By JESSICA DeLEÓN
Star-Telegram
Sun, Sep. 30, 2007                            [back to top]   

They're the old grocery stores and restaurants that once teemed with customers. Now they sit empty, sometimes for years, despite their visible locations.

Except in booming Keller and Southlake, officials throughout Northeast Tarrant County face the challenge of filling large vacant buildings. Until they're reoccupied, cities lose out on potential revenue from sales, equipment and inventory taxes. And they lose out on foot traffic that might improve sales at neighboring businesses. Meanwhile, residents complain about what they perceive as blight.

"You've always got that building," said Bill Ridgway, Euless' economic development director.

Wal-Mart effect

City officials say they most want to see their former supermarkets occupied because of the potential tax revenue. But why are so many grocery stores empty?

"One word: Wal-Mart," said Scott Welmaker, Colleyville's economic development manager.

Colleyville has two empty grocery stores: Kroger and Albertsons, both privately owned and diagonally across the street from each other on Colleyville Boulevard.

Welmaker hopes that if one supermarket gets filled, the other will soon have a buyer.

He would like to see clothing or linen stores.

"Obviously, grocery stores didn't work there," he said.

Supermarkets present problems for reuse. The buildings usually have one floor, 18-foot-high ceilings and support structures that divide the building, said Terry Clower, associate director of the Center for Economic Development at the University of North Texas in Denton.

The design makes it more difficult to attract other businesses because of the limited uses, "which is why we see many old grocery stores turn into bingo halls," Clower said.

The vacancy can also become a self-fulfilling prophecy, he said: The longer the building sits empty, the more businesses don't want to locate there, and the space can turn into an eyesore.

Or, in another scenario, the building has a secondary use, Clower said. For example, a grocery store may close, and a deep-discount retailer will take its place -- generating far less sales tax revenue.

Taken over by the city

Some cities have converted the vacant buildings for their own use.

Hurst is transforming Cavender's, a former Western clothing store at 845 W. Pipeline Road, into a senior center. The building, which had been vacant for about three years, could be occupied by July 2009.

The senior center will be next to a city park and be part of a development that will include a new fire station, homes and stores, city spokeswoman Ashleigh Whiteman said.

"It really just made sense," Whiteman said.

In North Richland Hills, officials plan to convert the former Food Lion store at 4131 Rufe Snow Drive, empty since 1997, to city offices. The state's planned expansion of Northeast Loop 820 will likely force the building that houses the city's library, recreation center and other offices near Rufe Snow to close.

The city is building a recreation center and library at Home Town NRH off Davis Boulevard, but other offices will need space. No timeline has been set for moving into the Food Lion store; the highway expansion project may be years away.

When local governments take over buildings, they're also giving up, Clower said. They're taking the building off the tax rolls and not getting the sales tax revenue that they used to.

"It becomes, 'We're kind of stuck with that building,'" he said.

Patience can pay off

Sometimes cities have found they have to be patient.

Euless waited for nearly a dozen years before a former Sutherlands building materials store, at 1010 N. Industrial Blvd., found a tenant.

Residents often asked about the building at town hall meetings.

"It had become a very bad joke," Ridgway said.

Professional Turf Products took over the space about a year ago. "The city cooperated with them in every way possible," Ridgway said, including giving the company sales tax incentives.

The old Kmart at 701 S. Industrial Blvd sat empty for at least five years until 2001, when the building become the DFW Technology Center. It's now the corporate headquarters for Reynolds Asphalt.

After four years of waiting, Bedford officials expect that a 60,000-square-foot call center will move into the Bank One building at 1900 L. Don Dodson Drive by the end of the year. Officials hope they can fill the rest of the 200,000-square-foot building.

And JPS Health Network is putting a clinic in a 20,000-square-foot section of the former Winn-Dixie on 6601 Watauga Road in Watauga.

Sometimes cities and businesses must be flexible. The old Winn-Dixie shopping center on 143 E. Harwood Road in Hurst, vacant for five years, will have two businesses instead of one.

Bicycles Inc., now in Bedford, will take up half the 44,000-square-foot building, with the other business to be determined. A dialysis center will also move into the shopping center.

Dallas-based Realtor Croesus Capital Partners, which bought the center in December from a Florida real estate investor, plans to update the center with new landscaping and a new facade.

Trip Green of Croesus said that the company was attracted by the area's solid demographics and income levels and that it wasn't spooked by the building's long vacancy.

"What we saw is what it could be, not what it was or not what it had been," he said.

Staff writer John Kirsch contributed to this report, which includes material from the Star-Telegram archives.

Euless

Former Tarrant Printing building,

3200 W. Euless Blvd., 74,942 square feet

How long empty: About three years Property value: $1.5 million

Officials' wish: Anything retail, especially a Costco, Target or Wal-Mart, or a grocery store.

Other information: The building is having asbestos removed, Economic Development Director Bill Ridgway said. The building also used to be a Tom Thumb.

Grapevine

Albertsons, 2100 W. Northwest Highway, 66,958 square feet

How long empty: Five months

Property value: $3.8 million

Officials' wish: Grocery store/retail store

Other information: The building was one of the first Albertsons stores in the area, Grapevine Assistant City Manager Tommy Hardy said. Many Albertsons stores have been closing, and this store went with a round of closings this year, he said.

Hurst

Tom Thumb/Mayfair shopping center, 666 Grapevine Highway, 197,745 square feet

How long empty: Three years Property value: $14 million

Officials' wish: Retail store or restaurant

Other information: The Tom Thumb, which moved next door, is part of a shopping center that includes several restaurants and stores that are still operating.

North Richland Hills

Food Lion, 4131 Rufe Snow Drive, 37,025 square feet

How long empty: 10 years Property value: $1.9 million

Officials' wish: The city plans to use the building to relocate services displaced by the expansion of Northeast Loop 820.

Other information: North Richland Hills bought the building in December 2003 for $650,000.

Richland Hills

Sam's Club, 7500 Baker Blvd., 125,911 square feet

How long empty: Seven years Property value: $2.7 million

Officials' wish: A store.

Other information: It had produced $500,000 in tax revenue for the city annually.

Watauga

Albertsons, 6249 Rufe Snow Drive, 59,761 square feet

How long empty: Two years Property value: $3.3 million

Officials' wish: A business

Other information: A Super Saver store occupied the building for a year after Albertsons vacated it. Albertsons left as part of an overall store reduction in the Metroplex.

Bedford

Harrigans Grill and Bar, 1501 Airport Freeway, 7,401 square feet

How long empty: Four years Property value: $900,000

Officials' wish: Restaurant

Other information: Companies have told city officials that the property doesn't have enough parking, and motorists may find it hard to get to.

Colleyville

Albertsons, 4801 Colleyville Blvd., 60,000 square feet

How long empty: Six months Property value: $4.2 million

Officials' wish: Soft-goods/clothing store

Colleyville

Kroger, 4904 Colleyville Blvd., 78,589 square feet

How long empty: Two years Property value: $6.7 million

Officials' wish: Soft-goods/clothing store

Other information: The national corporations closed the Albertsons and Kroger stores.

Sources: Cities, Star-Telegram archives, Tarrant Appraisal District

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A giant seeks a smaller footprint

Wal-Mart plans to shrink new stores to ease opposition in state.

By Dale Kasler and Jon Ortiz
Sacramento Bee
Sunday, September 30, 2007                   [back to top]   

Three years ago, Stockton welcomed a Wal-Mart Supercenter, the first in Northern California, with open arms. Last month, the city passed a law forbidding Wal-Mart from opening any more of them.

The City Council's 6-1 vote bans all new big-box grocery stores but is clearly aimed at Wal-Mart, which had proposed two more Supercenters.

"There's a feeling that one 'super Wal-Mart' is sufficient," said City Manager J. Gordon Palmer Jr.

Success in California has come slowly and grudgingly for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Although it has opened 31 Supercenters in the state since early 2004, it has encountered resistance on a scale not seen elsewhere.

