I hope the DC city council sticks to their guns and tells Wal-Mart to be sure to let door hit them in the ass on the way out. Sure, it will cost the District jobs if Wal-Mart cancels its plans to open three outlets, but that just means that other companies, like CostCo, can pick up the slack while paying the District’s residents a living wage.
I like the idea of the nation’s capital being a Wal-Mart-free zone.
As a resident of the area… The big stores like CostCo around here are all in… wealthy white suburbs, in the richest counties in the nation by leaps and bounds. There is no way for low income people to actually reach most of them as they are off public transportation. The ones that aren’t… you can’t haul back what CostCo sells on the METRO, it’s too large. Furthermore affordable food stores in the city proper are all being run out by ultra expensive places like Whole Foods, Gourmet organic markets, and Dean and Deluca. So poorer residents are often fucked… Read more »
The poor pretty much always get the short end of the stick. One never sees an oil refinery in a wealthy area. Those with power make the rules.
Agree. I understand that Walmart is an evil coglomerate, but I also no what it’s like to have on $20 to spend for food for the week (or 2 weeks when I was really struggling) and the choice is whether to buy a “pack” of chicken, some rice, a coupla cans of whatever and more non-perishables to last you until the next pay day. There is no way you can survive on $20 when you only have a Costco or Whole Foods or even a Target in your neighborhood. Walmart is usually the only option left in the poorer neighborhood.… Read more »
Yeah I think the only Costco is in Pentagon City, which isn’t DC proper (it’s Arlington) but it’s probably the closest you’ll get. I have a BJ’s near my house but you aren’t going to see any projects near Van Dorn. And you sure as fuck won’t see any Costcos or BJ’s coming to Anacostia, Congress Heights or Water Front. Georgia Ave and Brookland are “safer” now, and now poor people can barely tread water in those parts. I know wannabe slumlords are cleaning up tho.
All the same I still say fuck Walmart and approve of their decision. Service industry is continuing to remove laborious jobs which is the natural order as an economy advances. Either retail is going to have to pay living wages, or we need to establish a minimum income provided by the government. I vote both.
Agree with seabe here. Wal-Mart is trying to set themselves up as the only option to offer groceries in some low-income communities. I would note a couple of things about that: If you go to Wal-Mart Superstores, you see plenty of the same low-nutrition “foods” that are sold at the Mini-Marts, and those are the products that are sold at the cheapest prices. Even at Wal-Mart, produce and other foods providing better nutrition remain too expensive for many of the poor in D.C. and elsewhere, making the provision of produce a bit of a false offer. Wal-Mart offers… Read more »
My parents are in Loudon, one sisters in Falls Church, my brother is in Fairfax. There are tons of CostCo’s, H Mar t (great bulk discount food Asian and Latin), Wegmans (amazing grocery and cheap) Food Lion, and all sorts of stuff there. But point blank they will NEVER come into DC. DC it’s either “make them go broke and eat whole foods”, “make them eat from 7/11” or give them a wallmart. The good companies flat out will not move to DC. So anything but Walmart is a fucking pipe dream and if someone advocates for it they should… Read more »
Is Walmart really that cheap? I live, probably, no more than 10 miles from Boo as the crow flies. There is a Walmart near us that I’ve only been in about 5 times(always as an absolute last resort). If I go, I always make it a point to check their prices. At least in the one here, their prices aren’t worth the extra drive as compared to the stores that are closer to me.
