Walmart s War on Mainstreet

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Journalist and activist Sarah Anderson is the director of

:he Global Econo my Project at the Institute for Policy

Studies, a progressive think tank in W ashington, D.C.

Her ~ vork for the IPS Global Econom y Project includes

researching the impact of financial globalization on is-

sues of social justice and environmental sustainability.

Anderson, ~vho holds a masters degree in international

affairs from A merican University in Washington, D.C.,

and a B.A. in journalism from Northxvestern University,

worked as a consultant to the U.S. Agency for Interna-

tional Development from 1989 to 1992, w hen she

joined the Institute for Policy Studies. She sits on the

steering com mittee of the Alliance for Responsible

Trade and is a b oard mem ber of the Coalition for Jus-

tice in the Maquiladoras. Andersons inxiestigations into

the social and environmental im pact of corporation-

friendly political policies have been published in m any

magazines and journals, including

The Progress ive ,

where Wal-M arts War on Main Street appeared in

1994.

Founded in 1909 as % magazine of progress, so-

cial, intellectual, institutional," The Progressive has for

nearly a century been an advocate for demo cracy,

)eace, social justice, civil rights, civil liberties, and envi-

ronmental awareness, according to its website:

< http://www.progr essive.org/>.

The basem ent of Boyds for Boys and Girls in dow ntown Litchfield, Min- t

nesota, looks like a history museum of the w orst in childrens fashions. All

the real duds from the past forty years have accum ulated down there: wool

pedal-pushers, polyester bell-bottoms, wide clip-on n eckties. Theres a big box

of 1960s fat~ fi~r hats, the kind w ith the fur pompon ties that dangle under a

girls chin. My father, Boyd Anderson, drags all the old stuff up the stairs and

onto the sidexvalk once a year on K razy Daze. A t the end of the day, he lugs

most of it back dow n. Folks around here dont go in m uch for the retro look.

At least for nmv, the museum is only in the basement. Upstairs, Dad

continues to run one of the few remaining indepen dent childrens clothing

stores on Main Street, USA. But this is the age of Wat-Mart, not Main

Street. In 1994, the nations top retailer plans to add 110 n ew U .S. stores

to its cutrent total of 1,967. For every W al-Mart opening , there is more

than one store l ike Boy ds that closes i ts doors.

259


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260 C l la p t e r 5 G e t t in g a n d S p e n d in g : S h o p p i n g W o r k in g a n d V a l u e s

Litchfield, a town of 6,200 people sixty miles ~vest of Minneapolis,

3

started losing Ma in Street businesses at the onset of the farm crisis and the

shopping-mall boom of the early 1980s. As a high-school student during

this time, I rem emb er dinner-table conversation drifting time and again to-

wa rd rmnors of store closings. In those days, Morn frequently cut the con-

versation off short. Lets talk about something less depressing, okay?

Now my fmnily can no longer avoid the issue of Main Street Litchfields

4

precarious future. Dad , at sixty-eight, stands at a crossroads. Should h e re-

tain his faith iu Main Street and pass Boyds dmvn to his children? Or

should he lis ten to the pessimists and close up the forty-one-year-old fam-

ily business before it becomes obsolete?

For several years, Dad has been reluctant to choose either path. The

s

transition to retiretnent is difficult for most people who have ~vorked

hard all their lives. For him, it could signify not only the end of a ~vork-

ing caree~; but also the end of small-town life as he knows it. When

pressed, Dad admits that business on Main Street has been going down-

hill for the past fifteen years. "I just cant visualize what the future for

downtown Litchfield ~vill be," he says. "Ive laid awake nights worrying

about it because I really dont want my kids to be stuck with a business

that ~vill fail."

I am not the aspiring heir to Boyds. I left Litchfield at eighteen for the 6

big city and ~vould have a tough time readjusting to small-town life. lvly

sister Laurie, a nurse, and my sister-in-law C olleen, who runs a farm w ith

my brother Scott, are the ones eager to enter the ring and fight the retail

Goliaths. Both w omen are well suited to the challenge. Between them , they

have seven children ~vho will give thmn excellent tips on kids fashions.

They are deeply rooted in the community and idealistic enough to believe

that Main Street can survive.

My sisters are not alone. Across the country, thousands of rural peo-

7

pie are battling to save their local dmvntmvns. Many of these fights have

taken the form of anti-Wal-Mart campaigns. In Vermont, citizens

groups allowed Wal-Mart to enter the state only after the company

agreed to a long list of demands regarding the size and operation of the

stores. Three Massachusetts towns and another in Maine have defeated

bids by Wal-Mart to build in their communities. In Arkansas, three in-

dependent drugstore mvners won a suit charging that Wal-Mart had

used "predatory pricing," or selling below cost, to drive out competi-

tors. Canadian citizens are askiug Wal-Mart to sign a "Pledge of Cor-

porate Responsibility" before opening in their towns. In at least a dozen

other U.S. communities, groups have fought to keep Wal-Mart out or to

restrict the firms activities.