Local activists and the United Food and Commercial Workers, which represents grocery workers, have halted or delayed Wal-Mart's advance through lobbying and litigation in roughly two dozen communities. Elected officials and judges have listened sympathetically to their argument that non-union Wal-Mart harms communities by paying substandard wages and putting local retailers out of business through relentless discounting.

"When the story is told, it resonates," said Jacques Loveall, president of UFCW-Golden 8 in Roseville.

Wal-Mart's hurdles in California aren't all political. Costly real estate upsets its business model, which depends on cheap land for its massive stores. The state's incumbent grocery chains, once thrown off stride by Wal-Mart, have learned to compete more effectively.

Wal-Mart "came in with a plan to take the state by storm," said Robert Reynolds, a supermarket consultant in Moraga. "It is very slow going -- it is expensive."

Coupled with Wal-Mart's national problems, including sluggish earnings, the California struggles are prompting the company to rethink its strategy. Consultants say Wal-Mart is planning a new grocery format that's the size of a convenience store with an upscale feel. The idea is that a smaller footprint would churn up less political friction.

"Much of it has to do with the public opposition that they've faced, most prominently in California," said analyst Stephanie Hoff of Edward Jones in St. Louis.

Another factor is new competition from Britain's Tesco, which is planning small markets in California and the Southwest.

"Wal-Mart, which is finding itself blocked more and more over footprint size, is paying attention to what Tesco is doing," said Richard George, a professor of food marketing at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia.

Wal-Mart wouldn't discuss the plan, but spokeswoman Tiffany Moffatt said, "We're always looking at new formats." She said any new format would be driven by customer preferences, not competition or politics.

Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer and the nation's No. 1 grocer, acknowledges some hiccups in California but says it is pleased with its progress.

"Our Supercenters have been extremely successful," Moffatt said. Supercenters, which average 185,000 square feet, are nearly twice as big as regular Wal-Marts and contain full-line grocery stores.

Wal-Mart is more successful politically in some places than others. Where there's more open space, or there's a clear need for jobs and retailing, union influence tends to wane and the climate is friendlier.

Greater Sacramento's four Supercenters are sprinkled around the edges of the region. The area's first truly urban Supercenter, which opens next year, will land at a site that's been struggling for years, the former Florin Mall.

Wal-Mart held 4.8 percent of the area's grocery market as of December, says Nielsen Trade Dimensions.

But Wal-Mart's overall California presence is tiny by the standards of a $345 billion-a-year company. It runs 208 stores in the state, including Sam's Clubs. Texas has one-third fewer people but twice as many Wal-Marts.

One reason is politics.

"A lot of California, politically, is dominated by union interests. Wal-Mart galvanizes that interest," said Larry Kosmont, a land-use consultant in Encino.

At least 12 communities have passed big-box laws similar to Stockton's. Five others, including Sacramento, require economic-impact studies before mega-groceries can be built.

Two Bakersfield Supercenters were blocked by a lawsuit claiming they'd spawn environmental blight by hollowing out local business districts. Similar suits have tied up Supercenters proposed in Lodi and Chico for years.

Wal-Mart beats some opponents. It defeated a "blight" lawsuit in Gilroy and persuaded San Diego officials to reject a big-box law similar to Stockton's. At Wal-Mart's urging, voters overturned Contra Costa County's big-box law. The newest Supercenter, in American Canyon, opened earlier this month after three years of wrangling.

Sometimes "special interests have delayed the process, but we've found that time and time again, when the public gets involved, consumer choice ultimately prevails," Moffatt said.

At the Stockton Supercenter on Hammer Lane the other day, shoppers pledged their loyalty to Wal-Mart and expressed anger at the city's new law.

"Wal-Mart is such a great store, great values," said Kathy Wickstrom, 61. More Supercenters "would have given Stockton a lot more jobs." The average store employs 350 workers.

Stockton once saw Wal-Mart as an economic boon. But proposals for two more Supercenters and a SuperTarget sparked lobbying by activists and the UFCW. The council, trying to cultivate a more upscale image for Stockton, pulled the welcome mat.

Stockton now bans stores greater than 100,000 square feet that devote more than 10 percent of their space to nontaxable items such as groceries.

The law and others like it are rooted in the theory that mega-markets don't generate enough sales tax to compensate for the traffic and pollution they cause. But often the real issue is Wal-Mart, and all it represents.

"For some people it has become a symbol of evil," said consultant Mark Lilien of Retail Technology Group.

Image problems have contributed to the company's national struggles. Publicity campaigns by the UFCW International and the head of the Service International Employees Union have hit Wal-Mart on issues like outsourcing and employee health care.

Sales growth has been hurt by a misguided merchandising strategy that emphasized upscale apparel. High gasoline prices have impacted Wal-Mart's working-class base. Amid disappointing second-quarter earnings, Wal-Mart curtailed national construction of Supercenters by a third.

In 2004, when California's first Supercenter opened in La Quinta, "it looked like all the retailers in the state were on the run," said consultant Burt Flickinger III.

Citing the threat from Wal-Mart, unionized supermarket chains wrangled cost savings, but not before a costly strike gripped Southern California. Workers accepted concessions in Northern California, too.

As Supercenters spread, so did their influence, likely playing a role in Ralphs grocery's decision to pull out of Sacramento.

But grocers found they could compete by emphasizing organic foods, nicer stores and selective discounting, Flickinger said. The UFCW largely abandoned a futile effort to organize Wal-Mart's workers and discovered it could influence city councils.

"There's no question we're making more progress on the political front," said Loveall, whose local represents 30,000 grocery workers in the Central Valley.

When it hears of a proposed Supercenter, the Roseville local bombards city councils with anti-Wal-Mart DVDs and white papers and enlists employees of unionized stores to speak up at public hearings.

Results have been mixed. While Stockton issued a decisive rebuke to Wal-Mart, Elk Grove passed an ordinance that exempted two of the city's main commercial districts, the Calvine and Lent Ranch areas.

The Elk Grove law isn't "as sweeping or as substantial as we'd like it to be," but is still a victory for labor, Loveall said.

A law similar to Stockton's has been recommended by the Planning Commission in Galt, where Wal-Mart wants to build a Supercenter. The Galt City Council is set to consider the recommendation Oct. 16.

Wal-Mart's struggles are affecting labor relations. A new contract in Southern California restores many of the previous concessions. In Sacramento, where most contracts expire Saturday, management negotiators invoke the specter of Wal-Mart less often.

"They're acknowledging that the campaign to keep Wal-Mart at bay has borne fruit," Loveall said.

But grocers say Wal-Mart can't be ignored. "They have not grown as fast as they originally predicted. ... But we still consider a company like Wal-Mart a growing and legitimate competitor," said Safeway Inc. spokesman Brian Dowling.

Copyright © The Sacramento Bee

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Wal-Mart ETF: You Want To Invest?

By Margaret Brennan
CNBC.com
28 Sep 2007                                  [back to top]   

If you think that the share price of retail giant Wal-Mart will recover from its malaise, then you might also be interested in buying into what looks to be one of the first Wal-Mart Exchange Traded Funds. Then again, if you've heard about the bargaining power that Wal-Mart has and uses to push down the cost of items purchased from its suppliers, you might think twice about putting money into the MyShares Wal-Mart ETF.

According to our partners at Dow Jones, the Montvale, NJ-based company MyShares is launching an ETF that invests in Wal-Mart's suppliers.

I took a look at the SEC filing by MyShares and found this description: The fund will "normally invest at least 90% of its total assets in stocks of companies that derive a substantial portion of revenue from Wal-Mart Stores, Inc."

The ETF is "designed to exploit a unique situation where the world's largest retailer has spawned a sub-industry of dependent companies, including many that are common household names."

The filing doesn't name the companies in the index. I left a message with MyShares head Erik Liik to find out more but haven't heard back as yet. I'll keep you posted.

