Wally World Invades Chicago

Anyone ever see the "High Cost of Low Prices"? It's an excellent documentary about the Wal-Mart empire, its business practices and the destruction Wal-Mart stores cause in small communities.

Wal-Mart actually helps its employees sign up for welfare because insurance through the company is too expensive!

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/custom/newsroom/chi-060927wal-mart,1,2878108.story?coll=chi-news-hed


Shoppers storm Chicago's first Wal-Mart

By Emma Graves Fitzsimmons
Tribune staff reporter
Published September 27, 2006, 7:18 PM CDT


Theresa Flores pushed a cart filled with groceries, cleaning supplies and clothing out the doors of Chicago's first Wal-Mart Wednesday after two hours of shopping with her three children in tow.

Driving to the Wal-Mart in Forest Park used to take almost an hour, but the new one is less than 10 minutes from her home in Galewood on the Northwest Side.

"These cost at least half as much here," she said, holding a $10 pair of jeans for her husband. "It's significantly cheaper. And you're going to filter in job opportunities."

Most of the 490 employees hired to work at the West Side's new Wal-Mart were on hand for the grand opening, along with thousands of residents snaking through the aisles and causing a traffic jam in the parking lot. A line formed outside the store before it opened at 8 a.m., and crowds continued throughout the day.

But the stretch of furniture stores and used-clothing shops a few blocks to the east on North Avenue had fewer customers than usual Wednesday, said local business owner Sam Mohamad. He fears that the superstore's arrival will hurt his 3-year-old Dollar City in the area.

"All the stores are empty. I haven't seen people like I usually do," Mohamad said. "We worry about the lease—if we can make enough money. The smaller stores might close down."

The store's opening comes two weeks after aldermen failed to override Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's veto of the city's "big-box" ordinance. The measure would have required large stores like Wal-Mart to pay workers at least $10 an hour by mid-2010.

The new Wal-Mart at 4650 W. North Ave. had been set to open at the end of September, and employee training had been under way since January, said the store's marketing manager, Chad Donath. Wal-Mart is contemplating sites for additional stores in the city.

Store manager Ed Smith said about 98 percent of the employees live in the six wards surrounding the store.

Wal-Mart sales associate Tinesha McKay, 26, a mother of three from Austin, said she makes $7.70 an hour, a $1.50 increase from her previous job as a clerk at a blood bank in Glenview. Her commute has been cut from over an hour to 10 minutes, she said.

"If you wanted good pay, you had to go outside the neighborhood before this," she said. "Now we don't have to travel so far."

Victor Calderon, 27, a father of three from Humboldt Park, said he had been working at a rubber factory through a temp agency before getting a full-time job at Wal-Mart stocking shopping carts.

"It's better than having no wage," Calderon said of the pay. "It's enough to get by for now." He declined to disclose his pay rate but said it is about $2 an hour higher than at his previous job.

But shopper Theresa Flores said the workers deserved higher wages. She said she was disappointed the big-box ordinance" did not pass.

"I believe Wal-Mart can afford it," she said. "I wasn't buying the fact that they wouldn't open stores here. There's too much money to be made."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

efitzsimmons@tribune.com

 

Thanks for checking in, Emma.

Sounds like Walmart.

 

And this is why they can pay the rate they pay.

 

Truth is people always blame Wal-Mart for all the cities problems. Truthfully however most of the people that work at Wal-Mart are not qualified enough to work at better jobs. Having a job is more respectable then not having a job. I would even go far enough to say that because of Wal-Mart some people are not on welfare that were before or at least do not need as much assistance. I do feel however that they could afford to boast the benefits packages and pay for its employees. Unfortunately those same employees do not have the collective will or knowledge to help themselves so we have to help them.

 

Wal-Mart coming into the inner city will create hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs for people who either weren't making what Wal-Mart is offering, or were unemployed altogether.

Demagogue politicians in the Windy City and the usual subjects here can cry and whine all they want about how Wal-Mart isn't paying enough. But what's better, $7.50/hour and a reliable source of income, or being unemployed and wondering where your next check will come from?

Of course, if you're using Wal-Mart as a bogeyman to keep your constituents angry, frustrated and voting for you, or you agree with that approach, then it's the latter. But let's be honest. Working as a checker or stockboy at Wal-Mart certainly isn't an optimal situation for an adult. But, again, the positives outweigh the negatives for many in that very situation.

 

I own stock in Wal-Mart, so I won't bitch about this.

 

I assumed the Bulls traded for Wally Szczerbiak.

 

Ditto.