Run Screaming, It's Wal-Mart!

I was just out to Port Perry for a wonderful day soaking up the friendly, small-town atmosphere. My other half and I spent time taking photos down by the lake, and delighting in the taste-tempters to be had at the Pantry Shelf, as well as browsing the small stores that nestle up to each other along their main street. For someone used to the big box store and sprawling mall approach that Toronto takes to retail, Port Perry's stores offer an oasis of relaxed, no-pressure shopping.
We stopped for a latte and I found myself looking in horror at a 6-page paper being circulated by the group called "Concerned Citizens of Scugog". It decries the proposed opening of a Wal-Mart shopping centre in Port Perry.
The paper makes some damn good points. Citing a November 2005 study done on the effects of Wal-Mart openings on communities, it should give anyone food for thought. The credentials of the study's authors certainly give credence to its content. They are as follows:
DAVID NEUMARK
University of California, Irvine - Department of Economics; Public Policy Institute of California; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
JUNFU ZHANG
Clark University
STEPHEN M. CICCARELLA Jr.
Cornell University - Department of Economics; Public Policy Institute of California
The study found that a Wal-Mart opening reduces county-level retail employment by approximately 150 workers, indicating that each Wal-Mart worker replaces approximately 1.4 retail workers. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but that means an actual drop in the number of those drawing a paycheque in the retail sector. That might not be a big problem, I suppose, as long as every one who beomes one of those 1.4 is all smiles and chuckles about losing their livelihood to the giant retailer. I'm guessing, however, that not every one who loses their job is going to be happy about it. The study states that the average loss in retail employment following an opening is 2.7%. Wal-Mart boasts ad nauseum that they are continually lowering the prices but that does no one any good at all if there are fewer and fewer local people with any money to spend. Can someone explain, please, how all this is supposed to do anything good for the local economy?
Another valid point the Concerned Citizens make is about the size of the behemoth looming over their community. The proposed store would be a 125,000 square-foot blight on the landscape, just about 2.5 times larger than Reid's Independent, the area's current large retailer. Again, can anyone explain to me why someone made the decision that this small town should have one of the largest Wal-Marts in Canada dumped on it? The Citizens do a little interesting math on their paper around this issue. They tell their readers that dividing 20,173, the number of their residents by the store's planned square footage would give every man, woman, and child 6,2 square feet all to themselves when they go shopping, if they all go at once, of course. That figure, by the way, does not include the area of the parking lot.
Why, why, why? This is just plain stupid. It's not progress. It is simply yet another money grab being proposed by a chain not exactly known for caring about the communities in which they establish their economy-busting emporiums.
The paper that rained all over my parade that sunny day in Port Perry stayed completely away from the question of ethics, or lack thereof, involved in Wal-Mart's union bashing, pathetically low wages and merchandise sourcing. I'll do the same since I do want to finish this blog entry sometime today rather than sometime next week. I do, however, wish the Concerned Citizens of Scugog all the very best in their quest to keep this pox from infecting their neighbourhood.