© 2007 CNBC, Inc. All Rights Reserved

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Wal-Mart expanding cheap medications strategy

FierceHealthcare
Sep 28 2007                                    [back to top] 

Over the past year, Wal-Mart has made tremendous waves with its $4 generics offerings. Not only has the retail giant built new possibilities for its own pharmacy business, Wal-Mart's moves have been copied by rivals like Target, creating a ripple which is still expanding.

Until now, nearly all of the drugs offered in the $4 program were aimed at the elderly, including high blood pressure, heart and diabetes medications. This week, though, Wal-Mart has gone in a new direction, adding an ADHD drug to its growing list of low-cost meds. It's also added two popular birth control pills at a $9 price point. These moves suggest that Wal-Mart wants to bring younger consumers into the fold, analysts say.

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Parents sue Wal-Mart over E. coli

South Florida Business Journal,
September 27th, 2007                            [back to top] 

The parents of a Pembroke Pines teenager are suing Wal-Mart after they calm their daughter became severely ill after contracting an E. coli infection last month from frozen hamburger patties purchased at a local store.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Broward Circuit Court, seeks financial damages from Wal-Mart for allegedly selling the beef.

The teen's mother, Anna Safranek, bought a box of 12 Topps quarter-pound patties from the Wal-Mart at 151 S.W. 184th Ave., in Pembroke Pines, on Aug. 15, lawsuit said. Two days later, 15-year-old Samantha cooked and ate one of the hamburgers.

Shortly after, Samantha began suffering from intense pain, cramping, diarrhea, fatigue and dehydration, the suit says. She was taken to the Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital in Hollywood, where doctors discovered she was infected with E. coli 0157:H7. She spent three weeks in the hospital and underwent six days of dialysis. The suit claims she sustained permanent kidney damage and will have to be monitored for the rest of her life.

Wal-Mart, which said it has not yet been served with the suit, said it pulled the patties from the shelves on Aug. 30 after a single customer complaint in "an abundance of caution." Spokesman Kory Lundburg said he was unsure whether the Safraneks filed the customer complaint.

Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that Topps was voluntarily recalling about 331,582 pounds of frozen products.

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Wal-Mart scraps Pittsburgh-area store

The Associated Press
September 27, 2007                              [back to top] 

Wal-Mart will not build a store at a suburban hilltop construction site where a massive landslide last year closed a busy highway for two weeks, the retailer announced Wednesday.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said in a statement that it will return the hilltop in Kilbuck Township "to a predevelopment, natural sloping condition that includes trees and vegetation."

Officials from Wal-Mart and the state Department of Environmental Protection met Tuesday to discuss the revised plan. In August, the department said Wal-Mart's stabilization plan was incomplete. Wal-Mart has been trying to devise a plan that would stabilize the hillside to prevent another landslide.

Part of the site gave way Sept. 19, 2006, sending some 500,000 cubic yards of dirt and debris onto Route 65 and railway tracks below. One lane of the highway, a major artery to Pittsburgh's western suburbs, remains closed.

"We're happy to see that Wal-Mart has chosen to put the safety of the community first and we look forward to receiving the company's revised stabilization plan," the state department's regional director, Kenneth Bowman, said in a statement.

The revised plan includes creating a 40 to 45-foot soil stability slope from the rock cliff, and two 25-foot walls on the back of the property instead of one 60-foot wall, the company said.

Wal-Mart took control of the entire development site in March.

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Wal-Mart shakes up generic pricing

By Jonathan Birchall
Financial Times
Sept 27, 2007                         [back to top]  

Wal-Mart, the largest US retailer, is to start selling prescription birth control and fertility drugs for around a third of their current prices, in a significant extention of its drive to lower the cost of commonly-used generic drugs.

The retailer has also introduced a radically new approach to the pricing of generic alternatives to branded drugs that have just come onto the market.

New generics are ususally priced at only a small discount to the original branded drug. Wal-Mart said it will sell a $4 new generic version of Glaxo's Coreg, a blood pressure drug, that currently sells for $119. Wal-Mart will also sell a new generic version of Novartis' heavily marketed anti-fungal Lamisil for $4, while a month's supply of the branded drug currently costs over $330.

The retailer said it would start selling a monthly supply of prescription Ortho Cyclen and Ortho Tri Cyclen birth control drugs for $9, compared to current prices of $24 to $30, introducing a second pricing tier into its low-cost generic programme.

The retailer's move to start selling generic drugs last year was copied by rivals including Target and a number of supermarkets, while Wal-Mart says it has reduced the costs to its customers by $614m over the past twelve months.

Bill Simon, chief operating officer of Wal-Mart stores, said that the first phase of the programme "has exceeded all our expectations".

"We'll continue to look for new ways to drive costs out of the healthcare system," he said.

The move has also led to other price cutting initiatives. Publix, a leading supemarket chain in the southeast US, announced this summer that it would start providing generic anti-biotics to its customers for free.

Wal-Mart, which has been bitterly criticised over its own healthcare policies by union critics and others, said last year that it intends to use its market power as one of the largest pharmacy operators in the US to reshape the pharmaceuticals market.

It is also supporting one of two business coalitions that are lobbying for government and state healthcare reform, with the retailer arguing for a more transparaent pricing system for healthcare services that would support "consumer driven" reforms.

Copyright The Financial Times Ltd. All rights reserved.

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Wal-Mart on trial in Dakota County

Portfolio.com
Sep 26 2007             [back to top]  

A trial has begun in Dakota County pitting Wal-Mart against former workers alleging wage-law violations by the retail giant.

Four women who worked for the company claim the retailer was in violation of the Minnesota Fair Labor Standards Act, the Pioneer Press reported Wednesday.

The suit challenges that Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) did not pay them for the time they worked. Employees say they were forced to work through breaks, and that managers inappropriately recorded breaks on their time cards, the paper said.

The paper said that the nonjury trial is expected to go for months.

Wal-Mart is currently facing other employee class-action suits in New Jersey, South Carolina and Missouri. The retail giant previously lost a $78 million verdict in Philadelphia over missed breaks and a $172 million case in California in 2005 over meal breaks.

 © 2007 Condé Nast Inc. All rights reserved.

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Fourth Juarez Wal-Mart super store planned

By Dallel Gonzalez                        [back to top] 

Wal-Mart de Mexico announced the construction of its fourth super center in Juarez during the grand opening of its third store.

"This city is growing, and with it the needs. This represents a great opportunity for the development of new business," said Miguel Baltazar, vice president of the stores, during the grand opening of Wal-Mart Zaragoza.

The new store will be located were the Plaza de Toros Monumental was located, in the Paseo Triunfo de la Republica street, next to Rio Grande Mall.

The new super store will be built on a 505,000-square-feet lot, and is expected to be ready next January, Baltazar said. The total investment will be $15 million, and it will create 340 new jobs.

This will be the seventh store in the state of Chihuahua, the fourth in Juarez.

So far the state has seen an investment of $130 million in seven stores and five restaurants, which have created 3,000 jobs.

Last week Wal-Mart started operations in its newest location, at the corner of Zaragoza and Oscar Flores. The super store offers groceries, clothing, furniture, and general merchandise, and also created 340 new jobs.

Wal-Mart Zaragoza is the anchor store of the Pejorza mall which hosts more than 80 stores and a movie theater, Cinepolis.

"We have a solid collaboration with Chihuahua, with Juarez, in order to develop more stores and create more jobs," said Baltazar.

The first Wal-Mart store opened in 1995, along with a Sam's Club, located at the Avenida Ejercito Nacional.

Alter that, in 2003, a second store opened in the Ave. Santiago Troncoso and Las Torres, in the southern part of the city.

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Group wants Wal-Mart to stabilize Kilbuck site

Pittsburg Post-Gazette,
September 26th, 2007                     [back to top] 

Communities First! has asked the state to order Wal-Mart to permanently stabilize the old Dixmont State Hospital property in Kilbuck where the retailer was building a shopping plaza until 300,000 cubic yards of dirt and debris slid onto Route 65/Ohio River Boulevard more than a year ago.

