigation."

Less well known is another lawsuit that was originally filed in the summer of 2001, just two months after the Dukes case. This case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. The lawsuit, EEOC (Janice Smith) v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. was brought by the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of Janice Smith and all other women who made application or transfer requests since 1995 at the Wal-Mart distribution center in London, Kentucky, and were not hired or transferred into the warehouse positions for which they applied.

The EEOC sought backpay for these women not selected for hire or transfer, and injunctive relief. According to Wal-Mart, the Kentucky complaint charges that the retailer based its hiring decisions on gender---which is a violation of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights act. Wal-Mart told his investors that it could not "reasonably estimate the possible loss or range of loss that may arise from this litigation."

But this week the EEOC helped quantify that loss. The federal agency announced that Wal-Mart had agreed to pay $11.7 million in back wages and compensatory damages, plus its share of employer taxes, and up as much as $250,000 in administration fees.

According to the EEOC, Walmart's London Distribution Center denied jobs to female applicants from 1998 through February 2005. Wal-Mart hired male entry-level applicants for warehouse positions---but excluded female applicants who were equally or better qualified. Wal-Mart routinely would tell female applicants that order filling positions were not "suitable" for women, and that they hired mostly 18- to 25-year-old men for these positions.

Continue reading "Wal-Mart Exposed For "Outdated and Sexist" Hiring Practices"

I just read this post, Walmart to Chileans - "We Can Only Spare A Dime" from John Perkins, author of Hoodwinked over at the The Huffington Post and thought it was interesting, and poignant, enough to share here. Check it out:

Walmart to Chileans - "We Can Only Spare A Dime"

"They used to tell me I was building a dream, and so I followed the mob,
When there was earth to plow, or guns to bear, I was always there right on the job.
They used to tell me I was building a dream, with peace and glory ahead,
Why should I be standing in line, just waiting for bread?"
(Yip Harburg, lyrics, "Brother Can You Spare A Dime")

My prayers go out to the Chilean people during this time of crisis. I also feel it's incredibly important in light of Walmart's announcement yesterday that they would be donating a million dollars in aid, to provide some perspective on this "corporatocracy" in action.

On January 23, 2009, barely a year and a half ago Walmart's press release touted "Walmart Confims Successful Tender Offer for D&S - Investment provides major foothold in key South American market." While most North Americans, financial analysts and journalists did not take note of this announcement, those of us tired of being "hoodwinked" certainly did.

D&S at the time of the acquisition was Chile's largest food retailer. Walmart's Executive vice president and CEO of the Americas, Craig Herkert said, "Partnering with D&S, with its strong brands, and its position as Chile's largest food retailer, is an important step in implementing Walmart's international strategy. We continue to focus on portfolio optimization, global leverage and winning in every market."

Walmart, because of this acquisition, now owns 58.2 percent of the issued and outstanding shares of D&S, while the Chilean owners now only hold 40.1 percent, with the remainder 1.7 percent being held by the public.

In both my books, HOODWINKED and THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE, I've noted Walmart as a one of the companies that has avoided a true commitment to environmentally or socially responsible operations.

Walmart, Monsanto, De Beers, Exxon Mobile, Adidas, Ford, and GE are just some of the companies that exploit labor forces and destroy the environment in the name of enhancing their "portfolio optimization, global leverage" and greed-driven bottom lines.

When I read the announcement of Walmart pledging an initial one million dollars to aid grief-stricken Chile on Saturday, I could not help recalling the lyrics of Brother Can You Spare A Dime. Written in 1931, today it continues to herald the great failure of the predatory form of capitalism I write about in HOODWINKED.

Continue reading "John Perkins on Walmart's Donation to Chile"

Check out this piece from the Oakland Tribune on our kickoff event for our week of action:

The sick-leave policy of the world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., is putting the public at risk because workers are not paid the first day they take off for an illness, even if it is a serious contagious disease, according to members of several unions and labor watchdog groups.

The policy of docking pay on the first day of an illness, they said, ignores government recommendations to let H1N1 victims stay home without being penalized.

"Wal-Mart workers are coming to work sick," said Jenya Cassidy, of the Labor Project for Working Families, during a rally Wednesday organized by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 5, and Wake Up Wal-Mart.

"Everybody gets sick, but not everyone can afford to get well," Cassidy said.

Wal-Mart, which has become the largest grocer in the United States, denies the claim. But the specter of workers potentially spreading the H1N1 virus because they cannot afford to take time off has public health officials worried � especially retail workers who have frequent direct contact with the public.

Continue reading "The Oakland Tribune on Our Week of Action"

Walmart started as a small five and dime store, but recently their model has been to open gigantic Super Centers often taking up acres of land with their store and massive parking lots. They typically sit on the edge of towns in suburban areas and bill themselves as a one stop shopping option.

