Hercules battles Wal-Mart -- literally

I agree with the fact that Wal-Mart is trying to open stores every where. Craig, Colorado is no different and the local businesses do not wish to see them build one there. The sad fact remains that they have signed an agreement with the city to build a neighborhood market instead of a Mega-Center.
I travel to Craig on business quite often. My wallet puckers up when I see that the four convenience stores there are selling unleaded gas for over 3 dollars a gallon when 45 miles north, in a small town called Baggs, WY, they are 40 cents cheaper a gallon. Three of the stores are privately owned and the fourth is owned by City Market, who by the way is part of the Kroger Food Chain.
The building of a Wal-Mart neighborhood store should benefit the community of Craig. They will be selling gas and should be stiff competition for the four convenience stores who seem to have a monopoly there on gas. Not to mention the food prices that are at least 10 percent higher than its neighboring city of Steamboat Springs. I'm not siding with Wal-Mart but in rare cases like this, they can be very helpful in fighting the local inflation on gas and food prices. (Don't tell Wal-Mart, it might make their heads swell even bigger than it already is)

What happened to a free market? How come whenever someone or something does exceptionally well in this country all of a sudden they become the bad guy? The Yankees, Walmart, Microsoft etc etc. What happened to capitalism? Let Walmart weed out those companies that can't compete and provide consumers with the lowest prices. If consumers want to keep these mom and pop shops around then they will shop there. Why should these stores get welfare assistance from the government? By not allowing Walmart into certain markets then there is no incentive for businesses to improve. Personally I don't even like Walmart, but I don't think it is fair to keep them out of certain markets just because mom and pop stores want to continue gouging customers.

The job you save by NOT shopping at the Chinese Flea market called Walmart may be your own, aren't there enough people out of work in this country, with out buying all the chinese crap in Walmart?

You go Hurcules, I live in Savannah, GA and Wal-Mart is expanding everywhere. First Target wanted to build and the area called Sandfly (it's a historical area) fought it so they decided to go elsewhere. Then along came Wal-Mart and with their power, not only did they build a supercenter, they are also building a large Sams right next door and including a gas station. My sympathy goes to the folks in the area. I think if they had to do it over again they probably would have allowed Target. Shame on Wal-Mart, but they will go elsewhere in the vicinity and people will go there. They used to sell a majority of Made in America now they sell mostly junk made in China that doesn't last. Do you really think they open to save you the consumer money, I think not!

It is a hard battle between between knowing the great prices you can get at Wal Mart and the negative effects the store brings. However convient the stores may be, there is no doubt that the globalization with corporations like this has many terrible effects in other countries and some in ours. Yes, we are capatalists. But I think we should also be capitalists that not only self- interested and inward America looking. We are in control of our market- and what we do here effects the entire world.

In our little community of Sandfly there was a space that Target wanted to build on and they were voted out by the community, then along came the giant with its lawyers and now not only do we have a supercenter, next door they are constructing a Sams Store and a service station. Was a time when they sold a majority of Made in America, now most of it is made in China, even our American Flags!! How distressing that is! The merchandise is very poor quality. Are they doing it to save you money? Think again!

I own a small restaurant and it's becomes a tough market when all the huge chain restaurants move into town. Fortunately, I have devout regular customers who also don't care for the same food, different name of every chain. That being said, it still creates a void on certain nights and if were to go under 16 people would lose their jobs. How many families are devasted when a Wal-Mart moves in? Untold thousands. So you pay a couple dollars less for a t-shirt....but you give a job to a Chinese person...well how nice of you. When the US becomes the third world country it's heading to because of all you people who want cheap toothpaste, do you think the Chinese will have pity on us and give our jobs back?

Wal-Mart is moving into a lot across the street from my subdivision. It was voted on last Nov narrowly passed, then city councel voted to approve it. It has been a heated battle. We have a Walmart just 18 blocks directly north, so why do we need another one so close? Other than Mervyns pulled out of the mall, I'm sure the city needs to make up lost money. Im not looking forward to increased traffic, noise, crime (my daughter and I left one store due to a bomb scare), possibly decreased home values. Several neighbors have their houses up for sale. We are getting a 6 foot tall brick wall in our back yard for a sound buffer starting this fall. Wal-Mart just is trying to put stores every where it can, it nice to hear when towns are successful blocking their stores!

