Why I Won't Shop at Wal-Mart

Everyone has been reading the flak in recent years about Wal-Mart and its employment practices, its overseas suppliers and poor working conditions. Yet, thousands of consumers continue to flock to the big box giant, increasing Wal-Mart's profits and allowing their overpaid CEO to rake in the big bucks. I, for one, refuse to support their overwhelming presence in the United States retail forum and these are the reasons why:

1. When Wal-Mart comes to town, the "little guy" is squeezed out. Wal-Mart creates an atmosphere of unfair competition, particularly in rural and suburban America. I grew up in a small town in New Mexico where local shop owners knew their customers and did their business locally in an effort to illustrate the principle of "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours". My family owned a local business and we knew all our customers by name. By the same token, I could walk into any store, be greeted with warm hospitality as an individual and promptly helped. After Wal-Mart came to town, all that changed. The little shopkeepers of downtown disappeared one by one, put out of business by the giant retailer. It all came home to me one day when I needed to buy a spool of thread. No longer could I walk downtown and visit the local fabric store (they had gone out of business months earlier) but instead I was forced to go to Wal-Mart as they were now the only place that carried thread. A simple purchase of a dollar item took over half an hour of fighting for a parking space, wending through hordes of customers and standing in line for what seemed like forever. After I moved away, even more of the shops I grew up with closed their doors. Today, if you need to buy an item of clothing, Wal-Mart is your only choice as all the local department stores have left. Should you need groceries, only one option is available to consumers other than the newly created, giant-sized Super Wal-Mart and who knows how long it will be before they, too, are squeezed out.