Bill
wrote: Harry,
Wal-Mart is cheap and I do shop there. Something about the end of small
stores and the fact that Wal-Mart and others use basically a temporary work
force that will have to live totally off of SS at the end it would
appear.
There
are other points to consider.
As the Institute for Self-Reliance (www.islr.org)
and The Hometown Advantage
(Stacy Mitchell) document, communities dominated by corporate chains are
worse off economically than are diverse economies maintaining small-scale,
locally owned enterprises. Here
is Mitchell’s list of why, paraphrased by yours truly:
1.
Jobs and taxes. A new Home Depot will not sell anymore hammers and nails
than 3 local hardware stores – it’s supply and demand. But because the Home
Depot will eventually force the local stores to decline, all the revenue
exchange goes out of town rather than staying local. For every 1 job that a Wal-Mart
provides it takes away 3 previous jobs.
2.
Public costs. Land use patterns accommodating big corporate retail
contribute not just to sprawl but the costs of additional roads, sewers and
fire and police protection. This adds to the costs local taxpayers are
already paying without adding to the revenue base when corporations have
received lucrative tax incentives.
The community bears the brunt of the investment and gets a small
return in the long run.
3.
Multiplier effect. Indie
retailers keep their profits local, and tend to trade goods and do business
with other local operations, such as accountants, lawyers, advertisers,
printers, and of course, local banks.
Chain stores not only distribute from giant national warehouses but
produce their advertising and do their other support tasks outside the
community in which they build.
Sending your consumer dollars to Arkansas (much less offshore banks-
kwc) is not good for community sustainability in the long term.
4.
Fewer Choices. Consolidation of
buying patterns reduces choices and the range of products available to the
consumer. You can see this on
your grocer’s shelves when mega buyers demand more shelf space or at the
bookstore where one Barnes & Nobles is just like every other in terms of
selection. (What about local culture and color? – kwc)
5.
Monopoly Prices. Surveys found
that prices vary significantly from one major chain outlet to another and
are higher in areas where the local competition has been eliminated. This includes Wal-Mart and Home
Depot. (Note lawsuits where
unfair business practices are proliferating – kwc)
6.
Long-term Commitment. Local
merchants are residents of the communities they invest in, it’s where they
pay their taxes and raise their children, whereas global chains are highly
mobile. In addition to
demanding tax incentives to come into a community, when they leave with
changing economic winds they leave behind large properties not well-suited
to other development, and in fact often hold their leases for years to keep
competitors from coming in, so that vacant big box stores are now a common
blight – by itself, Wal-Mart has almost 400 empty stores across the
US.
7.
The Big Picture. Economic
research being gathered shows that cookie cutter developments lessen a
community’s appeal to entrepreneurs and skilled workers and in the long run
reduces prospects for new investments and jobs.
Too
many of us for too long have assumed that bigger is better, that the
liabilities are offset by the advantages, or this is just “the price of
progress”. Aside from the
environmental and social/civic costs to the community when local businesses
are displaced, there is the even broader issue of democracy and sovereignty,
since large corporate chains are wielding their assets long-distance. What needs to be addressed here,
those who are studying this seem to be saying is, level the playing field
with public policy. For those
of us in industrialized countries staring at sprawl and closed businesses
with high unemployment, we should be addressing the rules of doing business
at the local level more intelligently and aggressively. I am a cultural Globalist but want to
see local businesses have as much given to them as the big corporate houses.
Who needs a monoculture? It’s all about balance and
moderation. –
KWC
Also
see Failed
Empire,
a four part series in the Buffalo News concerning enterprise zones and tax
incentives http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20030608/1048744.asp
or contact
me offline for a compiled Word document.