In a letter sent yesterday to the state Department of Environmental Protection, the grassroots group formed to oppose construction of the Wal-Mart Superstore and River Pointe Plaza said the retailer "should be subject to a fully enforceable order requiring it to rectify the predictable result of its negligence" in trying to develop a landslide-prone property.

The letter, signed by Bob Keir, co-chairman of the group, also asked the DEP to set a deadline for the retailer to submit data and conclusions about what caused the landslide and make no decision on the company's stabilization plan until Wal-Mart submits all data and a complete plan.

Helen Humphreys, a DEP spokeswoman, said the department will review the request. A Wal-Mart stabilization plan submitted to DEP last month was deemed incomplete and inaccurate. The company submitted additional information earlier this month, but the DEP has not finalized its conclusions about that submission, Ms. Humphreys said.

Soil at the site continues to slowly move toward Route 65, where one lane of the four-lane road remains closed to traffic as a safety precaution.

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Wal-Mart wage trial begins

By JULIE FORSTER ,
Pioneer Press
September 25th, 2007                      [back to top] 

With boxes upon boxes of documents jammed under rows of courtroom benches, Wal-Mart employees launched a wage-law violation trial against the giant retailer Tuesday in a Dakota County courtroom.

Former and current employees of Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores in Minnesota accuse their employer of not paying them for all the time they worked. Specifically, the employees said they were forced to work through break times and that managers inappropriately inserted breaks on their time cards. In other instances, they worked off the clock, without pay, before and after their shifts.

Four women brought the case on behalf of 56,000 current and former Minnesota employees of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. All of them at one time worked for either Wal-Mart or Sam's Clubs but claim they were not properly paid for hours worked in violation of the Minnesota Fair Labor Standards Act.

Attorneys for the workers said in opening statements before Judge Robert King Jr. that they have collected more than 1 million documents, including time records, internal memos and timekeeping audits Wal-Mart conducted on its own. Their witnesses will include store workers, high-level executives, store managers and regional and district managers. The nonjury trial is expected to go for months.

Class-action status was granted because the employment practices were seen as widespread and even routine at Minnesota stores. Wal-Mart attorneys said Tuesday they will wait until the workers have wrapped up their case before making an opening statement. On a break, Neal Manne, Wal-Mart's lead attorney, declined to comment on the company's strategy. "They'll present their case, and then we will present ours," he said.

But previously in response to this case, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman said all employees were paid for every minute worked.

It's not the first time Wal-Mart has had to defend its workplace practices in court.

In a Philadelphia case, Wal-Mart argued that if some employees missed breaks, they did so by choice. After coming up on the wrong end of a $78 million jury award in that case, Wal-Mart said it was doing everything it could to ensure employees took their breaks.

Dozens of similar cases have been filed around the nation against the Arkansas-based retailer. Wal-Mart lost a $172 million verdict in California in 2005 over meal breaks. That decision has been appealed.

The company also faces class-action suits in New Jersey, South Carolina and Missouri. It fought off class certification this year in states including New York, Illinois and Maryland. Denial of class-action status means individuals must spend more to sue the company on their own. In the Minnesota case, Wal-Mart argued against class-action status, but King denied the motion.

The Minnesota case is similar in its claims to the other suits. Wal-Mart managers, with severely understaffed stores and under pressure to cut payroll costs, shaved time here and there, inserting breaks workers hadn't taken on time cards and asking employees to start work right away before punching in or stay late after clocking out, Justin Perl, an attorney for the workers, alleged in his opening statement.

Debbie Simonson worked for a Brooklyn Park Wal-Mart from April 2000 to May 2001. As the first witness, she testified she missed numerous breaks because she had too much work and no one to cover for her. Also, she was asked to work before or after she was clocked in. When asked by one of the attorneys why, when she was asked to work off the clock, she did it, Simonson said: "When your boss tells you to do something, you do it."

She had no time to eat, call her kids or use the restroom. She was a department manager. When she complained on behalf of the workers she supervised, nothing changed. Simonson finally resigned.

The pressure to cut payroll costs started in the boardroom and made its way down to the store managers, whose bonuses were based on how profitable their stores were. "By embracing these measures, they're breaking their employees' backs," Perl said. "That's the Wal-Mart way."

Plaintiffs' attorneys contend there were more than 14 million violations of company policies and state laws regarding meal and rest breaks and off-the-clock work - which amounts to $27 million in unpaid wages. The workers also will seek to double their damages by showing Wal-Mart's actions were knowing and willful. They also will seek punitive damages. The class action covers people who worked at Minnesota Wal-Marts and Sam's Clubs from 1998 to 2004. "The evidence will show that millions of rest breaks and meal breaks were missed, causing hourly workers to work through those breaks and giving Wal-Mart free labor from these so-called associates," Perl said.

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Wal-Mart puts out a false spin on prices

By Perry Cooper ,
samessenger.com
September 25th, 2007                             [back to top] 

In 2006, several Citizens for Responsible Growth compared prices between shopping at the Wal-Mart store in Williston with stores in the St. Albans area. The study revealed that while identical items were priced higher or lower at Wal-Mart, the total cost of a list of items was slightly higher at Wal-Mart than at a dollar store in St. Albans.

Now, a larger analysis has been performed. From July of 2003 until January of 2005, Zenith Management Consulting carried out an in-depth study of Wal-Mart. The full report is available at the http://zenith-consulting.com/research/walMart/Wal-Mart-Strategy.pdf Internet address. The study was funded and initiated by Zenith Consulting as part of its research activities. Zenith is a national consulting firm with offices coast to coast.

The Zenith study analyzed: “The buying preferences of approximately 6,500 consumers. The pricing, quality, service, convenience and scope of over 300 Wal-Mart, Target, grocery and chain drug stores.”

The following quotes are from that study. Zenith concluded: “Wal-Mart is a Master of Manipulating Perceptions.” “Wal-Mart’s business model is not really low price, it is creating perceptions that prices are lower than they really are.” Consumers think Wal-Mart’s prices are so low.”

“Wal-Mart’s media advertising central message is: “We have lower prices than anyone else.” “Wal-Mart’s ‘opening price point’ is a very low-price, high velocity item placed in a high-visibility spot in each store section. This creates a perception that since this first item is so very low-priced, the other items in the section are as well.”

Zenith found that “Comparisons of the price of the other items in each section show that only 15% to 20% of the items Wal-Mart sells are actually priced lower than competing retailers. 80% to 85% of the items Wal-Mart sells are more expensive than at other retailers.” The study called this “price spin.” “It is possible to convince customers that an expectation is being met when it is not.”

A conclusion of the Zenith study is that “Wal-Mart is more successful than its competitors because of the illusions it creates. Consumers think that Wal-Mart’s prices are lower than anyone else’s. Because of that perception, prices have become more important to consumers. Because of that perception, Wal-Mart seems to be the best at what consumers want most. Because of that perception, consumers forgive Wal-Mart for its poor quality, poor service and poor convenience.”

It is regrettable that many Franklin County residents are fooled by Wal-Mart’s merchandising spin and falsely conclude that their merchant neighbors are ripping them off. This being so, people who ignore the fact that other stores offer equal or better prices than Wal-Mart and travel one hundred miles for more expensive shopping cannot claim to be desperately poor or smart shoppers.

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Wal-Mart on Trial. Again.

Bloomberg                         [back to top] 

Managers at Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's biggest retailer, forced hourly workers in Minnesota to work through breaks and improperly inserted untaken meal and rest periods into time cards, a lawyer for the employees said.

A nonjury trial began today in a Minnesota state court over a lawsuit brought by four workers on behalf of 56,000 Wal-Mart and Sam's Club hourly employees. The suit alleges the company forced employees to work off the clock and through breaks.

