In my travels I saw an angel dancing on the head of a pin! This raises the question: How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? I am grateful that we have this Travel Forum which affords me the opportunity to post this travel-related query. I look forward to resolving this matter by day's end. (They sell angels @ Walmart, don't they?)

S:

I know what you mean about abandoned former Wal-Mart stores. I have seen several. Rarely does it get replaced by something that draws as much attention. And the stores in the same shopping center left behind by Wal-Mart often suffer because of it.

I can recall an instance in Madison, Georgia where the town successfully kept Wal-Mart away, if I am remembering it right. They have a very busy courthouse square area (where part of "In the Heat of the Night" TV series was filmed) that they wanted to keep busy. But it took quite a lot of doing on the part of locals. In many towns, people aren't willing to spend the time doing it.

I don't think Wal-Mart is totally evil but I do think I've seen enough. My brother-in-law read last week that they intend on building more new stores this year than they have in all previous years of operation combined. ACK.

Yes, yes, yes, Walmart has destroyed some downtowns. So has KMart, Target and the basic shopping mall. But where else can you buy panty hose and a shotgun in the same store?

Walmart wants to shove a super Walmart down the throats of scenic Kent Island, MD. Plans are to put it at the foot of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Though I am sure the poll wasn't absolutely accurate, the Bay Times did a phone poll of the county- something like 92 % of the people did not want a Walmart. But Walmart's fighting to go ahead anyway. If Walmart wins, Acme goes out of business. Acme, which pays living wages. And Walmart doesn't. Ask anyone who works for them.

If being a consumer is all you have going for you, join the rah-rah gang for Walmart. But if you love your neighbors and your community and your friends and wish to conserve land you regard sacred, you should be against Walmart.

I can't speak for the rest of the country, but the small towns in the deep South were in decline as far back as the late 60's, and that was long before Walmart.

We lost our monkey thread FOR THIS???

Sorry, that response was supposed to go on the 'Key West' thread.

Where is your personal responsibility in this??

Isn't it the responsibility of citizens in a town to patronize their local businesses? If they chose to shop at Wal-Mart don't they have that right?

This is still America. If you dislike Wal-Mart, vote with your wallet and don't shop there. But don't complain or deny someone else the right to do so.

By the way, if Wal-Mart can sell products at a significanlty lower price level than the local merchant, doesn't that mean that the people in town increase their purchasing power.

Otherwise, it sounds like you support high prices and an inefficient economy.

Oh, come off it all! Can't you see that the WalMarts and Meiers and Lowes are the future of America?

Aren't they the trendsetters in land developments? (And abandonment.) How about that rampant capitalizm? (On inferior, homoginized sales items.) And they have been the "made in the USA" flagwavers for a decade! (When they haven't been pulling off those "made in Mexico, China, or forced labor camp" labels and replacing with yellow happy-face stickers.)

But the big contribution to the trend is that they will "hire" ALL those laid off dotcom employees or General Motor workers -- but at the part-time level (up to 35 hours per week) so they won't get benefit packages. Minor little things unnecessary to "the little people" like health insurance or disability, don'tcha know?

But I'm getting too somber for the happy escapisms of this travel forum. Back to travel daydreams of Maui timeshare owners!

Mr Killjoy,
It sounds like you don't like our country very much. Our free-enterprise system of capitalism, is seemingly overwhelming your senses.

Perhaps you might consider relocating to a country like Sweden. Their system of Socialism might appeal to you. I gather you don't mind 80% tax rates?

Alternatively, you might try France. Their labor unions are very good about preventing corporate layoffs by demanding full employment. Of course, when they company has no choice but to close down, like Roeun-Poulonex, because it can't restructure, that 10% unemployment rate could become a problem when trying to find another job.

Or you may want to consider Sub-Saharan Africa. Their inability to have any kind of economy will prevent problematic decisions on things like finding a job, feeding your family, voting, self-determination, etc, etc.

