What The Hell Does NYC Have Against Walmart?? — Page 2

Funny, when having facts on your side is equivalent to lying.

I choose not to shop at WalMart or Sams Club for a variety or reasons:

Its predatory practices that often leads to small town America being decimated.

Its historical bias against women in hiring and promotion.

The fact that it has encouraged its employees to have states subsidize health care because Wal-Mart does not provide benefits to many.

Its heavy reliance on Chinese and off-shore manufacturing to create crap.

The fact that Wal-Mart enters into side deals with manufacturers for their own version of products, so the Levis you get at Wal-Mart are not the same quality as those bought elsewhere.

But, I recognize that I have the luxury of paying a bit more for goods and services, and others don't. So, I do not begrudge those who either because of access issues (i.e, Wal-Mart killed all of the local competition) or budget, Wal-Mart is the only real option.

So, I am exercising my free choice not to shop there. Others can do what they please.

Calvin - it's almost impossible for me to stop on that site. I just keep thinking, "One more page, then I'll stop."

The Walton family will be one of the biggest, if not THE biggest, beneficiaries of the tax deal heading through Congress. Maybe they could take some of the BILLIONS AND BILLIONS of tax dollars and estate taxes that THEY WON'T BE PAYING and fund their share of an employee health plan. But wait, accoring to SOME posters, they will use their windfall to stimulate the economy. We'll see.

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I choose not to shop at Wal-Mart because I find their labor laws and practices completely abhorrent and therefore partly responsible for the poverty affecting the lower and middle classes right now.

Barbara Ehrenreich wrote a book called "Nickel and Dimed" which summed up her experience when she worked at Wal-Mart and yet couldn't afford her uniform to WORK there.

Los Angeles has not allowed a Wal-Mart in its vicinity and thus I did not grow up with one. Recently I went into one, and was shocked at the items. Certainly during the holiday season one expects to see copious amounts of candy and non-nutritious items for sale, but it was completely inundated with cheap calories and sugar.

If this is where so much of America does there shopping, and food shopping, as stated above, then is it any wonder that Wal-Mart is having a correlate on obesity?

Hmm, a place that provides no health insurance, unethical wages, and unhealthy environments. Sounds JUST like a place I'd love to have in my town.

Note: Just like YWIW, I'm fortunate enough to make decisions to shop elsewhere and have the finances to do so. But even in economic disaster, the 99 cent store offers canned and fresh vegetables at better prices and in greater quantity than the Wal-Mart I visited.

Updated On: 12/15/10 at 01:35 PM

Wal-Mart knocked out all the similar stores around me. So, I am one of those who has very few choices on where to shop because there is nothing else similar within reasonable distance for running errands.

But, they have been getting on my nerves recently because they seem to stop selling stuff I buy. Thank goodness for Harmon Cosmetics. I know I can't buy everything there, but for toiletries, makeup, and similar items, it's great.

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What some people don't realize is that Walmart provides many jobs to low skilled people. I know that liberals hate that because they would rather have these people on welfare/unemployment.

It also provides low cost goods for people who don't have a lot of money. Many senior citizens shop there because their Social Security checks don't stretch as far as they did when a Republican was in office.

CVS came into Manhattan and blew several mom and pops out of business. I used to shop at one. Duane Reade has done it. All large chains do that. But for some reason only Walmart gets blamed.

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There is a really interesting documentary that is available on Netflix for instant watch called, Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price. It talks about the economic impact that the store has on communities and small business owners.

Oh Goth you caught us! We love torturing old people, unions and Muslim terrorists!

In our little town, there's not much choice. Wal-Mart moved in, everything else closed except for the specialty shops and one grocery chain, which actually has better produce and meats than WM. For us, WM is an evil necessity, simply because the nearest alternative is 20-25 miles away.

I guess my question would be: where would you put one in Manhattan? The outer boroughs, sure. But the island? The rent per month for that amount of space would be astronomical.

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"I guess my question would be: where would you put one in Manhattan? The outer boroughs, sure. But the island? The rent per month for that amount of space would be astronomical."

I bet Walmart could afford it.

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If they put one in Times Square, would Manhattan suddenly cease to exist?

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Your only choice is Food Emporium? The single most ball-shreddingly expensive grocery store in NYC? Not hatin', just askin'...

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No, of course not. lol
I'm just using it as an example. I buy a lot of my groceries at Target in Brooklyn anyways because at most places in Manhattan, good luck finding a box of cereal under 5.99 a box without a good sale whereas there I can get for 2.50 a box. Again, I was just using it as an example of how high food prices are here in the city for so many items. And it would be so so nice to be able to do all my shopping, at prices I can actually afford, from one place instead of having to go to one store for this, another store for that and so on and so on hunting down affordable bargains on things I need.