"Wal-Mart is breaking the rules, violating the law and squeezing these employees as much as they can," attorney Justin Perl said today in his opening statement in Hastings. "That's the Wal-Mart way."

The suit is one of more than 70 accusing Wal-Mart of wage law violations. The Minnesota workers are seeking back pay to 1998 and as much as $1,000 each for millions of missed breaks.

The suit was granted class-action status, allowing the workers to sue as a group. Judge Robert King Jr. will rule on liability, damages and willfulness. If he finds against Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart, a jury will decide on damages. The company has denied responsibility for missed breaks or working off the clock. Wal-Mart also argues that such claims aren't suited for class-action treatment because each employee's experience is unique.

Plaintiffs' claims

The plaintiffs are Nancy Braun, who worked at a Wal-Mart store in Apple Valley; Debbie Simonson and Cindy Severson, who worked in Brooklyn Park; and Pamela Reinert, who worked at stores in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

All said they worked off the clock and were denied meal and rest breaks. The workers claim that Wal-Mart managers forced hourly employees to work without pay to keep down labor costs.

Wal-Mart knew as early as 1998 that its scheduling system created employee shortages at stores and resulted in missed meal and rest breaks, Perl said.

An internal audit of 127 stores in July 2000 showed the violations were a "massive" problem companywide, said Perl, of the Minneapolis law firm Maslon Edelman Borman & Brand. The company's solution was to eliminate time clocks for breaks, he said.

"Wal-Mart knew what they were doing. They knew why they were doing it and they were hiding the evidence to avoid liability," Perl said.

Workers missed about 8 million meal and rest breaks from 1998 through 2004, he said. Managers in Minnesota added 450,000 rest and meal breaks not taken to employee records, shortchanging hourly workers $2.5 million, Perl said.

Pennsylvania, California cases

Wal-Mart lost a $78 million jury verdict in Pennsylvania last October over rest breaks and unpaid work and a $172 million verdict in California in 2005 over meal breaks. The California verdict has been appealed.

The company, which also faces class-action suits in New Jersey, South Carolina and Missouri, fought off class certification this year in states including New York, Illinois and Maryland. Denial of class-action status means individuals must spend more to sue the company on their own.

"The exposure is gigantic," said law professor Carl Tobias of the University of Richmond, who specializes in civil litigation and follows Wal-Mart suits. "But maybe the worst part is the bad publicity. Every time one of these proceeds to trial and they lose, it's not helpful to their reputation."

Wal-Mart shares fell 92 cents to $43.05 as of noon Central time in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. They have fallen 6.8 percent this year, compared with an 8.3 percent gain at Target Corp., the second-largest U.S. discount chain.

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Wal-Mart loses $1.2 Million lawsuit

Wal-Mart's disregard for customer safety results in a fractured elbow and a $1.2 million lawsuit for negligence.

The Wilson Times                        [back to top] 

A Wilson woman was awarded $1.2 million in Wilson County Superior Court in a lawsuit against Wal-Mart. A 12-member jury Wednesday found Wal-Mart Stores East LP was negligent in a personal injury case involving Jackie E. Corbett, who fell while shopping at the store.

The suit was filed last year, after Corbett fell March 18, 2006, while at the store on Forest Hills Road. Her attorney, Earl Taylor, said Corbett fractured her elbow, resulting in two surgeries and permanent injury.

"She was leaving the sales floor and headed back toward checkout when she tripped over a pallet and fell," Taylor said. The empty pallet had been left on the store's floor near some merchandise, which was a violation of Wal-Mart's own policy, Taylor said. The company has a safety policy of "picking up all empty pallets and not leaving any empty pallets unattended," he said. Part of Corbett's success with the suit may be attributed to an eyewitness who saw the woman fall, Taylor said. The observer testified during trial that the pallet was partially hidden by merchandise.

"It was real important that a member of the community thought enough to stop and get involved," Taylor said.

Corbett has been able to return to work since the injury, her attorney said.

Wal-Mart has 30 days to appeal the jury's verdict. The company hasn't decided whether it will appeal, a spokeswoman said Thursday. "We respect the jury system, but disagree with the verdict. We are studying the verdict ... and have not yet determined how we might proceed," said company spokeswoman Sharon Weber.

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LARGEST CRIB RECALL IN HISTORY

Wal-Mart Watch                          [back to top] 

Largest crib recall in history [Chicago Tribune] Federal regulators today recalled about 1 million cribs made by Simplicity Inc. because the drop rail on some of the nation's best-selling models can detach from the crib, creating a dangerous gap that has led to the deaths of at least three children.

US firm recalls China-made cots [BBC News] Eleven Simplicity models are affected, sold at Wal-Mart and other retailers.

Cribs Recalled After Deaths of 2 Children [New York Times] Two infants, a 9-month-old and a 6-month-old, died after the drop-rail sides of their cribs were installed upside down, the agency said. It is investigating the death of a third child in a newer-style crib that is not part of the recall.

US says 1 million Chinese-made cribs recalled [Reuters via Los Angeles Times] Although the cribs were made in China, the safety agency downplayed that aspect of the massive recall. "This recall isn't a China-made problem. It's more about hardware and crib design and less about it being assembled in China," a CPSC spokeswoman said.

1 million Simplicity, Graco cribs recalled after 3 babies die [Associated Press via USA Today] In a separate recall in June, the commission recalled about 40,000 Nursery-in-a-Box cribs, manufactured by Simplicity, because the assembly instructions incorrectly explain how to attach the drop side.

WAL-MART ASKS SUPPLIERS TO PROVIDE EMISSIONS DATA

Wal-Mart seeks emissions data [Financial Times] Wal-Mart is to ask its suppliers to measure and report their greenhouse gas emissions, in the biggest move to disclose emissions from businesses.

Wal-Mart to ask suppliers for emissions data [Reuters] Wal-Mart could eventually use the data to cut costs by comparing similar companies to spot which are less efficient, the report said.

Wal-Mart Asks Suppliers to Rate Energy Use [Wall Street Journal] Wal-Mart says it will launch the examination of supplier energy-efficiency with 25 to 30 companies that collectively supply seven products: DVDs, toothpaste, soap, milk, beer, vacuum cleaners and soda.

Wal-Mart Will Measure Energy Used to Make Products [Bloomberg News] Wal-Mart has pledged to cut energy and waste generated by its stores and truck fleet. Some of its facilities use solar power, others have energy-efficient lighting systems, and the company has worked with suppliers to reduce packaging. Critics fault it for bringing sprawl and traffic wherever it opens a store.

New corporate push on global warming [Associated Press via CNN Money] Former President Clinton was scheduled to join the nonprofit Carbon Disclosure Project on Monday to announce the results of its latest checkup on the world's biggest companies and how they plan to deal with the risks and opportunities associated with greenhouse gas emissions and energy use.

N.Y. TIMES: WALMART.COM TO CUSTOMERS: STOP CALLING

Walmart.com to Customers: Stop Calling [New York Times] When it comes to customer service, who needs a human touch? Not Wal-Mart's online customers, apparently.

Retailer's Shortcut From Desktop to Store [New York Times] Over all, consumers still prefer going to a store over shopping online. The combination of offline and online shopping, though, is proving a potent force...Take Wal-Mart, for instance. In recent weeks, the company, the largest retailer, completed a national introduction of its Site to Store service...

EX-RAMONES DRUMMER SUES WAL-MART, APPLE OVER DOWNLOADS

Ex-Ramones drummer sues Wal-Mart, Apple over downloads [MarketWatch] A former drummer of the iconic punk rock band The Ramones sued Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Real Networks Inc. on Friday, alleging copyright infringement over digital downloads of the band's songs.

Wal-Mart, RealNetworks Sued by Former Ramones Drummer [Bloomberg News] The suit by Richard Reinhardt, also known as Richie Ramone, was filed today in Manhattan federal court. The complaint also names as a defendant the estate of John Cummings, the Ramones' deceased guitarist known as Johnny Ramone, as well as managers and others associated with the iconic punk band.

