Usually, when I look for material for this space, I search Google News or check Wal-Mart Watch, or maybe even the oxymoronic walmartfacts.com. This time I found it my local paper.
Rocky Ford is on the plains of southeastern Colorado. I don't drive that direction very much, but I think it's about 50 miles east of Pueblo. You should also understand that The Pueblo Chieftain, where this story comes from, is VERY conservative:
One of Rocky Ford's two grocery stores will close, citing a dropoff in business following the drought and the 2000 opening of a Wal-Mart store in nearby La Junta.
McClain's Super Market, owned by Robbie and Cindy McClain's family since 1975, announced the store will close at the end of October.
<snip>
La Junta's Wal-Mart Super Center opened in March of 2000 and, as in other cities in the country, some competing small businesses became casualties.
"We noticed a change right away because sales went way down less than a week after the Wal-Mart opened. It's hard to compete with a big box store especially when our store is so small," McClain said.
The 16,000-square-foot McClain's building pales in comparison to the giant Wal-Mart store located on U.S. 50 just west of La Junta.
Cindy McClain said that beyond Wal-Mart offering more of a selection, her family's store also couldn't compete with the giant retailer's prices. "Wal-Mart came in with hot prices and everybody bought into it and then they raised their prices after a few years but everyone got used to shopping there," she said.
[emphasis added in all quotes]
I hate to say I told you so, but I believe I've been writing that for months now.
And now the part that will make you want to pull your hair out:
Marty Heires, a Wal-Mart spokesman, said Wednesday that the company never looks to harm local businesses.
"We never enter an area with the intent of impacting other businesses, but what happens is that we come to an area and we bring some very low prices and it is difficult for some to compete directly against Wal-Mart," Heires said.
Maybe somebody could ask Marty about what Wal-Mart calls "market development," and most people call building a Wal-Mart every five miles or so in large suburban areas.
Making this story all too typical, is a lame quote from a local economic development officer:
Julie Worley, executive director of Rocky Ford Growth in Progress, the town's economic development agency, said she believes Wal-Mart is playing a role in the demise of some smaller businesses, but that it is not the sole reason businesses are closing.
"Wal-Mart is a fact of life. They are everywhere and we just have to accept them and we have to learn how to work and market around them," Worley said.
Do you have any hair left by now?
JR