How callous does one have to be to refuse a donation because the person in question spent a little less at your store? For that matter, why should their donation be dependent on spending money at all?

Here's the story from TMZ:

NFL Star: Wal-Mart Left Kids Out in the Cold

NFL superstar Andre Johnson claims his charity got stiffed by Wal-Mart -- it all involves water and ice. Yes, ice.

Johnson ordered 750 bicycles to be given to underprivileged kids at an event sponsored by the Andre Johnson Foundation -- in return for the purchase, Wal-Mart agreed to donate water and ice for the May 3 event.

But there was a problem with the order, so Johnson ended up buying fewer bikes than planned. Wal-Mart countered by not giving the water and ice as promised. That's cold.

Wal-Mart is trying to rectify the situation. They tell TMZ, "We are reaching out to the Andre Johnson Foundation as we speak to rectify the situation. It's disappointing that this happened."

Here's the article:

Wal-Mart and the Chinese Earthquake: Cheap Help for A Cheap-Labor Country

Wal-Mart Stores has put out a press release patting itself on the back for promising the equivalent of about $430,000 for disaster relief and reconstruction for the area of China hit by a massive earthquake this week. The gesture was laudable but the amount was less than impressive.

After all, the giant retailer would be nowhere today without the countless Chinese workers who toil in sweatshops so that American consumers can be offered the cheap goods that are at the core of the company’s business model. Last year those largely Chinese-made goods brought Wal-Mart profits of $12.7 billion, or about $1.4 million every hour of every day. The $430,000 contribution thus represents less than 20 minutes of profit.

Wal-Mart also profits from Chinese consumers. The company operates more than 200 stores in China (through joint ventures and minority-owned subsidiaries), several of which have been shut down because of the tremblor. Wal-Mart was so eager to operate stores in China that it agreed to let its employees there be represented by unions (though of the government-dominated variety).

Wal-Mart has a history of using relatively inexpensive amounts of disaster relief to boost its reputation. After Hurricane Katrina hit the U.S. Gulf Coast in 2005, Wal-Mart maneuvered to get maximum exposure for its prompt delivery of relief supplies. A fairly routine operation for a company possessing the most advanced logistics infrastructure was seen as nearly miraculous, given the ineptitude of federal and state public officials.

The company made an initial faux pas (quickly reversed) in announcing that employees at its stores shut down by the storm would be paid for only three days. It also started out offering a measly $2 million in relief but soon overcame its parsimonious instincts and upped the figure by $15 million, thereby winning wide praise. The wave of favorable coverage went on for several months, thanks at least in part to the efforts of its army of p.r. operatives from Edelman and a conservative blogger who was paid to tout Wal-Mart’s hurricane work in the blogosphere.

Wal-Mart may have to part with more than $430,000 to get a similar public relations bonanza from China’s suffering.

Here's the story from The Independent:

Tax evasion 'costs lives of 5.6m children'

The lives of more than five million children could be saved in the developing world – if the super-rich and the world's largest companies paid their fair share in taxes, according to a leading British charity. In Death and Taxes: the True Toll of Tax-dodging, Christian Aid says that the extent of tax abuse "is so widespread and damaging that it is tantamount to a new slavery".

The charity estimates that governments in the poorest countries are being cheated out of at least $160bn (£82bn) a year in tax revenues, much more than the $40 to $60bn the World Bank estimates is needed to pay for the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals (MDG). The MDG aim of halving poverty by 2015 would save 350,000 children's lives a year.

The director of Christian Aid, Dr Daleep Mukarji, said: "We predict that illegal trade-related tax evasion alone will be responsible for the deaths of 5.6 million children under the age of five between 2000 and 2015. That's almost 1,000 a day". Christian Aid believes that up to $11 trillion of funds may be stashed away in tax havens.

It says: "The inescapable fact is that there are only four reasons for banking 'offshore': to avoid tax, to evade tax, to function in secret, to sidestep regulations controlling financial services or monopolistic practices. In each scenario, the pursuit of profit outweighs all other considerations, including good citizenship and social responsibility".

Tax havens have come under increasing scrutiny lately, as European Union governments and the OECD have tried to rein in their activities. The German secret service recently paid €4m (£3m) to an informant to reveal details of money held in Lichtenstein. HM Revenue and Customs is following its example, with the hope of recovering £100m in lost revenue.