A Ramones Drummer Says Hey! Ho! Let's Sue! [New York Times] "The plaintiff has never authorized the duplication, distribution, performance or other exploitation of the compositions in any non-physical digital format," the suit says.

Former Ramone Sues Over Song Downloads [Associated Press via Atlanta Journal-Constitution] The Ramones helped define punk after forming their band in New York in 1974. They performed for 22 years, with various members, before their last show in 1996.

Ramones member sues Apple and Wal-Mart [Reuters via Washington Post] Reinhardt is seeking at least $900,000 in damages, profits the defendants made from the songs and a permanent injunction prohibiting the defendants from using the songs in any manner whatsoever, according to the lawsuit.

ADAGE SAYS NEW WAL-MART TAGLINE IS WRITTEN BY...EVERYONE

Who Wrote Wal-Mart's New Tagline? Er, Everyone [Advertising Age] So you thought it was over, that long, national nightmare was the Wal-Mart Ad Agency Review.

A WAY WITH WORDS

How Do You Say"Got Milk" en Español? [New York Times] Wal-Mart reportedly spends more than $60 million a year on reaching Hispanics, and for some years the Wal-Mart Spanish tag line, composed by a Houston agency called Lopez Negrete Communications, was Para su familia, de todo corazón. Siempre. Which lofted the blunt English "Low prices, always," into a line enduring enough for a tombstone: "For your family, from the heart. Always." WHAT'S WRONG, IN A NUTSHELL

The Wal-Mart Weekly: What's wrong in a nutshell, Part 2 [AOL BloggingStocks] So far, the news has not been all that great for Wal-Mart in terms of finding the right combination of variables in many international markets. It's had good-to-middling success in some markets like Mexico and some countries in South America, while it has bombed in Germany and South Korea, where it pulled out completely after years of trying to eek out consistent profit.

WAL-MART WOMEN

Soccer Moms Are So 1996. Try Wal-Mart Women. [New York Times] Most of the names on Mr. Newhouse's list have little to do with gender, with the exception of "Wal-Mart women." Those are voters who "generally have lower incomes, are less educated, tend to be conservative and have been impacted by economic difficulties," he said.

CAN'T RELY ON THE 'KINDNESS OF BILLIONAIRES'

Opinion: We Can't Rely on the Kindness of Billionaires [Washington Post] The largest gift given this year will most likely be one from Helen Walton, wife of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton. She died in April, and her $16 billion estate is widely expected to go to the Walton Family Foundation, making it the second largest in the United States. The Waltons' foundations contribute millions each year to charter schools, charter-school advocacy groups and think tanks such as the American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation, whose "top policy analysts," the New York Times reported in 2005, have defended Wal-Mart against its critics in op-eds, interviews and testimony before government committees. Such foundations can pretty much do as they please with their grants, as long as they spend at least 5 percent of their assets every year and don't blatantly enrich their directors or donors.

The brand of Clinton [The Economist] One controversial aspect of the CGI [Clinton Global Initiative] is that many of the pledges - according to the foundation there have been nearly 600 so far, worth almost $10 billion - are to do things that boost the profits of the companies concerned, such as Wal-Mart. In his recent book, 'Supercapitalism', Robert Reich, Mr Clinton's labour secretary, attacked his old boss for praising firms for doing what is in their self-interest. Mr Clinton concedes that this raises tricky questions, but says he will highlight a for-profit pledge if it is likely to generate significant public good. "If Wal-Mart really does sell 100m compact fluorescent bulbs and people buy them, and screw them in, and use them, it will have the CO2 impact of taking 700,000 cars off the road," he says.

HALTING TAX LOOPHOLES IN MARYLAND

Next for O'Malley: halt 'loopholes' [Baltimore Sun] Gov. Martin O'Malley called yesterday for closing corporate loopholes in his third event this week on his revenue-raising plan. Highlights include...Enacting a tax law - referred to as "combined reporting" - designed to prevent large companies operating in Maryland from hiding profits in other states. Wal-Mart and other large companies have used real estate investment trusts to shift profits to states with low or no corporate taxes. If Maryland approves "combined reporting," the state would receive an additional $25 million.

SAVVY SHOPPERS IN CHINA

In China, shoppers are becoming savvier [Chicago Tribune] With millions of Chinese entering the middle class each year, market researchers say that shoppers concerned about their health and safety are increasingly turning to branded goods they can find online, in specialty stores or at big-box "hypermarts" like Carrefour and Wal-Mart.

Dell to Sell PCs Through China Retailer [Associated Press via Washington Post] Dell Inc. announced a deal Monday to launch a retail presence in China by selling computers through the country's biggest chain of electronics stores as it struggles to capture a bigger share of the booming market...since being overtaken by HP last year, Dell has started to turn to retail sales, including recent deals with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in the United States, Bic Camera Inc. in Japan and Carphone Warehouse PLC in Britain.

Dell to sell PCs via China retail giant [Associated Press via CNN Money] The new China sales plan calls for putting Dell employees in some Gome stores. The chain has about 700 outlets in 210 cities in China.

MASSACHUSETTS SITE FIGHT: OPPONENTS RALLY TO STOP DEVELOPMENT

Opponents hope traffic solution will jam up Freetown mall [Boston Globe] Many residents, convinced that a Lowe's home improvement store and a Wal-Mart are headed their way, have rallied to block the development they fear will choke their roadways, endanger threatened turtles, and pollute the bay. Their Assonet Bay Action Committee now boasts more than 300 supporters.

CALIFORNIA SITE FIGHT: WAL-MART TO HEADLINE SPECIAL MEETING

Wal-Mart issue tops council agenda [Ontario (Calif.) Daily Bulletin] A special meeting has been called tonight for the City Council to vote on a Planning Commission approval of a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter. The debate began in August 2004 when Wal-Mart proposed using a 1997 EIR prepared for the Mountain Village Specific Plan, which described how the area will be commercially developed.

Opinion: Panel ignores opponents of Wal-Mart [Ontario (Calif.) Daily Bulletin] The Ontario Planning Commission ignored the concerns of hundreds of residents who opposed approval of the Wal-Mart Supercenter at Fifth Street and Mountain Avenue, and I am very worried that our City Council members have already made up their minds to ignore us, too.

VIRGINIA SITE FIGHT: WAL-MART APPROVED, BUT TRAFFIC CONCERNS MOUNT

Stoplight at Wal-Mart upsets locals [Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch] A state Transportation Department official admits the agency failed to fully evaluate the consequences of a new traffic light designed to regulate traffic flow near a new Wal-Mart. Neighborhood residents are seeing red even before the traffic light begins working and the Wal-Mart opens.

MINNESOTA SITE FIGHT: CRITICISM GROWS AS VOTE MOVES FORWARD

Wal-Mart expansion draws criticism as project goes to a vote [The (Minn.) Pioneer Press] Years of bickering over development in Vadnais Heights will come to a head Tuesday when city officials are expected to decide the fate of a project to expand a Wal-Mart and add up to 40 businesses. Opponents are vowing to continue fighting the project. While neighbors have voiced concerns about increased traffic and noise, one of the biggest objections comes from union leaders who fear adding groceries to the Wal-Mart will muscle out nearby businesses, including unionized grocers.

NEW YORK SITE FIGHT: PLANNING BOARD TO DISCUSS WAL-MART

Planning board to discuss Wal-Mart [Binghamton (N.Y.) Press & Sun-Bulletin] A decision could finally be made at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday about a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter's environmental impact. Planning board Chairman Gerald Putmansaid at a meeting earlier this month that he expects to have New York Department of Transportation feedback that will allow the board to make a decision on the project's environmental impact. The Wal-Mart is proposed for a brownfield site at 90 Lester Ave., Johnson City.

