Quote:
Originally Posted by crucifissio
and how many small shop owners did it put out of business?
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That's what I said too.
In my hometown we had a grocery store called the Rainbow Market. It was in the downtown area, was family owned, and had been here in town for fifty years. It largely supported the older population. We were all up in arms when they closed down the store and sold the property to Wal Mart to open up a "Neighborhood Grocery" store.
Six months later the new "Neighborhood Grocery" store opened up. It was eye opening for our community. We suddenly discovered the Rainbow Market was old, horrible, poorly lit, had grumpy employees, and prices three to four times what they should have been. The city didn't loose any jobs because a lot more people work at the new store then the old one, the amount of money the city makes in taxes is five times more.
I used to think the same - "Oh, how horrible, the mom and pop stores are being closed down and jobs are being lost". But this is not the truth. The mom and pop stores are closing because they have a small inventory, smaller staff, and higher prices.
Do we like it when we walk into a store and know the owners name? We sure do. But I like it a lot less when I am paying four times what I should be paying because the owner has to send his three kids to college.
Walmart came to our town and we were all up in arms about it, and we even tried to fight it. But in the end it turned out this was a good thing for our community. Yeah, some people lost their jobs. But a lot more people are working at WalMart and they seem to make the same wages. (The Rainbow Market didn't pay their staff much.)