But there is a different trend afoot recently. Walmart is trying to build smaller stores. In Mexico and England Walmart is looking into smaller format convenience style stores, and here in the US Walmart just announced that it would build a smaller store on top of Loewe's store in Baltimore.

It is certainly an interesting move on Walmart's part and seems to be a tactic to start moving in to urban markets, one of the few areas Walmart is not ubiquitous. Of course even with smaller stores, Walmart's entry in to a city could mean a lowering of area wages, closing of grocery stores and other stores, and tax dollars bled from the city on subsidies and state supported programs like Medicaid and SCHIP.

So what do you think. Will Walmart's new smaller format stores catch on? Will they enable Walmart to get its foot in to cities?

Check out our latest piece over on Huffington Post. It highlights the story of Patricia from Ohio, a Walmart worker who was faced with the choice of going to work sick or losing her job because of Walmart's irresponsible and harmful sick day policy.

WakeUpWalmart.com and a coalition of supporters today launched a national week of action against Walmart�s irresponsible sick leave policy. WakeUpWalmart.com will hold events at 50 Walmart stores across the country to deliver �demerits� and a letter to local store managers calling on Walmart to change its unfair and harmful sick day policy.

Last fall the New York Times article Lack of Sick Days May Worsen Flu Pandemic, exposed Walmart�s track record of giving employees "demerits" that can lead to termination when they call in sick. A number of workers across the country reported retaliation and termination from Walmart due to illness.

Beatrice Parker, a former greeter at Walmart # 3371 in Charlotte, N.C., felt forced to resign due to Walmart's sick leave policy after suffering from a bladder infection caused by not being given bathroom breaks on the job.

In a new video released today, Parker describes abuse and age discrimination and asks Walmart CEO Mike Duke, �If you don't have any or can't have any concern for the way I was treated in this Walmart, please have some for the people who work there, especially the older people.� You can watch the video on the right of this post.

Walmart�s policies and actions create a working environment where employees feel they are faced with a choice between spreading the flu and keeping their job. Walmart deserves public demerits for sick leave policies that put the public at risk and make its employees sicker.

The Demerit Walmart program is supported by leading advocacy groups such as the MomsRising.org and the Labor Partnership for Working Families.

"MomsRising is extremely concerned by news reports that Walmart associates risk receiving demerits (which can lead to termination) for taking earned paid sick days," said MomsRising Executive Director Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner. "Such a practice is a public health hazard and a threat to the economic security of Walmart associates and their families. We call on Walmart to publicly respond to these charges and immediately end any ongoing practice of issuing demerits ."

Walmart is America�s largest private employer and sets the standard for workplaces in the retail industry. Walmart associates should not be afraid of losing their jobs simply because they are too sick to help customers. Walmart can and should live up to the highest possible workplace standards.

Wal-Mart has 44 properties for sale in Wisconsin, including 9 buildings that are sitting empty. Of these 9 properties, 3 are over 100,000 s.f. The dead store in Sheboygan, Wisconsin is not even listed by Wal-Mart Realty. The company is trying to sell the one lot remaining at its new Superstore site on Vanguard Avenue in Sheboygan just a few miles away from its �old� store---but it is the dead store Wal-Mart left behind that now has city officials worried.

According to Wal-Mart, Sheboygan has roughly 82,000 people within a 10 mile radius of their new supercenter. But in 1989, when Wal-Mart first opened a discount store in this city, local officials had no idea that 17 years later the retailer would shut the store down. But even worse---Wal-Mart put restrictions on the building when they sold it to a private developer, that effectively ties up the store for another 4 years.

According to the Sheboygan-Press, the �old� store has been empty since 2006. It was the anchor store for a mall known as Taylor Heights. Wal-Mart sold its building to developers based in Milwaukee---but there were some serious strings attached to the sale of the 129,000 s.f. building. Wal-Mart walked away from this huge property insisting that any new owner could not use it for a grocery store, pharmacy, or discount department store larger than 30,000 s.f. These restrictions are in place until the year 2014---giving the new Wal-Mart supercenter plenty of time to establish its customer base�without nearby competition.

Such deed covenants have been standard operating procedure at Wal-Mart realty, which is why you don�t see many empty Wal-Marts filled by competitors. This store in Sheboygan is one of an estimated 250 �ghost boxes� that Wal-Mart is trying to unload. A Wal-Mart spokesman told the Sheboygan-Press that his company would like to have its dead stores reoccupied---just not with direct competitors.