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Indians can vie with Wal-Marts

Swraj Paul
Press Trust of India
September 24, 2007                  [back to top] 

Indian retailers are capable of working in a competitive environment and global retail giants coming to the country will only spur them to do better, NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul said today.

"Indians are capable of working very well in a competitive market. There is Wal-Mart in the US, there is Wal-Mart in the UK. There is Tesco too in these countries. Indians have set up retail shops there and have beaten them," Lord Paul said.

Stressing that the government should concentrate on health, law and education and leave the business alone to fend for itself, Lord Paul welcomed competition for the Indian business community.

"We can compete with the best. The reason why IT industry has progressed so well is because they did not need the government nor did they know how to control them. So, I have no problem with Wal-Marts or Tesco or anybody. Let's believe in ourselves." Quelling apprehensions about the possible danger to traditional, small time domestic retailers due to the entry of MNCs, Lord Paul said.

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Ramones Member Sues Apple And Wal-Mart

Billboard.biz
September 24, 2007                           [back to top] 

A former drummer from the 1980s punk band, the Ramones, sued Apple Inc, Wal-Mart Stores Inc, RealNetworks Inc and others for copyright infringement, claiming the companies lacked permission to sell downloads of six songs he authored.

In the suit filed in U.S. federal court in Manhattan on Friday, Richard Reinhardt alleges his music publisher never had the right to authorize distribution or duplication of six songs he wrote between 1983 and 1987.

The suit, which also names the estate of the band's one- time guitarist, Johnny Ramone, Ramones Productions Inc and their music publisher as defendants, alleges the music publisher improperly authorized third parties, such as Apple's iTunes service, Wal-Mart.com's music download service and RealNetwork's Real Store and Rhapsody services to use the songs.

Reinhardt claims no music publishing agreement was ever made with his music publisher and that the songs -- Smash You, Somebody Put Something in My Drink', 'Human Kind', 'I'm Not Jesus, I Know Better Now and (You) Can't Say Anything Nice -- are solely owned by Reinhardt, according to the lawsuit.

Reinhardt is seeking at least $900,000 in damages, profits the defendants made from the songs and a permanent injunction prohibiting the defendants from using the songs in any manner whatsoever, according to the lawsuit.

A spokesman for Wal-Mart had no immediate comment on the lawsuit. A spokesman from Apple did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

A spokeswoman from RealNetworks said the company had not yet seen the lawsuit and does not usually comment on litigation.

© 2007 VNU eMedia Inc. All rights reserved.

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BANGLADESH: Wal-Mart garment workers protest against poor wages and working conditions

By bharattextile.com ,
September 24th, 2007                       [back to top] 

DHAKA: 25,000 textile workers protested against poor wages in Dhaka even though there is ban on public demonstrations. The workers demanded better pay and conditions. Hundreds of police, backed by army units, were deployed to disperse them. The protesters want increase in annual bonus which is due in a few weeks time.

The company involved in this dispute, the Nassa Group, is seen as one of Bangladesh's better employers and was among the first companies to pay its 27,000 workers the national minimum wage of $25 (£13) a month - a figure agreed last year after a series of violent protests. It sells clothes around the world. Its customers include Wal-Mart in the US and Primark in the UK. Bangladeshi trade unions and campaigning groups in Europe and the US, where most the clothes are sold, have accused Bangladeshi factory owners of exploiting their mainly female workforce. But the owners say they need to keep costs down to stay in business.

The workers walked off the job in the Tejgaon Industrial Area in Dhaka and held protests in the streets, forcing the shutdown of most factories in the area.

Police used batons to break up protests after demonstrators smashed the windows of several factories forcing the government to deploy additional army personnel and the elite Rapid Action Battalion. Police reported no injuries from their actions to disperse the protesters. Police said a bus was torched by workers after it hit three protesters.

Tejgaon is home to some of Bangladesh's top garment factories. Garments are Bangladesh's biggest export earners with sales abroad fetching more than nine billion dollars in the last fiscal year.

But the industry has been hit by a series of protests over low wages and poor working conditions.

Sixteen factories were torched and hundreds vandalised last year in the country's worst ever labour unrest. The protests eventually stopped in 2006 when the government, unions and the employers agreed to a 25-dollar monthly minimum wage. There are many factories who have not yet implemented the minimum wage. In the latest warning, the government has said it will take legal action against factories that fail to implement the minimum wage by September 30.

Bangladesh has been under emergency rule since January 11 after elections were cancelled over vote-rigging allegations. The army-backed government has promised to reinstate democracy by holding fresh elections in late 2008 after cleaning up the nation's corrupt politics.

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Walmart.com to Customers: Stop Calling

By Katie Hafner
New York Times
September 24, 2007                         [back to top] 

When it comes to customer service, who needs a human touch? Not Wal-Mart’s online customers, apparently. As part of what Wal-Mart is calling its “Customer Contact Reduction” program, by next week, Walmart.com, the company’s online arm, will no longer give customers a toll-free phone number to call–or any phone number, for that matter–if they have a question. Instead, they will have to rely solely on the Wal-Mart Web site as their guide to the solution for whatever problem they might have, whether it is a question about a credit card charge or the status of an online order. We’ve made a significant investment in the enhancement of our online customer “self-help” tool at Walmart.com to better serve our online customers,” said Amy Colella, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman. Ms. Colella said the customer service phone number was being removed because “a significant number of calls are related to order tracking,” and the improvements to the Web site will make the tracking easier. It leaves customer service experts wonder about the wisdom of the move. “Nobody is benefiting from this,” said Brad Cleveland, president of the International Customer Management Institute, a consulting firm in Annapolis, Maryland. Mr. Cleveland said his firm has tracked customer expectations for two decades, “and one of the primary expectations is be accessible in whatever channel, whether it’s Web-based services, or the phone, or through e-mail.”

“Wal-Mart is trying to save money in a vacuum,” said Mr. Cleveland. “It costs money to handle customer contact. The question is, ‘what value is there in that longer term, in the ability to keep a strong focus on what your customers are saying?’” Ms. Colella said the change will not affect the general Wal-Mart Stores customer service number, which is still 1-800-WALMART.

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Wal-Mart to look at suppliers' greenhouse gases

Reuters
Mon Sep 24, 2007                           [back to top] 

NEW YORK, Sept 24  - Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) has formed a partnership with the Carbon Disclosure Project as part of a plan to get its suppliers to better manage their greenhouse gas emissions, the company said on Monday.

Wal-Mart said it will begin the program with a pilot group of seven products: DVDs, toothpaste, soap, milk, beer, vacuum cleaners and soda.

"This is an important first step toward reaching our goal of removing nonrenewable energy from products that Wal-Mart sells," John Fleming, Wal-Mart's chief merchandising officer, said in a statement. (Reporting by Justin Grant)

© Reuters 2006. All rights reserved. R

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Seven hurt in India protests against supermarkets 3 days ago

AFP                                        [back to top] 

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India  — Two shop-owners and five policemen were injured when a protest against big retail stores turned violent in southern India on Saturday, police said.

Some 100 shopkeepers demonstrated in the city of Kozhikode in Kerala state to protest at the opening of dozens of Western-style air-conditioned supermarkets, which they say threaten their business.

"The police will not be able to crush our protest through violence. We are fighting for our livelihood," T. Nasiruddeen, president of the Kerala Merchants and Traders Coordination Committee, said.

Police said the protesters had turned violent. "We caned the violent mob to disperse them," said police commissioner Balram Kumar Upadhyay.

The communist state government promised earlier this month to ban the entry of retail giants into the state.

But in the past few months, several supermarket chains have opened a few dozen stores in the state as opportunities in retail grow.

The Kerala government has not said what it will do about the presence of existing retail chains but the traders said they want the licences removed.

It was the third such big protest against organised retail stores in the country this year.

Last month, one of India's largest states ordered the closure of retail stores set up by Reliance Industries citing law enforcement problems, after traders attacked the company's Reliance Fresh stores.