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S a r a h A n d e r s o n

Wal .Mar t s War on M ain S treet

26

By attacking W al-Mart, these camp aigns have helped raise awareness

of the value of locally owned indepe ndent stores on M ain Street. Their con-

cerns generally fall in five areas:

Sprawl Mart :

Wal-Mart near ly a lways bui lds a long a h ighway

outside town to take advantage of cheap , often unzoned land .

This usually attracts additional commercial development, forc-

ing the comm unity to extend services ( telephone and pow er

lines, water and sew age services, and so forth) to that area, de-

spite sufficient existing infrastructure dow ntown .

WaI-Mart channels resources out o f a community: Studies have

show n that a dollar spent on a local business has four or f ive

times the econom ic spin-off of a dollar spent at a Wal-Mart,

since a large share of Wal-M arts profit returns to its Arkan sas

headquarters or is pumped into national advertising campaigns.

WaI-Mart des troys jobs in locally owned s tores:

A Wat-Mart-

funded com mu nity impact s tudy debunked the retailers claim

that it would create a lot of jobs in G reenfield, Massachusetts .

Although W at-Mart planned to hire 274 people at i ts Green-

field store, the community could expect to gain only eight net

jobs, because of projected losses at other businesses that wo uld

have to compete w ith Wal-Mart.

Cit izen Wal-Mart? In at least one town--Hearne, Texas--W al-

Mart destroyed its Main Street competitors and then deserted

the town in search of higher returns elsewhe re. Unable to attract

new businesses to the devastated M ain Street, local residents

have no choice but to drive long distances to buy basic goods.

One-stop sho pping culture: In Greenfield, where citizens voted to

keep Wal-Mart out, anti-Wal-Mart campaign manager A 1 Norm an

said he saw a resurgence of appreciation for Main Street. People

realized theres one thing you cant bny at W al-Mart, and thats

small-toxvn quality of life, Norm an explains. This comm unity

decided it was not ready to die for a cheap pair of underwear.

So far Litchfield hasnt been forced to m ake that decision. Neve rtheless,

the town is already losing at least some bu siness to four nearby XVal-Ma rts,

each less than forty m iles from tow n. To find out how formidable this en-

emy is, Morn and I went on a spying mission to the closest Wal-Mart,

V.venty miles axvay in H utchinson.

Just inside the door, we were met by a so-called Wal-Mart "greeter"

(actually the greeters just say hello as they take your bags to prevent you

from shoplifting). We realized we knew her. Before becoming a greetm ; she

had been a cashier at a downtown Litchfield supermarket nntil it closed


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S a r a h A n d e r s o n

Wal-Mar t s War on M a in St ree t 96 3

relations. Community development experts caution, though, that individ-

ual merchants acting on their own cannot keep M ain Street s trong. Given

the enormous forces of change, tire only way these businesses can survive

is with active public and government support, says Dawn N akano, of the

National Center for Econom ic Alternatives in Washington, D.C.

Some of the most effective efforts at revitalization, Nakano says, are 18

community development corporations--private, nonprofit corporations

governed by a com munity-based board and usually funded in part by foun-

dation and government m oney. In Pittsburgh, for example, the city govern-

ment and about th irty nonprof it groups formed a com munity development

corporation to save an impoverished neighborhood where all but three busi-

nesses xvere boarded up. Today, thanks to such financing and technical as-

sistance, the area has a lively shopping d istrict.

Although most community development corporations have been cre- 19

ated to serve low-income urban neighborhoods, Nakano feels that they

could be equally effective in saving Main Streets . Theres no reason why

church, civic, and other groups in a sm all town couldnt form a com mun ity

development corporation to fill boarded-up stores with new businesses. Be-

sides revitalizing M ain Street, this could g o a long w ay tow ards cultivating

a buy local cultnre among residents.

The N ational Main Street Center, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, ~0

provides some of the most comprehensive Main Street revitalization ser-

vices. The Center has helped m ore than 850 towns bu ild cooperative links

amon g merchants, government, and c~nzens. H owever, the Center s effort

focus on improving m arketing techniques and tire physical appearance of

stores, which can only do so much to counter the powerful forces of change.