Christian Aid points out that the British Government has a special responsibility and influence because so many tax havens are linked to the Crown as overseas territories or crown dependencies. The list includes Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and the British Virgin Islands. Ironically, Christian Aid adds, even CDC plc, formerly the Commonwealth Development Corporation and still owned by the Department for International Development, pays no taxes on its £350m of profits, thanks to its use of tax havens, even though its main aim is to fund development projects.

High-profile individuals are criticised by Christian Aid for minimising their tax bills, including the Formula One racing champion Lewis Hamilton, pop star Phil Collins and U2 lead singer Bono.

The widespread use of holding companies in tax havens to hold profits, licences and intellectual property, all to reduce tax bills, is also condemned: "Every transnational corporation uses holding companies", it said, and listed BP, Wal-Mart, Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil and Ford Motor Company's reinsurance group as benefiting from offshore holdings.

Christian Aid's strongest words are reserved for the companies and firms of accountants who save billions through such activities as manipulating invoicing and cost structures to avoid paying taxes and royalties on mineral rights in developing economies.

Rather than protecting wealthy "non-doms" by acquiescing in the system of tax havens, Christian Aid calls on the British and Irish governments to "support international moves to curtail ...the secrecy of tax havens, thereby lifting the lid on the tax industry and its machinations".

If you don't think a campaign about Wal-Mart's business practices matter, think of the 2 million plus employees at Wal-Mart; it matters to them.

Here's the story from the AP:

Wal-Mart Reaches 2 Million Workers

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) _ Imagine Houston being populated only by Wal-Mart workers.

Houston proper, with its population of just over 2 million, has about the same number of people as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. now employs worldwide.

Put another way, if a city had only families of four and one member of each household worked at Wal-Mart, that would be a perfect fit with the 8 million-strong population of New York City, a market Wal-Mart happens to covet.

During a recorded call with investors Tuesday, Wal-Mart President and CEO Lee Scott mentioned offhandedly that the company now has more than 2 million "associates," as Wal-Mart terms its employees. Chief Financial Officer Tom Schoewe confirmed in an interview that Wal-Mart had reached the milestone.

The world's largest retailer is also the world's largest private employer. The company has about 1.3 million U.S. workers. As of April 30, Bentonville-based Wal-Mart had 7,343 units - 4,195 in the U.S. and 3,148 in its international division, which includes Puerto Rico.

Of course the study also confirms what we've known for a long time: Wal-Mart is bad for local businesses. The retail giant comes in and all the other businesses suffer.

The Chicago Tribune has the story about the new study:

Cities may mute effect of Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. appears to have played a role in putting some retailers out of business since opening its first Chicago store in Austin more than 18 months ago, but the effect on its smaller rivals is likely milder than what occurs when the giant store arrives in a rural town, according to initial findings of a new study.

Researchers from Loyola University Chicago and the University of Illinois at Chicago tracked 191 stores within a three-mile radius of Wal-Mart from March 2006, six months before the store opened, through November 2007. The team found 23 stores, or 12 percent, of the businesses in the study group shut down last year.

Their preliminary conclusion is that a "small but statistically significant relationship" exists between local companies going out of business and Wal-Mart's arrival in the city. The researchers cautioned they are "hesitant to draw any strong conclusions" until a third phase of research is completed later this year.

For more than two decades, academics have studied Wal-Mart's effect on small-town America, but little is known about how Wal-Mart affects jobs, wages, property values and sales in an inner city.

The world's largest retailer has been moving into big cities and stirring controversy, especially in the union-dominated North. The researchers claim this is the first empirical study of the local economic impact of a Wal-Mart in a large city.

"People have their opinions on Wal-Mart," said Phil Nyden, director of the Center for Urban Research and Learning at Loyola in Chicago. "The idea is to get some actual data to inform the debate."

bid to win over critics worried about the giant retailer driving out mom-and-pop stores with larger selections and lower prices, Wal-Mart launched an unusual program last year in 10 inner cities, starting in Chicago, aimed at helping local retailers near its urban stores. It offered to pay for local newspaper advertising and to showcase the independent stores on Wal-Mart's in-store TV network and donate funds to the local chambers of commerce.