I am so tired to Wal-mart bashers. You guys are nothing but a bunch of pretentious snobs. I rather go
shopping at Wal-mart then sit behind your cadillac
escalade, destroying the air that I breathe, while you talk on your cell phone and sip your starbuck's coffee. So don't worry, we are still ingoring you and
are still happy where we live and still shopping and working at Wal-mart.

Congrats to Hercules. Many in New Orleans fought against a Walmart in one of our historic districts but lost. It's not just businesses but locals that are effected. Walmart would not build a ramp to park on their roof and now I can't park in front of my house because they built a store limited to the acreage they bought and not enough parking for the volume predicted.

I love our free market society. I'm happy for the owners, stockholders and employees of Walmart. What I'm NOT happy about is the now lousy service and overall filth that Walmart brings to communities. Don't tell me it doesn't happen...other stores truly can't compete, with Walmart prices. In my little hometown, once the competition was driven out of town, the quality, cleanliness and service was driven out of Walmart. They don't bother stocking anything that isn't barebones essential, you get laughed at when you make a product request, and the floor clerks seem put out to wait on you. No wonder, I think they make next to nothing! Yep, you STILL get what you pay for. I avoid WalMart like the plague now.

Beware! Wal-Mart moved into our small town a few years ago and ran out the K-Mart. Small business here has suffered drastically as I have watched them go under, I miss them now since they had been a part of our community for 40 years or more. As a small business owner myself, I STRUGGLE to keep afloat now, just like all the small businesses here. Yep, they move in, small business goes under, and guess what, the service at Wal-Mart STINKS!!!! No one knows nothing, doesn't care, and forget getting any kind of help! Their pay stinks, the products stink, everything about them stinks! Hold your nose America, or you might be smelling it in your town, stand up now and say NO to Wal-Mart or I promise, you will regret it.

I think Wal-Mart has a very negative effect on just about everything. We have one in our town of East Stroudsburg,PA and It just brings all the trash and riff-raff wwith it. Last year there was a shooting in the parking lot drug related of course. We have lost a lot of good businesses in town. There are always articles in our local region paper about Wal-Marts mistreatment of its employees like unfair wages.not providing enough hours for workers to receive medical benifits any paying female employees less wages than male employees. The Wal-Mart in our town even tried to have their taxes reduced!! cAN YOU BELIEVE THAT!! The place is always filthy and the service reaaly stinks. The clerks are lazy and have terrible attitudes. It's just a bad experience all together. I refuse to shop there. We have a K-mart across the street and I shop there all the time. The service and attitudes are much better. K-mart has been in town for years and the pay emmployees better and I know people who work thre and they all have medical benifits. I think that if big chain stores are going to cause negative effects for small towns, that he towns should be able to use use the emenant domain factor to get them out be all means !!!!

I LIKE THE TERM CHINESE FLEA MARKET! THERE IS A WEB SITE CALLED WAKE UP WAL-MART.IN CASE SOME OF YOU DON'T KNOW. THERE IS AT LEAST TWO VIDEOS ABOUT THE TACTICS OF WAL-MART ONE IS IS WAL-MART GOOD FOR THE ECONOMY, AND IM SORRY I CANT REMEMBER THE NAME OF THE OTHER,BUT NETFLIX CARRIES BOTH OF THEM. WAL-MART HAS BEEN SUCH AN AWFUL RETAILER, POSSIBLY THE PEOPLE WHO AREN'T AWARE ARE BETTER OFF, OR MAYBE THOSE OF US WHO DO KNOW SHOULD EDUCATE THEM, AN LET THEM DESIDE FOR THEMSELVES. IN SOME CASES LIKE HERCULES CALIF, THEY ARE LOOKING OUT FOR THEMSELVES, THEY DON'T WANT WAL-MART THERE BECAUSE: IT WOULD DESTROY THEIR ECONOMY; ITS SAD TO SEE A SMALL TOWN THAT HAS SO MANY EMPTY STOREFRONTS, THAT WERE ONCE FAMILY BUSINESSES. BECAUSE WAL-MART HAS BUILT A STORE IN THEIR AREA. AN THERE ARE PLACES LIKE THIS. THEY DONT WANT THE TRAFFIC, AND QUALITY OF PEOPLE THAT WAL-MART CAN ATTRACT, IVE SEEN STORY AFTER STORY ON THE NEWS ABOUT SOMEONE, FOR SOME REASON OR ANOTHER, EITHER GETTING SHOT IN WAL-MARTS PARKING LOT OR IN THE STORE. SOME TIMES ITS BETTER TO PAY THE FEW EXTRA CENTS ON THINGS THAN GOING FOR THE CHEAP WAY. AN AS FAR AS RUNNING K-MART OUT THAT TOO MIGHT BE A BLESSING, ITS OWNED NOW BY SEARS, AND THAT GOOD OLD AMERICAN,RETAILER IS NOW OWNED BY THE CHINESE. SO WHICH FLEA MARKET IS BETTER.