They’re not any cheaper than your standard grocer, but that’s his point: there are no “standard” grocers in DC. There are corner stores, 711, and Whole Foods. And of course Safeway. There are Harris Teeter’s, but those are also more in the Pentagon City and Rosslyn areas, but you need to make at least $65k to afford to live there, which is by yourself and not supporting a family. I have a Giant right around from my house — in fact I walk to it because I don’t have a car — but I’m a middle class white guy living… Read more »
Here’s what happened. When DC cleaned up, they did it by importing a fucking ton of rich, socially liberal, whites. And selling them on how hip and cool it was to live in an urban area. So any grocery store or store that sells actual food you’d want to it, is extremely high priced to cater to them, and help drive out the poor minorities. This is city policy, and also the cost of socially liberal hip urban living. There’s great food… provided you can blow 40-300 bucks a person eating out and shop at places that are Whole Foods… Read more »
Yep. My friend Zach just moved to Tyson’s corner from his old house in Foggy. I think he paid around 2250-2500 for his tiny place. It was a nice place, not quite studio as the rooms were all “separate” but his living room and kitchen were separated by a bar stool. Which is why I chose to rent a room from someone who owns a house in Van Dorn. The house is prolly worth like $500k but my room with its own bathroom and utilities/Internet is only $995. The only problem is it takes like 30-40 minutes one way to… Read more »
I’m looking to buy a place in Rossyln, with the veterans home loan and other items… 600k for a studio… fun fucking times.
Also a bigger reason why metro won’t e expanded: it will delay trains everywhere else. Blue line is already getting hosed because of the silver addition. And I’d say rich people’s time is more of an impediment than their money.
As always, there’s just grandstanding and no real attempt to solve the problem. Good food stores can be brought in by government incentives (which is what is required for Walmart as well). Co-ops and other local retail structures can be and have been developed. Won’t happen, though, when all the “incentives” flow to Walmart and its oligarch gang. But that might reveal how we’re long past any kind of market-driven economy or democratic system. Of course there’s a downside to kicking out Walmart: precisely the same one that came with ending the plantation system. Walmart and the rest are just… Read more »
In a sane country, the government would respond to the tremendous financial and social costs that come from so many millions being forced to eat food with poor nutritional value. That country would improve the next Farm Bill by stopping the subsidies of sugar and corn products and transferring those subsidies to dense greens, fruits and other, better foods. Businesses would also come up with better ways to market truly healthy foods, and companies which slowly destroy people’s health would be forced to fund a truly effective educational program about nutrition, such as those marketing tobacco products were forced to… Read more »
Same here in Chicago. Why? Clientele with deeper pockets and less crime which means lower insurance premiums and lower pilferage. Nothing racial. WalMart is willing to go into cities because they can find a bigger pool of cheap labor (that Costco doesn’t need because they pay good wages) and WalMart treats all their customers as suspected criminals anyway. No other store that I know makes you check your bags on the way in and minutely inspects your cart right after you leave checkout.
At least in these parts (PNW), Safeway is no less expensive than Whole Foods. In the case of (fresh) produce, it’s often more.
Wal Mart is welcome to set up shop in DC if they pay 12.50 an hour in a city with an atrociously high cost of living. Nobody’s stopping them from doing that. I used to work (briefly) at the head office of one of their competitors. I can tell you right now, the perception that wal mart is cheaper than a normal grocery store is not necessarily true. Wal Mart and similar stores price target only about 100 items. The rest are usually inferior product (such as shoes that will fall apart) or are more expensive. They do this deliberately,… Read more »
“I can tell you right now, the perception that wal mart is cheaper than a normal grocery store is not necessarily true. Wal Mart and similar stores price target only about 100 items. The rest are usually inferior product (such as shoes that will fall apart) or are more expensive. They do this deliberately, knowing people don’t have time to research price on less popular items.” THIS. Wal-Mart’s notoriously atrocious compensation for their workers perversely helps them market themselves as the low-price leader. Consumers incorporate into their minds the knowledge that Wal-Mart pays their workers shit, so that’s how they… Read more »
Sounds like a good place to open a co-op.
Poor poor Walmart would have to pay their employees a whopping 12.50 an hour if the living wage ordnance passes city council. This is Kenyan Muslim Socialism!
The demand is there to support that retail.
If Wally World wants to turn up its nose to make a point, screw ’em. Someone else will take the money.
No, they won’t, because poors. All that will happen is they will be screwed more by minmarts and 7/11.
Sadly this is a case of you’re either pro walmart, or pro hurting poor people.
Wal Mart isn’t the only discount retailer on the eastern seaboard.
So, SIDC, I clearly understand your views here. But with the evidence some of us present upthread, you think Wal-Mart helps poor people?
It would be wise to reconsider that POV. There’s plenty of evidence to show that Wal-Mart is the deadliest of enemies to the lower and middle classes.