Called "Jobs and Opportunity Zones Program," it received mixed reviews. Wal-Mart detractors called it a publicity stunt. And some participants said the program didn't make much of a difference in their day-to-day business.

According to the Chicago study, there is some "limited" evidence stores located closer to Wal-Mart are more likely to go out of business than those farther away within the three-mile radius.

Many of the stores that closed last year sold clothing, beauty supplies and shoes, all items available at Wal-Mart.

Lawrence LeBlanc, owner of LDL Furniture and Appliance, said sales at his secondhand-goods store just down the street from Wal-Mart have fallen dramatically since the discount chain came to town. The little shop had been generating about $130,000 to $140,000 in sales a year before Wal-Mart. Last year it rang up $35,000. The only reason LeBlanc has kept the store open, he said, is that he owns the building.

"I used to be able to sell 15 to 20 televisions a month," said LeBlanc. "Now I sell two or three."

On the other hand, Norman Delrahim, owner of B&S Hardware nearby, said that after an initial drop-off in sales, he thinks business is "a little better" as shoppers come to the neighborhood to visit Wal-Mart and notice his store.

Wal-Mart said it is attracting new business to the area, such as the Menards home improvement store going up across the street.

"There is a lot of development that has come into the area," said Roderick Scott, senior manager of public affairs for Wal-Mart in Chicago. "We've been a positive agent in that change."

The Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer opened a 142,000-square-foot discount store in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side in September 2006. It planned to open as many as 20 stores in the city, most of them Supercenters that also sell groceries.

Unions, angling to get non-union Wal-Mart to pay its workers more in wages and health benefits, fought to keep Wal-Mart from expanding in the city. Last month the city struck down a request to allow Wal-Mart to open a second store at Chatham Market on the South Side.

Researchers plan to learn more about Wal-Mart's effect on jobs and wages as they complete the final phase of the study. The last wave of data collection began in March 2008 and runs through November 2008. The study is financed by Woods Fund of Chicago, a foundation that helps the poor.

It's a slow moving competition, but Consumerists' Worst Company in America is on to the second round, and Wal-Mart made it easily. Their next competition is Citibank, but we're not worried, we're pretty sure they'll go all the way.

Case on standby for woman who said Wal-Mart gave her car away

For Marta Velazquez, righting a wrong hasn’t been a speedy process.

In her attempt to seek damages from Wal-Mart, who she said gave her car to a man they believed to be her husband, she has been playing the waiting game with the judicial system for two years.

“It’s your typical Wal-Mart,” Velzquez said. “They are claiming to not be responsible.”

Lonnie Knowles, Velazquez’s attorney, said since Wal-Mart was first put on notice of the claim, there have been several attempts to contact the corporation, including a written demand on Jan. 2, 2007.

Knowles said when the company wouldn’t respond, they filed a lawsuit seeking damage reimbursements of $50,000 in June of 2007, nearly 10 months after the incident.

On Sept. 6, 2006, Velazquez took her 1999 black Pontiac Grand Am to the Wal-Mart on FM 1960 and Cutten Road to have a tire replaced, only to find out they had given her car to a man they thought was her husband. About a month-and-a-half later, it was found, destroyed, in a park in Acres Homes.

The inconvenience caused her to miss work. The house keys, mail and a laptop left in her car enabled one man access to her phone number, which he used to harass her. Fearing for her safety, she broke her apartment lease and moved.

Now awaiting her day in the 133rd Judicial District Court, Vazquez’z case has been on trial stand by since, April 30, meaning that when the court calls them, within two hours notice, lawyers for both sides will need to appear and be ready to pick a jury.

“There are a bunch of trials set to appear in that particular court, so the judge decides what the pecking order of those trials is going to be,” Knowles said.

The case likely won’t be tried this time around, he said. If not, their case won’t come up again for trial for four to six months at which point the standby process will recycle.

“We both indicated it would take no less than two days to try the case, and since the court hasn’t called as of 3 p.m. on Thursday, my experience tells me that we likely won’t be reached for this docketing period,” he said.

Wal-Mart said they couldn’t comment on a matter that is currently in litigation.

