"Sad thing is, “Mom and Pop” can’t afford to stay open 24 hours in order to compete."

Note to mom and pop: Change your hours and stay in business. I grew up in a small town with a walmart that has never been open for 24 hours. It's called competition. In high school, I worked for a locally owned grocer in the same town as a huge wallmart and our hours were 8-midnight. We did fine. In fact, that store, along with the local walmart, has grown. Capitalism is an amazing thing when you don't hate it.

That is not entirely true. Many people would rather give their business to the so-called "mom and pop" shops, but such stores are, unfortunately, only open around 9-5, especially in smaller towns. People who work can't make it to those stores during those hours, so they're forced to do their shopping at Wal-Mart. Such is the reason Wal-Mart always does so well in small towns.

Sad thing is, "Mom and Pop" can't afford to stay open 24 hours in order to compete.

I'm sick of the 'anti-Walmart' propaganda. They put a regional warehouse in here and the protesters started up immediately -- until the local news did some digging and found out that they paid BETTER than the other warehouses for the same jobs and had better benefits.

It's the UNIONS behind the propaganda that are the real danger to the US, not Wal-Mart....

Is business a bad thing?

How much are you making off Neato's advertising?

Unions have a good and bad side. They protect the workers rights by limiting the amount of hours per week the company forces you to take as well as ensuring you get paid comfortably and far better than what we non-union workers get. However, limiting worktime also limits the quality of the quantity of work we received from them. Also, it's much harder for me to find a new job since most paint shops are unionized. Such is life...

One thing that does bother me about WalMart is that 90% (my guess) of what they sell is made in China. So it's not so much the takeover of the U.S. by WalMart
that worries me. It's the takeover by the Chinese.

Gauldar "Hmm, I would have thought there to be more Walmarts in the bible belt areas....."

What is it you are trying to say?

I lived in Europe most of my life and wish there were something like it there. Saves sooo much money and so much time...

I can afford to shop anywhere I want and where I want to shop most often is Walmart--better fresh produce, better value on lots of other things. (I don't buy much meat there--I don't like theirs much.)

And they take care of people like truck drivers who need a place to stop and sleep--lots of places don't allow anyplace for trucks to stop and rest.

What IS IT with you lefties that you hate a successful business that provides value to its customers, takes care of its employees, and is first on the line when the community is in a jam?

In general I dont really care if Walmart builds. I was disappointed about the location of this one because they destroyed a BMX track in an open field that my friends and I spent an entire summer building about 18 years ago and has been used by kids ever since. Also about a dozen businesses that were on the same property are now gone.

Since its been built there has already been an increase in crime in that neighbourhood, including on the Walmart premises.

I dont shop there, not because of some moral judgement against Walmart but because I am not comfortable in Walmart and can afford to shop in a place that does not make me uncomfortable.

Never forget.