Wal-Mart openly admits that these kind of deed restrictions are commonplace at Wal-Mart. �We welcome competition in the marketplace, but what we can�t be doing is providing infrastructure for our competitors in the same market,� the Wal-Mart spokesman told the newspaper. But this has left the city of Sheboygan chafing at the lack of redevelopment at this prominent commercial site. �It is obviously very frustrating,� Mayor Bob Ryan told the Press. The Mayor admitted that Wal-Mart�s actions �will hold back development at that property for years. And without that building filled, that area does not redevelop.�

Wal-Mart says it wants to get rid of these buildings, but its restrictions say otherwise. �We want to ensure our former locations are converted back into a productive use as soon as possible,� Wal-Mart explained to the Sheboygan-Press. �It makes good sense for us financially, and also for the community.� But holding these properties becomes a defensive way for Wal-Mart to keep the trade area as much to itself as possible.

What you can do: The building owner, BR Companies, says there have been retailers interested in the site, some of which were eliminated from contention because of Wal-Mart�s restrictions. Lack of an anchor at Taylor Heights prevents smaller stores from wanting to commit until they see who is filling the big empty space left by Wal-Mart. The owner revealed that he has gone back to Wal-Mart to try to get their permission to lease to a grocer---but so far Wal-Mart, the largest grocer in the world---has not consented.

About ten years ago, Wall Street analysts began criticizing Wal-Mart for carrying on its books hundreds of empty, nonproductive properties. At one point in the late 1990s, Wal-Mart had as many as 350 empty stores in their portfolio---stores they liked to refer to as �dark stores.� They were carrying the expense of these stores, one-third of which were over 100,000 s.f., and one-third of which had been on the market for three years or longer. Wal-Mart responded to this criticism by hiring a bunch of private real estate companies across the country to help dispose of its properties, and expanded its Wal-Mart Realty staff to at least 7 people disposing of buildings and land. In some cases, Wal-Mart even gave away stores that were not moving. Despite this increased spending on marketing their �dark stores,� several hundred of them are still dark.

If you assume at least 20 acres per site, Wal-Mart is currently sitting on at least 5,000 acres of properties with buildings�not counting the hundreds of parcels of land that they also are trying to sell.

Not only is the Taylor Heights mall 90% empty---but the Press says that at the nearby Memorial Mall, retailers are feeling a drop in traffic since Wal-Mart moved away. This unpleasant experience with dead stores has taught city officials in Sheboygan that they need to be better prepared next time. The city�s planning and zoning manager told the Press that he favors the idea of having empty big box stores demolished by their owner after a set time period to prevent dark stores in the first place. �We need to ensure that we do our due diligence to make sure these buildings are demolished so the vacancies don�t lead to areas that aren�t doing as well as they could be.�

Readers are urged to email Wal-Mart�s Real Estate manager Mike Webb at mike.webb@wal-mart.com with the following message: �Dear Mr. Webb, For four years now, city officials in Sheboygan, Wisconsin have been worrying over your �dark store� in their city. The restrictive covenants you have placed on your property have guaranteed that the �old� store will not be sold---and those restrictions are in place another 4 years. It�s time for Wal-Mart to stop sitting on this store, and to release its new owners from your anti-competitive covenants. Wal-Mart likes to talk about the competitive marketplace and consumer choice, yet you take overt action like this to prevent anyone from using stores that you have abandoned. Shoppers in Sheboygan are being harmed by your decision to tie up that property. It�s time for Wal-Mart to get out of the way, and let any willing tenant use the building.�

Walmart just announced, with much patting of their own back, that more of their employees are enrolled in their company health insurance this year. The total number of their own workers enrolled in their insurance? It is up to 54% from 52% last year. The industry standard, by the way, is 65% and many big retailers insure a much larger percentage of their workforce. Costco, for example insures 85% of its workers.

But the real news in Walmart's announcement is that more employees are uninsured and more employees are relying on state aid. The AP reports:

The number of Wal-Mart employees with health coverage � provided by either Wal-Mart or another source � dropped from 94 percent last year to 87 percent.

Wal-Mart said 43,000 of its workers receive health coverage through a state assistance program, up from 36,000 last year.

So not only does Walmart fail to insure 644,000 of its workers, a whopping 182,000 are left completely uninsured while another 43,000 (that Walmart admits to) must rely on Medicaid and other state run programs.

David Tovar, Walmart's spokesperson said, "We believe this is just one more indicator that our nation's current health care system is not sustainable." But the comment fails to understand that Walmart is a part of the problem with our nation's current health care system. Employers have to take some of the responsibility for providing health insurance and they fail to take any.

The Shaw�s supermarket on Whalley Avenue in New Haven, Connecticut is closing down. It�s one of 18 stores that are being sold off by Shaw�s owner, SuperValu.

The Shaw�s supermarket on Whalley Avenue in New Haven, Connecticut is closing down. It�s one of 18 stores that are being sold off by Shaw�s owner, SuperValu.