The Chicago Tribune has the story of a major victory for those who think Wal-Mart needs to change its ways before it expands:

A closeout for Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s hard-fought battle to turn Chicago into a beachhead for urban expansion across the country has come to a quiet end, at least for the foreseeable future, as big-city politics held sway over low prices.

Now the world's largest retailer is turning its attention to a backup plan of opening stores just outside city limits, banking that thousands of low-to-middle-income city dwellers will travel to collar suburbs to shop at the discount store. Among the suburbs Wal-Mart is looking at are Calumet Park, Cicero and McCook, according to people familiar with Wal-Mart's plans.

Wal-Mart got the word from city officials last month that Mayor Richard Daley doesn't want to risk a messy showdown with unions over Wal-Mart—like the big-box store battle of 2006—while Chicago is still in the running as a host city for the 2016 Olympics, according to people familiar with the matter. The International Olympic Committee is slated to make that decision in October 2009.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s development arm, Archon Group LP, isn't waiting. The Chicago-based developer of Chatham Market on the South Side, where Wal-Mart had hoped to open its second city store, put a "For Sale" sign on the property last week.

Lowe's Cos. has already opened a 117,000-square-foot anchor in the shopping center at 83rd Street and Stewart Avenue. Wal-Mart was slated to be the second anchor and Archon had counted on the discount chain to attract other retail tenants. The developer has not been able to find another anchor to replace Wal-Mart.

"We're doing this to see what options present themselves," said Bill Moston, director of retail investments for Archon in Chicago. "We have a responsibility to pursue all available options and to evaluate what they are."

That could mean the empty land would go for other uses such as office space or storage or housing.

Not long ago Wal-Mart had ambitions of operating as many as 20 stores in the city. It opened a 142,000-square-foot discount store in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side in September 2006.

Wal-Mart wanted to open supercenters in the rest of the city, roughly 180,000-square-foot stores that also sell groceries.

But the retailer, which has a non-union workforce, ran into opposition from unions that have been trying to stop the Bentonville, Ark.-based company's expansion into northern cities.

Both Wal-Mart and the unions say they help everyday working families. Wal-Mart points to its affordable merchandise, willingness to blaze a trail into the food deserts of inner cities, and the hundreds of workers each store employs. Unions point to their campaign to persuade Wal-Mart to pay higher wages and health benefits to workers.

"We are a store that wants to come in and invest in that community," said Roderick Scott, head of public affairs for Wal-Mart in Chicago.

Dennis Gannon, president of the Chicago Federation of Labor and a leader in the unions' battle against Wal-Mart, declined to comment on the turn of events.

The mayor's press office and Pete Scales, spokesman for the Department of Planning, declined to comment on its talks with Wal-Mart.

Chicago Planning Commissioner Arnold Randall notified Archon on March 14 that he would not let Wal-Mart open at Chatham Market as proposed because of a letter from the previous developer that pledged to keep the retailer out.

Wal-Mart and Archon met with the commissioner last month to look for a way to make the project work.

"We always want additional retailers in Chicago," Scales said. "Hopefully [the potential sale] will open it up to other retailers other than Wal-Mart."

Daley, siding with business, took a political bruising in the summer of 2006 when he overturned, in his first veto, a big-box ordinance passed by the City Council. The ordinance, aimed at Wal-Mart, would have set minimum pay and benefit levels for any major retailer with a store 90,000 square feet or larger.

In the wake of the veto, unions poured millions into the City Council elections in a successful bid to support candidates who, among other things, were likely to oppose Wal-Mart's city expansion.

Wal-Mart Chief Executive H. Lee Scott first announced his intention to position Wal-Mart as an "urban pioneer" in an April 2006 speech in Chicago, saying the company "has never been afraid to invest in communities that are overlooked by other retailers."

But in the two years since, Wal-Mart has made little headway in expanding into Northern cities. It has yet to crack Boston, Detroit or New York.

And international markets such as Brazil are whetting the giant retailer's appetite, making it unclear how much longer the company will continue to focus on America's inner cities.

Ald. Howard Brookins (21st), who tried and failed to bring Wal-Mart to his South Side ward, said he's not happy with the decision.

