The rapid proliferation of suburban big-box stores hit a pronounced
bump when
Wal-Mart failed in an aggressive effort to build at least 130,000
square feet to
sell everything from clothing to car tires in suburban Los Angeles.
The world's
largest retailer spent $1 million on a ballot initiative and a
charm offensive,
but residents weren't buying.
This
was more than the familiar battle between superstores and Main
Street
shopkeepers fearful of competition. With superstores now ubiquitous,
the
corporations that build them have been grabbing for increasingly
inappropriate
parcels of land to continue their expansion. The results of the
vote in
Inglewood, Calif., a community of 113,000 mostly black and Hispanic
residents,
showed that a much broader slice of the community than the owners
of mom-and-pop
hardware stores disapproved.
Elected
officials in Inglewood had already rejected Wal-Mart's overtures
last year. The ballot initiative would have bypassed not only
that decision but
also any scrutiny of the effect a superstore may have had on the
town. The chain
dangled the promise of hundreds of jobs and help for a community
in which many
residents are unemployed and many more are underemployed. One-fifth
live below
the poverty line. That apparently did not allay concerns over
increased traffic,
the environment and Wal-Mart's low-wage, nonunion jobs.
In
many places, Wal-Mart workers are among the working poor. The
company
picks up health costs for fewer than half its employees nationwide,
and those
without other options -- like a spouse with an insurance plan
-- may wind up
depending on state-subsidized health programs or local emergency
rooms.
Further,
the entry of such an especially tight-fisted employer in a community
compels competitors to whittle at their own labor costs. That
translates into
lost jobs and smaller paychecks for everyone. The recent long
strike by
California grocery workers had its roots in stores' fears they
could eventually
be put out of business by Wal-Mart "supercenters," which
also sell groceries.
The
Inglewood battle took on a moral as well as an economic tone.
A coalition of business, union, religious and community leaders
led the opposition, and residents voted against the store by a
ratio of three to two. Wal-Mart has said it will press ahead with
its larger plans to construct 40 supercenters around California.
It may have to give up on Los Angeles, which may ban megastores.
Other
communities can also be expected to be emboldened by Wal-Mart's
setback.
In the end, people may love low prices, until they take a closer
look at the
real costs.