Teddy Roosevelt and William Howard Taft were very pro-business. But they saw that something was amiss when someone like John D. Rockefeller could corner the oil market. So they scrapped laissez-faire for the good of the people and the good of the economy. They busted up the trusts. Today, Walmart is trying to corner several different commercial markets. Unless we want to doom our kids to being $ 7 an hour clerks with no health insurance, we should fight the Walmarts.

In the name of economic efficiency, maybe we should hand over Yellowstone Park to Disney (sarcasm). Turn over the Washington Monument to American Airlines.

Phil, do you mean Rhone-Poulenc?

I think they are still around under the name "Aventis" (www.aventis.com)

Forgive the spelling and yes I do mean Rhone-Poulnec.

Well, there is NO WallMart in Key West, is there?

Sounds like I'm in the minority because I LOVE Walmart. When I moved to Chicago it took me a while to find one as there are none in the city and the closest is on Touhy Avenue in Skokie. The problem is even when I make that 40 min. drive (at least once a month I might add) just to go to the the Walmart its just not the same because it's is not a Super-Walmart like I was used too. Complain if you want but Walmart especially the Super Walmarts are convenient. Convenience is the name of the game and it is one stop shopping. I can drop off a precription for glasses when I get first get there (they have their own optometrists) go buy all my supplies, then on to the side that is full-size grocery store, deli and bakery, get my medical prescriptions filled, sit down and eat at the full-service restaurant even get my oil changed and tires rotated. By the time I leave I have all of my errands done without going place to place in and out and checking out several different times. For a busy working girl, there is nothing better than one stop shopping not to mention that their prices are lower because they buy in bulk. Evidentlyy I'm not the only one who likes them either, every time I go I have to drive around and look for a parking space as the lot is always full!

Shane wrote: "Unless we want to doom
our kids to being $7 an hour clerks with no health insurance, we should fight the Walmarts." Well, Shane, who is "we"? If you mean all those who think as you do, and they number enough to make a difference, then voting with your feet will indeed be effectively fighting WalMart. However, if the numbers are insufficient to achieve the effects you desire, then what you're advocating leads me to believe that you feel you're a better judge of what's best for the people than they are. I happen to think that I'm smarter than you are, and therefore would like to be able to make my own choice. I'll bet that very few people on this forum think that you're smarter than they are (can we see a show of hands?). Can you spell "elitism"?

I again ask -- where is the TRUE travel related question in this?

Isn't this a troll started by people who are completely certain that they alone know what's best for the consumers and residents of an area, and that only they should have the authority to decide what stores people can shop at?

If the residents of a community freely choose to buy at WalMart instead of their downtown merchants, I see no reason to tell them otherwise. If, after a WalMart opens in a town, its residents freely choose not to shop there and instead choose their downtown shops (with higher prices, less selection, fewer hours of operation, stingier return policies, and a total refusal to base promotions on anything but family connections), the WalMart will close down. People who drive by won't support the WalMart (of course, they didn't support downtown merchants, either).

I'm not fond of consumerism, and even less of the consequences of shopping malls throughout rural America. But I'm MUCH less fond of people telling me that they, and they alone, should decide for me where I can shop.

Dear Shane, instead of "dooming" your kids to $7/hr jobs, you should instill in your kids the ambition to be the CEO of companies like Walmart, if they choose. Or if your kid came home with a job paying couple of hundred thou, would you throw him out as an infidel? Or are you teaching your kid 'us vs them' mentality, which will guarantee he will be doomed to a life of envy and hate?
Oh yeah, and xx1 up there, I really hate it when all those "other" cars come and use "my" street. It's so inconsiderate of them.
In the meantime, inspired by the above socialistic drivel, I have looked into all the web sites of the box retailers, and in an effort to boycott travels to any town in which one is located, have determined that I must move to _____? Where? And when I find that place, I must never leave it. (I sure did like buying my food at Costco. It was so much cheaper. Oh well)