No m atter how w ell designed, any Ma in Street revitalizatin Pr ect will

~

fail without local public support. Unfortunately, it is difficult for many ru-

ral people to con sider the long-term, overall effects of their purchases, given

the high levels of rural unemploy me nt, job insecurity, and pove rty. If youre

wo rried about paying your rent, youre not going to pay m ore for a toaster

at your local hardware store, no matter how m uch you like your hom etown.

Another problem is political. Like those in decaying urban neighbor- 22

hoods, man y rural people have seen the signs of decline around them and

concluded that they lack the clout necessary to harness the forces of change

for their own benefit. If youve seen your neighbors lose their farms

through foreclosure, your school close down, and local manufacturing

move to M exico, how em powered wil l you feel?

Litchfield Mayor Ron Ebnet has done his best to bolster community 23

confidence and loyalty to Main Street. Every year at the Christmas light-

ing ceremony, I tell people to buy their gifts in town. I know everyone is


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264

Chapter 5 Ge tting

a n d S p e n d i n g :

S h o p p l a g W o r k ln g a n d V a l u e s

sick of hearing it, but I dont care. Ebne t has ~vhipp ed up opposition to

the proposed bypass, w ith strong support from the city council, chamber

of com merce, the newspaper editor, and the state senator. He also orches-

trated a dow utown b eautification project and helped the town win a state

redevelopment grant to upgrade dow nto~vn businesses and residences.

Ebn et has failed to win over everyone, though. Retired m erchant Don 24

Larson told m e about a local resident ~vho drove forty m iles to get some-

thing seventeen cents cheaper than he could buy it at the Litchfield lum-

beryard. I pointed out that he had spent mo re on gas than hed saved, but

he told me that it was a matter of principle. I thought, what about the

principle of supporting your community? People just dont think about

that, though."

May or Ebnet agrees, M any people st il l have a 1950s men tali ty , he 2s

says. They cant see the treme ndous changes that are affecting these small

businesses. People tell me they w ant the bypass because theres too much

traffic dowutown aud they have a hard time crossing the street. And I ask

them, but w hat wilt you be crossing to? If we get the bypass, there will be

nothing left "

Last summ er, with the threat of the bypass hanging over his head, D ad 26

bec.ame increasingly stubborn about making a decision about the store. His

anuque Un derwood typew riter was never m ore productive, as i t banged

out angry letters to the state transportation d epartment.

My sisters decided to try a new tactic. While my parents were on v aca- 27

t ion, they assaulted the store with paintbrushes and w allpapeq transform-

ing ~vhat had been a rather rustic restroom and d oing an unpreceden ted

am ount of redecorating and rearranging.

The strategy worked. At first, Dad ~vas a bit shocked, Laurie said. 28

He comm ented that in his opinion, the old toiletpaper dispenser had been

perfectly fine. But overall he ~vas pleased with tile changes, and two d ays

later he called for a meeting ~vith us and ore spouse s.

Your dad started out by makiug a li tt le speech, Colleen said. The 29

first thing he said was, W ell, things arent how they u sed to be. Then he

pulled out some papers hed prepared and told us exactly how much sales

and profits have been over the years and wh at we could expect to make.

H e told us w hat he thinks are the negative and tile positive aspects of the

job and then said if ~ve were still interested, we could begin talking about

a starting date for us to take ove r.

Dad later told m e, The only way I could feel conffortable about Lau- 30

tie and Colleen running the store is if it was at no financial risk to them.

So Im set t iog up an account for them to draw from --enough for a one-

year trial. But if they caut make a good profit, then thats it--Ill try to sell

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Sarah Anderson

Wa I-Mart s War on M ain Street 265

the business to someone else. I still worry that they dont know what

theyre getting themselves into. Especially if the bypass goes through,

things are going to be rough.

M y sisters are optimistic. Tbey plan to form a b uying cooperative w itb 31

Main S treet childrens clotlfing stores in other towns and have already drafted

a customer survey to help them better understand local needs. I think were

going to see a big increase in appreciation of the small-town atmo sphere,

Colleen says. There are more and more people moving to Litcbfield from the

Tw in Cities to take advantage of the sm all-town way of life. I think they might

even be more inclined to support the local businesses than people whove lived

here their whole lives and now take the tmvn for granted.

Sm all towns canno t return to the past, when fam ilies did all their shop- 32

ping and socializing in their hometown. Rural life is changing and theres

no use denying it. The most important question is, who will define the fu-

ture? Will i t be Wal-M art, whose narrow corporate interests have litt le to

do with building healthy communities? will it be the department of trans-

portation, whose purpose is to move cars faster? Will it be the banks and

suppliers primarily interested in doing business with the big guys? Or will

i t be the people who live in small towns, whose hard w ork and support are

essential to any effort to revitalize Main Street?