He said he plans to woo retailers at the shopping industry's annual trade show in Las Vegas this month, hoping to find a replacement for Wal-Mart.

"We're not guaranteed the Olympics," said Brookins, "but we're guaranteed to get [sales] tax revenue from Wal-Mart."

Wal-Mart faces the largest gender-discrimination lawsuit of all time, with 1.6 million women suing over unequal pay and unequal opportunities. Its managers have told women they "don't belong in management" and that they "can't manage men." More recently, Wal-Mart has repeatedly denied military moms leave to see their children before they deploy to war zones.

Instead of printing more 20 page "Mom's day" ads, Wal-Mart should be printing 20 page apologies to every woman hurt by its unfair policies.

Today, we need to ensure that Wal-Mart respects the hardworking mothers employed in their stores. This Mother's day, join our mission to change Wal-Mart's anti-family policies for the betterment of women and mothers across America. Add your name to our petition to CEO Lee Scott and 3 demands for change.

Click this link to sign our petition

Change won't come on its own. We've seen time and again that Wal-Mart has little respect for mothers, or the sacrifices they make for their families. Just ask Olga Sanchez or Susan Lyons, two long-time Wal-Mart workers.

When Olga's son, Mark, was deployed to Iraq, she requested leave to see him off. Her request was denied. Wal-Mart told Olga that, as a department manager, her commitment was to the company. At Wal-Mart, unfair scheduling policies often take precedence over families, and over the morale of America's armed service members.

Olga's story is just the beginning. Last September, Susan Lyons learned her daughter would be on leave from Iraq during the following December. Susan requested a mere two days of vacation time to see her. Wal-Mart denied the request because of the holiday shopping season. When she expressed her disappointment, Wal-Mart told Susan that if her daughter's deployment upset her so much, her daughter "should not have joined the Military."

These stories are a slap in the face to mothers, and they insult the dignity of the armed service members we also celebrate in May.

Don't let Wal-Mart continue to treat mothers this way. Sign our petition today. Keep the pressure on Wal-Mart to change and you can make these outrageous policies history.

Sign on to our 3 demands for change, add your name to our petition today

Thanks for taking action, and have a happy Mother's Day.

Meghan Scott
WakeUpWalMart.com

"The economy continues to get tougher and the 'paycheck cycle' is more pronounced for customers than in past months," Eduardo Castro-Wright, head of Wal-Mart's U.S. store division, said in a statement.

"As money gets tighter for them toward the end of the month, sales drop more than we have seen in the past."

Poor, poor Wal-Mart. They're the worlds largest corporation, the number one fortune 500 company, rake in billions of dollars a year, but their sales may go down a bit because average American families are having trouble making ends meet. If it is not bad enough that Wal-Mart is complaining about not making that extra few million while their workers and working families across the country are facing real hardship, consider that Wal-Mart helped create this mess. By not paying their employees a living wage, driving down area wages, forcing companies to move jobs to China and elsewhere, and not providing adequate benefits Wal-Mart had a hand in creating the "paycheck cycle" they now bemoan.

Here's the Reuter's article via the Washington Post:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) on Thursday reported a better-than-expected 3.2 percent rise in April sales at U.S. stores open at least a year, boosted by demand for basic items like groceries and medicine.

But the world's largest retailer gave a tepid outlook for May as the economic situation gets more difficult and consumers try to stretch their dollars by purchasing cheaper cuts of meat or trading down to pasta.

"The economy continues to get tougher and the 'paycheck cycle' is more pronounced for customers than in past months," Eduardo Castro-Wright, head of Wal-Mart's U.S. store division, said in a statement.

"As money gets tighter for them toward the end of the month, sales drop more than we have seen in the past."

aller rival Target Corp (TGT.N), whose April sales at existing stores rose a less-than-expected 3.1 percent, also gave a weak forecast for May.

"We continue to see weakness in markets that are experiencing housing market-related stress, particularly in Florida, Arizona, Nevada and parts of California," Target said on a recorded call.

Wal-Mart shares rose 70 cents or 1.2 percent to $57.53, while Target shares fell $1.13 or 2.1 percent to $52.31 in morning New York Stock Exchange trading.

Ben Pivar, vice president at consulting firm Capgemini, said consumers are showing more caution, buying staples and holding back on splurges, in this environment.

