78,000 sf Walmart coming to SoWal [opening June15]

[Smiling JOe]

Good point, Kurt. One can save money by purchasing from Walmart compared to some other stores. Efficiencies of scale can be good things and lead to technological advances as well as resource conservation. However, it can also lead to short cuts and a short-term vision, which may lead to a disastrous environmental state. Walmart affects much more than retailers in close proximity to a Walmart.

(Don't get me started on why businesses move overseas. I think it is much more than Walmart wanting cheaper goods.)

We tend to think that we humans are safe and have nothing to worry about. Step back from present day and think about one natural built-in survival thing we have had for since the dawn of man -- locality. We are moving back toward eating & buying local in America, more for being "green" than anything else. However, the most important reason to eat local is not to be green. From a human safety issue, think about the idea of 80% of people buying their food from Walmart (just an idea). If one of Walmart's food providers sells tainted food that kills everyone who eats it, we have a world of dead people, mostly. On the other hand, if everyone eats local foods, if there are tainted foods which cause death, only those local people die, not the majority of the world.

 

[Here4Good]

If you watch this video and still want to defend Walmart, then I think you're just trolling.

news + public affairs player: video

Wow, trolling? Really? That's insulting, I was just giving another POV. Why isn't Skunkape trolling when he does that?

This video series is (again) from 2004. I cited stories from 2010. Walmart reacted to all of this bad press by deciding to be a leader in reusable energy. I'm not defending them, as much as I am asking everyone to apply the same diligence you would when evaluating a source of information, and to look at all of the information.

 

[sunspotbaby]

Cutting begins today.

 

[scooterbug44]

Scooterbug, you and I must be going to different Targets. I've been to the ones in PC, PCB, and Destin and they aren't as pretty as you make them feel and they certainly don't blend into the environment.

When I do go to a Target, the one in Pier Park is quite nice - especially when compared to the Destin Wal-mart. Part of it is that it is part of Pier Park and so has the same landscaping - grasses, trees, etc. as opposed to to the barren wastes and rundown strip malls surrounding Walmart.

I don't think anyone would dispute that I can be quite thrifty (or downright cheap) - I know the prices of all the items I buy regularly, what I can get as a generic or store brand, what is truly on sale, and can definitively say that once you factor in quality and travel time, I do NOT spend more by shopping somewhere besides Walmart.

I did not list any positives for Wal-mart because I truly believe there aren't any. It is destroying our economy at both the local, national, and international level.

Go ahead and shop there - just realize that the money you think you are saving isn't worth the real price you are paying.

 

[Kurt]

Wow, trolling? Really? That's insulting, I was just giving another POV. Why isn't Skunkape trolling when he does that?

This video series is (again) from 2004. I cited stories from 2010. Walmart reacted to all of this bad press by deciding to be a leader in reusable energy. I'm not defending them, as much as I am asking everyone to apply the same diligence you would when evaluating a source of information, and to look at all of the information.

Actually, I was referring to Skunky, poking our perennial defender of Walmart and resident Devil's Advocate.

But maybe you have the same size shoe?

 

[Here4Good]

Actually, I was referring to Skunky, poking our perennial defender of Walmart and resident Devil's Advocate.

But maybe you have the same size shoe?

I guess I assumed since you posted immediately after I posted the Fast Company article, you were referring to that.

Why is it being a Devil's Advocate to look at what this company might be doing right?

I've already said I don't really shop there - I just see a plethora of references from 2004, which must have been the Anti-Walmart year, and none which are recent.

I think that anyone who was on the Gulf Coast after Katrina remembers who had their trucks rolling first - Walmart. They remember who opened their stores to first responders - Walmart. They remember what a relief it was to be able to find a Walmart actually open and to be able to buy diapers and cereal. They remember who guaranteed their employees jobs in a different place if their workplace was inoperable - Walmart.

They took a major beating in the press in 2004, and they LISTENED and they tried to change. They tried to rise to the challenge.

I have all sorts of issues with them - the big box stores left to rot when they relocate, the crappy merchandise that no one really needs, the promotion of cheap-ass consumerism, the property tax breaks they get - but honestly, I worked for Target all they way through high school and college, and they have the SAME EXACT worker conditions as Walmart.

They're just "worse" because they're bigger, that's all. Do you think that Publix offers health insurance for part-timers? Do you think that they perhaps keep employees as part timers to keep costs down? Isn't that the smart thing to do?

Walmart is, now, a better community citizen that most retail chains.

If you don't want any chains, that's fine, get an ordinance passed.

 

[Andy A]

Good point, Kurt. One can save money by purchasing from Walmart compared to some other stores. Efficiencies of scale can be good things and lead to technological advances as well as resource conservation. However, it can also lead to short cuts and a short-term vision, which may lead to a disastrous environmental state. Walmart affects much more than retailers in close proximity to a Walmart.

(Don't get me started on why businesses move overseas. I think it is much more than Walmart wanting cheaper goods.)

We tend to think that we humans are safe and have nothing to worry about. Step back from present day and think about one natural built-in survival thing we have had for since the dawn of man -- locality. We are moving back toward eating & buying local in America, more for being "green" than anything else. However, the most important reason to eat local is not to be green. From a human safety issue, think about the idea of 80% of people buying their food from Walmart (just an idea). If one of Walmart's food providers sells tainted food that kills everyone who eats it, we have a world of dead people, mostly. On the other hand, if everyone eats local foods, if there are tainted foods which cause death, only those local people die, not the majority of the world.

What logic!!!

 

[Matt J]

Good point, Kurt. One can save money by purchasing from Walmart compared to some other stores. Efficiencies of scale can be good things and lead to technological advances as well as resource conservation. However, it can also lead to short cuts and a short-term vision, which may lead to a disastrous environmental state. Walmart affects much more than retailers in close proximity to a Walmart.

(Don't get me started on why businesses move overseas. I think it is much more than Walmart wanting cheaper goods.)

We tend to think that we humans are safe and have nothing to worry about. Step back from present day and think about one natural built-in survival thing we have had for since the dawn of man -- locality. We are moving back toward eating & buying local in America, more for being "green" than anything else. However, the most important reason to eat local is not to be green. From a human safety issue, think about the idea of 80% of people buying their food from Walmart (just an idea). If one of Walmart's food providers sells tainted food that kills everyone who eats it, we have a world of dead people, mostly. On the other hand, if everyone eats local foods, if there are tainted foods which cause death, only those local people die, not the majority of the world.

Well it's pretty simple. Corporations look at the costs of doing business here and abroad. The bottom line is the deal breaker for them and so they go with countries that don't have minimum wage, labor unions, worker protections, etc. etc. etc.

If the American worker would just get off this notion that they are entitled to a safe work place, living wage, and redress for grievances then corporations wouldn't have to ship jobs overseas.

 

[Matt J]

I don't think I ever seen a bigger group of chicken little's arguing over whether or not the sky is falling while it hurtles to the ground.

Andy A, for the record there is an assisted living facility located on Mack Bayou. Skunky can get you some brochures.

 

[beachmouse]

When I do go to a Target, the one in Pier Park is quite nice - especially when compared to the Destin Wal-mart. Part of it is that it is part of Pier Park and so has the same landscaping - grasses, trees, etc. as opposed to to the barren wastes and rundown strip malls surrounding Walmart.

A good amount of that 'barren waste' by the Destin Walmart is Henderson Beach State Park.

As for the Sandestin assisted living facility, it's not cheap as you'd expect for the area, but it really is quite good and offers a nice continum of care if a senior's condition means they need more help as they age.