The phone rang twice in five minutes today with auto-spamming messages for and against the proposition. Aaargh!
Walmart is famously anti union, and predictably almost every unionized market in town passes out handouts for 'yes'
However, Walmart's pay is somewhere in the middle between unionized supermarkets and small independent non union markets. There was some data posted on this in the paper, but without the source being given. (I'm not repeating the actual numbers).
The bit about only poor people shopping at Walmart is not a point I intend to assert or support. I call this 'troll debris'.
and is best left untouched.
Some first hand information on shopping in Flagstaff -
Walmart does
not always have the lowest prices. It does pay to look around.
We have a 'dollar store' where everything is a dollar. There is also a Sam's Club (owned by walmart). Sam's is a membership store that specializes in bulk quantities and sales to small businesses. other stores offer significant discounts if you join their shopping card clubs and seek discounts. Walmart does not usually discount but relies on blanket low prices.
There is already a 104,000 sq ft Walmart here, and it sits in a shopping center next to a Basha's (traditional supermarket). The Walmart is the only market open 24 hours a day. (This is not one of the Walmarts that locks employees in on 3rd shift.)
There are several competing clusters of supermarkets in town, including one near the middle of town with two major competitors across the street from each other. These markets are mixed in with some car dealerships. If a big box Walmart were constructed (far side of east Flagstaff) , the car dealerships would be moved over to the new area as an anchor, freeing up a lot of prime retail space for something else.
The east side of Flagstaff has seen a huge decline in businesses over the past few years, there is only one real market left - a Safeway. Safeway has a parody site called 'slaveway', and personal experience indicates that at least here, they have some management problems resulting in high employee turnover and worse, persistent problems I would ascribe to poor management hiring decisions and employee training.
I do agree though, that Walmart will eventually have their way on this one. (And I'm sure my vote does not really matter)
I'm not sure I care much. I do not purchase music from them, and I shop at other places when I can. My primary complaint about them is that their size adds an unsavory aspect to their habit of only carrying books and music that agree with their so called 'family shopping experience'.
This habit leaves a big niche for competition though.
Walmart employees here seem happy and well treated.
Other large stores succeed in the vicinity of a Walmart. The existing walmart (with the Basha's) has a Kohl's next door.
I have seen a 'bad' Walmart impact though: Show Low has an ex business district around their Walmart. Looks like a ghost town. Show low does not seem the same shopping environment as Flagstaff though, which has a large pool of shoppers that lives nearby all year. Show Low is seasonal. Flagstaff has a huge influx of shoppers from most of the reservations on weekends.
My conclusion so far is that a big box store would not cause much harm. Moving the car dealerships to the edge of town is a good idea. The Safeway near the proposed location might need to turn into something more specialized else like a health food store like 'Trader Joes' (yeah!).
An east side location would be better for reservation visitors. The east side needs more shopping and business infusion.
Walmart does need to learn to be a better business neighbor, their ads were counter productive. Some of their location decisions DO seem to be destructive to local business. It is good for these discussions to take place within communities.
I do not see Flagstaff as being one of those bad places though.
would tell you the same.