Most of the Shaw�s stores are being bought up by three other New England grocery chains, including Stop & Shop, ShopRite and PriceRite. The Shaw�s in New Haven doesn�t have a buyer yet. Wal-Mart is listed by Supermarket News as the largest grocery chain in the world. In America, Wal-Mart�s market share is in the mid 20% range for dry groceries, dairy and frozen foods.

Supervalu is listed as number 15 on the worldwide grocers list. Supervalu describes itself as a �mix of owned, licensed, franchised and affiliated stores, (which) serves millions of families from coast-to-coast.� The retail banners that Supervalu operates include: Acme, Albertsons, Bigg�s Bristol Farms, Cub, Farm Fresh, Hornbackaer, Jewe-Osco, Shaw�s/Star Market, Shop �N Save, and Shoppers. The company also controls the discount grocery chain Save-A-Lot.

The Shaw�s lineage goes back to 1860, when George C. Shaw opened his first store in Portland, Maine. A few years later, another native New Englander, Maynard A. Davis, opened his first Public Markets in Brockton and New Bedford, Massachusetts. These two stores merged, and today the Shaw�s/Star Market chain has over 30,000 workers in the six New England states---soon to be five states. The 18 stores being shut down represent around 9% of the 194 stores under the Shaw�s banner.

Supervalu as a conglomerate controls roughly 4,300 retail outlets in the United States. �We bring our national scale and local hyper-relevance to thousands of consumers, helping to make us �America�s Neighborhood Grocer.�� But in Connecticut, Supervalu is leaving the neighborhood.

According to the Hartford Courant�s account of the Shaw�s meltdown this week, the company had a 15 year track record in Connecticut, but had come under increasing pressures from competitors like Wal-Mart and Whole Foods. Today Wal-Mart has only 5 superstores in Connecticut, and 28 discount stores. But in 1994, just as Shaw�s was preparing to enter Connecticut, the state had only 2 Wal-Mart discount stores, and no supercenters.

A spokesman for Supermarket News told the Hartford Courant that Shaw�s had failed to differentiate itself. �They�ve had an inconsistent identity with the shopper. In order for a conventional supermarket to stand out, they have to be special, whether that�s local flavor or product or service offerings that are unique.� At their point of highest penetration, Shaw�s had 26 stores in Connecticut, but over the years they shut down 8 stores. A spokesman for Supervalu told the Courant, �While these decisions are always difficult given the impact on associates and customers, they ultimately allow us to operate more efficiently and effectively within a highly competitive retail environment.� That�s of little consolation to the workers who are losing their jobs in the middle of this recession.

What you can do: Many of the former Shaw�s stores will be unionized under their new owners. Brian Petronella, a spokesman for the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) local 371, said 5 of the ShopRites will be represented by the UFCW. Local 371 will also represent the new Stop & Shop stores. The UFCW extended a hand to the Shaw�s workers who will work at ShopRite stores that are not unionized. �We will try to help those people get jobs at union locations,� Petronella told the Courant.

The demise of Shaw�s in Connecticut is just a continuation of the shift in market share towards the largest grocer in the world: Wal-Mart. In 2003, a study by Retail Forward, entitled �Wal-Mart Food: Big, and Getting Bigger,� pointed out that just ten or fifteen years ago, �Wal-Mart was barely on the food radar screen. Virtually overnight, the retailing behemoth has become the dominant grocer in America.� In 2003, Wal-Mart sales were bigger than the combined sales of the top ten U.S. supermarket retailers. �Wal-Mart has the proven ability to quickly blanket a market with its multi-format approach,� said Retail Forward, �to become a dominant---if not leading�market share player in rapid fashion, wreaking havoc for the incumbents.�

The latest incumbent is Shaw�s supermarkets. Seven years ago, Retail Forward predicted that �for every Wal-Mart supercenter that opens in the next five years, two supermarkets will close their doors. As a result, the supermarket industry is projected to lose 2,000 more stores over the next five years.� The consultant concluded that grocery stores can survive, but �the key is to be what Wal-Mart is not.� The analysts will say that Shaw�s failed to find a �distinct positioning strategy� that set them apart. But the fact is, the Connecticut market is saturated with grocery stores, and most of Wal-Mart�s stores still do not carry a full line of groceries--so the problem will get worse if Connecticut communities let Wal-Mart build more superstores.

Readers are urged to copy this article and send it to their local city or town officials with the following note: �When Wal-Mart files a proposal for a superstore in our town, please learn from the lesson of Shaw�s supermarkets, and understand that a Wal-Mart opening merely leads to to other stores closing. It does not happen overnight---but it happens---and when it does, people lose their jobs, and no added value comes to the local economy. It�s just an unproductive game of retail musical chairs, and shifting market share. Wal-Mart sales comes largely from other cash registers. If you understand that, then you behave differently when the superstore comes knocking on your door.