In my hometmvn, there are at least two new reasons for optimism. 33

First, shortly before my deadline for this article, the Minnesota trans-

portation department announced that it was dropping the Litchfield high-

way bypass project because of local opposition. (My dads Underwood will

f inally get a rest. ) The second reason is that a new teal green awn ing will

soon be hanging o ver the front of Bo yds--a symbol of one fam ilys belief

that Main Street, wh ile weary~ is not yet a relic of the past.

Think ing C ri t ical ly

1 . Sar ah And er so n makes it clea r tha t W aI -M ar t i s ju s t o ne o f many cau ses o f

the d ec l ine of rura l M ain Streets in her hometown an d a cross A mer ica.

W hat other caus es for the d ec l ine of Main Street does s he de scr ibe?

2.

W hy does A nd ers on choos e to draw from her pers ona l exper ien ce an d to

write in the f irs t person? You know, from the head note to this es sa y, that

she is a profess iona l journa l is t an d pu bl ic po l icy res ea rcher. Given that she

is an exper ienced wr iter and rese archer, what does her choice of the f i rs t

person br ing to her argume nt?

3. A nd erson s ugge sts ways in which Main Street revita l izat ion projects can be

s u p p o r te d a n d m a d e e f fe c tiv e . W h a t o th e r re a s o n s d o e s s h e e x p re s s - -

either implicit ly or expl icit ly--for the revital izat ion of Main Streets?


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266

C h a p t e r 5 G e t tin g a n d S p e n d i n g : S h o p p i n g W o r k i n g a n d V a l u e s

W riting C ritically

1. Seve ra l wr iters in Cl~apter 2, inc lud ing Blake H urst (see pp. 58-65),

Jedediah Purdy (pp. 66-77), and Bi l l McKibben (pp. 82-91), descr ibe cha l-

leng e s to th e va lue s a nd l ifes tyles o f sma l l tow ns an d r u r a l co mmun i ti es . In

what ways do the problems that Sarah An de rson de scr ibes s upport the ob-

se rvat ions of Hurst, Purdy, or McKibben? W hat is the re la t ionship between

f ina ncia l and commercia l support for sma l l towns and the va lue s of the

sma l l towns commun i ty?. (For ins pi rat ion, ren t a D VD of the grea t 1946

J a m e s S t e w a r t m o v i e I t s a W onde rful Li fe, an d pa y part icular at ten t ion to

the role that the ban k p lays in Bed ford F a l ls a s compared wi th the ba nks

role in Pottersvi l le.)

2. Anderson descr ibes the ef for ts made by Li tchf le ld s Mayor Ron Ebnet to

bolster commun i ty conf ide nce a nd loya lty to Ma in Street. In what ways d o

thes e e f for ts re f lect the va lu es of L itchf ie ld s commun i ty? W hat is the

pr incip le that ret i red me rchan t Don La rson de scr ibes , an d how doe s that

pr incip le re f lect commun i ty va lues ? W hat is the sma l l - town way of l ife

that people from urban area s, su ch as the Twin Ci t ies , expect to en joy

when they move to smal ler commun i ties l ike Li tchfie ld? Is i t rea son able or

fa i r to expect c i tizens of a sma l l town to uphold cer ta in commun al va lue s i f

doing so mea ns sa cri ficing cer ta in pe rsona l ben ef i ts?

3 . S i nc la ir Lew i s de scr ibed a f ic ti ona l bu t qu i n tesse n t ia l M inn eso ta s ma l l

town in h is 192 0 nove l Main Street , which is avai lable on l ine from the Un i -

versity of Virginia Electronic Text Center at . W h a t M a in S tr e e t v a l u e s d e s c r ib e d b y

Lewis are re f lected in Andersons essay? Compare the att i tudes toward

tho se va lue s r e f lec ted in Le w is s no ve l and in A nd er so n s e ssa y . You mi g ht

a lso inc lud e in your d iscuss ion one of the se lect ions from Chapter 2.

Serving in Florida

RA EH RENREI C H

This chapter from Barbara Eh renreichs book Nickel

and Dimed . On (Not ) Get t ing By in America

(2001),

reflects Ehrenreichs extraordinarily engaged and com -

passionate approach to her w ork as a journalist. For

Nickel and Dimed, Ehrenreicb spent several mom hs

working lo~v-wage jobs in M aine, Minnesota, and

Florida, attempting to live solely on her earnings from

her work as a waitress, a housekeeper, and a W al-Mart

salesperson, among other jobs. Her chronicle of the

daily injustices faced by Am ericas w orking poor--and

her portraits of individual men and wm nen w ho m ain-

tain their dignity despite these obstacles--was a N e w

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Walmart s War on Mainstreet

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