"There's still a lot of uncertainty at the consumer level with respect to where the economy's going," he said.

WAL-MART SALES SURPASS EXPECTATIONS

Wal-Mart's 3.2 percent gain in April U.S. sales at stores open at least a year, known as same-store sales, was above analysts' average forecast for a rise of 2.1 percent, according to Reuters Estimates. It also surpassed Wal-Mart's own forecast for a gain of 1 percent to 3 percent.

Same-store sales at its namesake discount stores rose 2.6 percent, while they advanced 6.6 percent at its Sam's Club warehouse division.

Wal-Mart said net sales in the month, ended May 2, rose to $29.18 billion from $26.57 billion a year earlier.

"Customers are buying less expensive protein sources and trying to stretch their dollars with purchases of boxed dinners and pasta," the company said on a recorded call.

"Moreover, they are gravitating toward more private label than in the past few months."

Consumers continued to buy flat-panel TVs, video games and gaming systems, Wal-Mart said, while the allergy season boosted sales of prescription and over-the-counter medications.

Apparel sales improved, while sales in its home department remained soft, it said.

For May, it forecast U.S. same-store sales would be flat to up 2 percent.

"It's currently difficult to quantify the impact from the stimulus checks," said Chief Financial Officer Tom Schoewe, referring to rebate checks being mailed to U.S. consumers as part of Washington's $152 billion economic stimulus package.

Wal-Mart will report its first-quarter results on May 13. Last month, it said it expected earnings per share from continuing operations of 74 cents to 76 cents for the quarter, up from a previous forecast of 70 cents to 74 cents.

TARGET SALES OFF TARGET

Target's April same-store sales rose 3.1 percent, missing analysts' average forecast for a gain of 4.5 percent. Target had forecast a mid-single-digit increase.

"Comparable store sales performance in April was slightly below our planned range," Chief Executive Gregg Steinhafel said in a statement.

Sales were strongest in health care and consumable items and were weakest in jewelry, home decor and seasonal items, the retailer said.

Sales for the four weeks ended May 3 increased 9.0 percent to $4.25 billion.

For May, Target forecast same-store sales between down 1 percent and up 1 percent.

Target's sales have weakened in recent months as its shoppers overlook purchases of higher margin items like clothes and home decor in favor of basics like food or laundry detergent.

Here's the story from the Wall Street Journal:

Health Clinics Inside Stores Likely to Slow Their Growth

The boom in walk-in health clinics located inside pharmacies, supermarkets and big-box retailers is showing signs of slowing.

Hailed as an inexpensive option for treating minor health ailments like sore throats and rashes, the retail clinics have grown in
number to 963 as of May 1 from just 125 three years ago. The clinics typically feature nurse practitioners who can prescribe basic drugs, and the price for a visit ranges from $50 to $75.

But in recent months, retail health-clinic operators based in New York, Nevada, Indiana and Alabama have closed their doors, shuttering 69 clinics in 15 states, including ones operating inside outlets of Shopko Stores, Meijer Inc., Bi-Lo LLC, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and the Medicine Shoppe unit of Cardinal Health Inc.

Now, the biggest retail-clinic operator, CVS Caremark Corp., says it is scaling back expansion plans for its Minute Clinic brand.

"We have seen fallout in this industry, on a smaller scale, that is not unlike the dot-com bubble," says Tom Charland, the owner of industry consultant Merchant Medicine LLC and a former vice president for strategy at Minute Clinic. "The big mistake was for people to think they could reach break-even in six months," he says. "People are learning this is an 18-to-24-month process to get to break-even."

Mr. Charland says the venture capitalists and private-equity firms that backed many of the retail clinic operators failed to appreciate how complicated and expensive the clinics are to operate. Research shows that patients are enthusiastic about the clinics' convenience and quality of care, but acceptance has been slow.

Some operators are finding that the clinics are complex to manage. Earlier this year, Check Ups, a clinic operator based in New York, abruptly closed 23 clinics that it operated inside Wal-Marts in Florida, Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana. It was stretched thin by operations in multiple states, says company spokesman William Armstrong.