There is so much crap and so many lies going on about Wal-Mart that it's getting disgusting dealing with all of the ignorance of these naysayers. I'm convinced that most of the complaints come from a vested minority of union-biased idiots and just plain ignorant non-thinkers. Anyone that's recently been at one of the new Supercenters and talked with the SATISFIED, HAPPY employees there would soon realize how ridiculous this whole anti-Walmart scenario really is. Also, where do you think the merchandise that's sold at Target, Kmart Sears, etc. comes from? CHINA !!!! you fools.

You all really need to do your homework if you think Walmart is not going to hurt you or your community someway. We live in between to small towns and both now have Super Centers. And that's all we have it's sad. My husband's employer that he has worked for for 25 yrs. just up and moved to Mexico! Why? So they could build their product cheaper and sell to WALMART!
We don't have a whole lot of money, but I will tell you I will only shop at local stores and maybe spend .01 to .05 more per item. If we all would do that we would not need Walmart. Please I urge you to shop local. We are only hurting ourselves if we don't. Why let them control the prices they buy and sell at. Just keep shopping and your job will be next!

Walmart's acceptance in a community must be based on constitutional and historic fact. When realtors in large cities wanted to exclude minorities from integrating a community, they would "red line" that area. That practice was unconstitutional and illegal. Eminent domain is the real Walmart issue. Eminent domain is a form of "red lining" to maintain a status quo. It is illegal and is a greater threat to the USA than any Walmart intrusion. Zoning laws and community standards can demand concessions from Walmart but the right to build within reason is their right. The unions are scared stiff of Walmart and protest much too loudly for the wrong reasons. Be afraid of the Communist tactic of "eminent domain". It's a bigger threat than Walmart can ever become. Walmart provides more employment for the elderly and handicapped than any other retailer I know. They are a good responsible neighbor and deserve more balanced reporting than they receive.

there was talk of a wal mart coming to our small town of 3000.. i am opposed,,, i used to go to walmart all the time, but this last Christmas season, yes i typed "Christmas" and not Holidays(sorry if i offend the 14% of u out there) when employees were told not to say Merry Christmas but happy holidays instead that just tripped my trigger. i am sure that their best profit months are november and december, due to CHRISTMAS lining their pockets well and yet, can't acknowledge the real reason why, it's the holidays according to them and not CHRISTMAS. so now i go to shopko for my needs and also to the eye doctor,,,, if the big wigs don't want to recognize Christ, well, let them reap the benefiets,,, for there are no silver linings in a coffin, no luggage racks on top of a hearst, or a u haul behind one either

I just think it's sad that a community is using something that was designed to allow them to put roads in as a way to keep Wal-Mart out. I am not a fan of "Corporate America." But I am also not a fan of not allowinng free enterprise. I own a small tax and accounting office, but I don't complain about the big three tax companies. I can stay in business even with my competition pushing its way on to every corner (probably 5-8 within a mile of my office) because I provide better service then they do. That's what it is about. If the local shops don't stay in business it's because they're not providing the services/products people want. I frequently go to small/non-chain restaurants or stores because I get the personal service I don't get at other places. But to just shut Wal-Mart out is a cop out. I think it's a pathetic trend that this city is trying to start and I hope that Wal-Mart fights it all the way up the chain--and then doesn't build the store there, but just proves that this lame try to keep them out won't happen. If the city is so sure it's people don't want Wal-Mart there then why don't they let the numbers prove it! If Wal-Mart goes in but no one shops there then they're right....but my guess is Wal-Mart with thrive, because everyone wants to save time and money and that's what Wal-Mart does.

Remember economics? If more people would join me in NOT shopping at Wal-Mart we could get rid of them. Kudos to Hercules (great name) for not buckling under the pressure of Wal-Mart big $$$ and their team of lawyers. If Wal-Mart were so interested in the well being of the working poor in the communities they say they wish to serve, then they would become a co-op. This corporation is a wolf in sheep's clothing made in CHINA!!!!!