Cross-posted at the Writing on the Wal.
Honestly, this is a true story. When I moved to Pueblo, Colorado, I asked the rental agent at my apartment complex what was unique and special about my new town. She replied hesitating, "Well, we have the biggest Wal-Mart in the state." I never confirmed whether that statement was true, but I do know now that it is not fair to Pueblo.
Pueblo, if you don't know, is an old steel town and is home to slightly more than 100,000 people. The mill that essentially put the town on the map is along the Interstate that runs through town, so a lot of people don't know anything else about it. Certainly Pueblo has had some tough times since the early 1980s when the mill went into a funk from which it still hasn't emerged, but certainly now there is much more to the town. We have two hospitals, three or four prisons (depending upon what you count as a prison), a university (that is nice enough to employ me), and a Target distribution center which my students who have worked there insist is a very good employer. We also have two Wal-Marts (but more on that in a moment).
While Pueblo is still not an affluent community, there are new upscale shopping choices and bank branches, reflecting the fact that people with money have to be moving in for some reason or another. Perhaps it's because we have the cheapest real estate in the entire state. In Pueblo, you can still buy a stately Victorian house for under $200,000. Pueblo is also full of friendly and interesting people, reflecting the racial and ethnic diversity of the steel company's old hiring patterns. In short, I like it there a lot.
Pueblo West is about three-five miles to the west of Pueblo (depending upon where you're coming and going from) and is now home to almost 30,000 people. It is one of those suburban tract house communities that started in the mid-1960s and grew at a torrid pace during the 1990s. It has no downtown, no sidewalks and no streetlights. Let's just say I live in Pueblo for a reason.
Pueblo West now also has its own Wal-Mart. It opened last Wednesday, and as the Pueblo Chieftain reported:
David James, president of the Pueblo West Chamber of Commerce, noted Wal-Mart's arrival signals a major milestone for a city that is now home to more than 800 small businesses.
Pueblo West planners always envisioned a thriving master-planned community full of both homes and businesses, James said.
"This is a realization of that original vision," James said. "Pueblo West has always been missing that big retail outlet to help complete the puzzle."
Yet communities like Pueblo West don't grow in a vacuum. As the Chieftain points in the last paragraph of its article:
The Pueblo West Wal-Mart is the third to open in the Pueblo area. City of Pueblo leaders are expected to closely monitor the success of the store, and surrounding developments, already anticipating a loss of more than $1 million a year in sales tax revenue.
Indeed, there were already two Wal-Marts (including the alleged biggest one in the state) an easy driving distance from Pueblo West. But that wasn't close enough for some people in Pueblo West:
Betty Camirod, taking a break from studying flowers, volunteered a defense of Wal-Mart against its critics. "I get mad at people against Wal-Mart. I love Wal-Mart," she said. And now she's even happier since a store is close by, she said.
Well Betty, I'm sorry I couldn't come to the opening so that we could talk. If we could, I'd tell you about the children in Bangladesh sewing Wal-Mart's cheap garments and the women all over the country who are suing Wal-Mart for gender discrimination. Would you care? If you were still mad at me, I'd point out that your precious convenience hurts Wal-Mart workers near you too. This is from an e-mail a friend of mine sent me that discusses the new store. He's ex-Wal-Mart management, so he knows of what he speaks (and, of course, a Republican):
The new Pueblo West store is impacting everyone's working hours. I believe the situation is becoming ripe for more associate unrest, company management direction is not making it any better. Their business plan is still dynamic, but without the cooperative and enthusiastic support of the internal customer (the associate), the knock your socks off service needed to be provided for the external customer (consumer) continued patronage will suffer.
In fact, my friend already sees the writing on the Wal (double pun intended):
The stock has been static for over five years and same store growth for first quarter was only one and a quarter percent. These results do not bode well for actual growth, expansion of stores and acquisitions will eventually not replace the market erosion that will occur and I believe has done so all ready.
In the meantime, communities like Pueblo lose the tax revenue that Wal-Mart brags about to justify building countless new stores so that the company attempts to put off the inevitable.
Well, at least Betty is happy.
JR