"You have to have a critical mass of stores seeing a high number of patients to get somewhere," he says. He adds that new clinics need to spend a lot of money on marketing to build public awareness and that the clinics become expensive quickly. "We ran out of operating funds," he says.

Not everyone is trimming sails. Walgreen Co. says it still plans to more than double the number of its Take Care health clinics this year by adding about 240 locations between now and the end of the year, bringing it closer to the number operated by rival CVS. The expansion will cause a drag on earnings in fiscal 2008 of five cents a share, the company says.

Tina Galasso, an analyst who follows the retail clinic industry for Verispan LLC, says the cost of setting up an in-store clinic runs about $500,000. That is one reason why much of the future growth in walk-in health centers is expected to come from big companies with deep pockets and from hospital systems that are already well-known within a community and don't have to spend so much on marketing.

In a strategy that combines both elements, Wal-Mart plans to partner with hospital systems to open as many as 400 co-branded store clinics by the end of 2010, up from about 50 sites in operation now. That approach is a departure from an earlier strategy under which Wal-Mart leased space to operators like Check Ups that weren't associated with hospital systems.

Now, they seem to be putting more emphasis on online sales, having just sealed a deal with Warner Music Group to vastly expand their music offerings. One wonders how much of this move is due to a bruised ego over losing to an online service.

hyperbot has the story:

WalMart Adds WMG MP3's. Napster Next?

The Warner Music Group family of labels has widened its full catalog mp3 offering to include WalMart.com. Previously Amazon was the only North American based download provider with the catalog.

Hypebot reported yesterday that WMG was about to broaden its DRM-free program to include other sites. Last month WalMart drop all tracks from WMG, Universal and Sony BMG and took its digital store DRM-free. EMI and a limited number of indies provided content until this morning when WMG effectively doubled WalMart.com's catalog.

WMG's move puts pressure on the other label groups and download stores to move more rapidly towards all DRM-free. At yesterday's Digital NARM, a spokesperson for Napster hinted that they would go DRM-free within a month.

Here's the article from the Telegraph:

Wal-Mart was whistleblower in OFT's supermarket investigation

Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, was the whistleblower behind the Office of Fair Trading's current probe into alleged price fixing of food and toiletries, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal.

The investigation has embroiled some of the world's largest consumer goods manufacturers such as Unilever, Procter & Gamble and Reckitt Benckiser, as well as UK retail giants, including Tesco and J Sainsbury.

In blowing the whistle, Wal-Mart, which owns the Asda chain, has guaranteed itself immunity from a fine should the OFT discover any cartel activity. Any company found guilty could be fined up to 10 per cent of its annual worldwide sales, which in Wal-Mart's case would be $37bn (£18.7bn).

The move is likely to make the US retailer deeply unpopular with the companies involved, many of whom are its largest suppliers.

Last weekend this newspaper revealed that around 100 OFT officials and lawyers raided the offices of the country's biggest supermarkets ten days ago over allegations of price-fixing involving dozens of popular household brands, such as PG Tips, Aquafresh toothpaste and Andrex toilet roll. Consumer goods companies in the UK and the US were also visited or asked to provide pricing information.

It is understood that following an earlier OFT investigation into price-fixing of dairy products, which resulted in some supermarkets and dairies paying fines of £116m, senior Wal-Mart and Asda executives made the decision to go to the OFT with new information.

All the companies involved in the probe have strenuously denied that they are involved in any cartel activity, and Asda's decision to tip off the OFT does not mean that price-fixing has necessarily occurred. The OFT has refused to comment on the investigation.

Legal experts believe it will be at least two years until the OFT publishes any findings.

Other senior supermarket executives have dismissed the raids as a "fishing expedition". However, under its remit, the OFT needs to have a so-called evidential threshold before it can launch a raid, meaning that it must have good reason.

Last week the Competition Commission, the anti-trust watchdog, completed a separate two-year investigation into the supermarket sector. The commission gave the sector a largely clean bill of health, although it said that it had uncovered emails that "might raise issues of co-ordination" between supermarkets and suppliers.

Peter Freeman, chairman of the Competition Commission, said that the watchdog had passed on information to the OFT as part of the latter's new investigation.

He added that there was no contradiction between the commission finding the sector largely competitive and the OFT examining alleged price-fixing.