Corporate giant Reliance launched its six-billion-dollar retail business last November.

A host of domestic and international companies are seeking to invest in India's lucrative 300-billion-dollar retail market.

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Wal-Mart Director Sells 300,000 Shares

Associated Press
09.24.07                                           [back to top] 

NEW YORK - A director and former chief executive of retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc. sold 300,000 shares of common stock, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings Friday.

In Form 4s filed with the SEC, David D. Glass reported he sold the shares Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for $44 to $45.03 apiece.

Insiders file Form 4s with the SEC to report transactions in their companies' shares. Open market purchases and sales must be reported within two business days of the transaction.

Wal-Mart Stores (nyse: WMT - news - people ) is based in Bentonville, Ark.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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Wal-Mart to Measure Energy Used

Associated Press
09.24.07                                       [back to top] 

NEW YORK - Retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Monday it will partner with a nonprofit climate group to measure the amount of energy used to create products throughout its supply chain.

Wal-Mart said it would work with the group, called the Carbon Disclosure Project, to determine the environmental impact of making DVDs, toothpaste, soap, milk, beer, vacuum cleaners and soda.

Wal-Mart said it chose those seven product categories since they were "ordinary products that customers commonly use."

The retailer said after recording the measurements, it would then initiate a pilot with a group of suppliers to look for ways to make the process of creating those products more energy-efficient.

The Carbon Disclosure Project is supported by 315 institutional investors, including Merrill Lynch & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and the California Public Employees' Retirement System. Those investors have a total of more than $41 trillion under management.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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Ad targets Wal-Mart on safety of its toys

By Steve Painter,
Arkansas Democrat Gazette
September 21st, 2007                                [back to top] 

China’s checkered reputation in product quality is fodder for a new television commercial a Wal-Mart critic group began airing Thursday.

With the Christmas shopping season approaching, the 30-second spots raise the issue of whether toys at Wal-Mart are safe for children. Chinese manufacturers are a major source of consumer goods sold by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and many other retailers.

“When huge retailers like Wal-Mart pressure Chinese suppliers to cut costs, they cut corners. Now we’re paying the price,” the commercial says, in part.

The ad is airing in 32 markets across the South and Midwest, including Little Rock and Fort Smith, said Meghan Scott, spokesman for WakeUp-WalMart. com, which paid for the commercial. The group is funded primarily by the United Food and Commercial Workers union.

A spokesman for Bentonville-based Wal-Mart rejected the premise that cost trumps safety for the world’s largest retailer.

“Our commitment to low prices is never at the cost of safety. Product safety has always been and will continue to be a top priority at Wal-Mart,” spokesman Dave Tovar said in an e-mailed statement. Among Chinese products pulled from retailers’ shelves this year were children’s bibs and toy jewelry that contained lead and pet treats that contained melamine, an industrial chemical used in making plastics and other industrial products.

Terry Hemeyer, a crisismanagement and public-rela- tions professor, said the commercial is likely to have little influence on Wal-Mart shoppers. Still, he said, Wal-Mart must handle the criticism effectively.

“If it says ‘made in China’ now, it’s not good,” Hemeyer said. “They need to be very strong in their messages about what they’re doing about it.”

The company’s response must be in-store, providing someone who can personally address shoppers’ concerns, as well as through the media, said Hemeyer, who teaches communication management at the University of Texas at Austin and crisis management at Rice University in Houston.

Hemeyer worked for a year at Edelman Worldwide, about a decade before Wal-Mart hired the huge public-relations firm to assist with its image efforts.

Tovar said Wal-Mart has implemented a five-point toy-safety plan that includes reviewing test documentation for all toys on shelves now and planned for Christmas; additional testing by third-party laboratories; working with industry groups and other retailers to identify new standards for testing and safety; offering help to suppliers and government officials in China on new safety steps; and seeking new sources for toys, including Europe and North America.

WakeUpWalMart. com paid to air another China-related commercial earlier this year, focused on moving jobs overseas, with the tag line, “Wal-Mart, it’s just not American anymore.”

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Ahead of the Bell: Family Dollar Stores

Associated Press
09.21.07                                          [back to top] 

NEW YORK - Tough competition and a sluggish economy caused JPMorgan analyst Charles Grom on Friday to downgrade shares of Family Dollar Stores Inc.

Grom said the discount retailer is facing "an uphill battle," given a softening economy and greater competition from Dollar General, which recently went private, and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Grom downgraded the stock of Family dollar Stores to "Underweight" from "Neutral" and said Dollar General is likely to be a more formidable competitor under the management of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., a private equity firm that bought the company for $7.3 billion.

Grom noted that Dollar General has 74.5 percent of its operations within Family Dollar's most heavily concentrated regions.

And Wal-Mart is likely to roll back prices, Grom said, which may steal market share from all the discount retailers.

Given these challenges and potential for weakening margins, Grom said the stock price is too expensive, especially if the company stumbles in the upcoming holiday season.

Since hitting a 52-week high of $35.42 in June, shares have declined 20 percent to Thursday's $28.29 closing price.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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More Than $1B Needed to Make Forbes List

By JACKIE FARWELL
09.21.07                                            [back to top] 

NEW YORK - A billion dollars just doesn't go as far as it used to. For the first time, it takes more than $1 billion to earn a spot on Forbes magazine's list of the 400 richest Americans. The minimum net worth for inclusion in this year's rankings released Thursday was $1.3 billion, up $300 million from last year.

The new threshold meant 82 of America's billionaires didn't make the cut.

Collectively, the people who made the rankings released Thursday are worth $1.54 trillion, compared with $1.25 trillion last year.

The very top of the list was unchanged: Microsoft Corp. (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) founder Bill Gates led the list for the 14th straight year, this time with a net worth estimated at $59 billion. He was followed by Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (nyse: BRKA - news - people ) in second place with an estimated $52 billion and casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, No. 3 with an estimated worth of $28 billion.

Larry Ellison of Oracle Corp. (nasdaq: ORCL - news - people ) maintained his ranking at No. 4, with an estimated net worth of $26 billion.

But the list showed some notable changes.

Joining the top 10 of the country's richest for the first time were Google Inc. (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ) founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, who tied for fifth place. The 34-year-old moguls' wealth has quadrupled since 2004 to an estimated $18.5 billion this year, while their company's stock value has surged 500 percent.

And, lower down, almost half of the 45 newcomers made their millions in hedge funds and private equity investments. The youngest member of this year's list was 33-year-old hedge fund manager John Arnold, who joined the ranks at No. 317 and a net worth of $1.5 billion.

"Wall Street really led the charge this year," said Matthew Miller, editor of the Forbes list. "God only knows if they'll be on it next year. It really just depends on what the market does."

Surging oil prices also helped some members of the list. Oil baron brothers Charles and David Koch also broke into the top 10, sharing the No. 9 spot with estimated wealth of $17 billion. Their ascension bumped the Walton family, heirs to the Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (nyse: WMT - news - people ) fortune, from the top 10 for the first time since 1989.

The discount retailer, struggling with a slowing economy and higher gasoline prices as well as merchandising mishaps, has seen its sales lag behind rivals like Target Corp. (nyse: TGT - news - people )

Climbing 19 rungs to No. 7 was casino tycoon Kirk Kerkorian, who doubled his net worth to an estimated $18 billion. The 90-year-old investor is a majority shareholder in MGM Mirage (nyse: MGM - news - people ) - operator of the MGM Grand, Bellagio and other casinos - which saw record profits at several of its Las Vegas hotel-casinos.

Rounding out the top 10 was Michael Dell (nasdaq: DELL - news - people ) of computer maker Dell Inc., who was No. 8 with an estimated $17.2 billion.

The magazine confirmed the worth of an individual's holdings in public companies by using the Aug. 31 closing stock price, and estimated the value of private companies by evaluating comparable public firms in the industry. The list also takes into account philanthropic donations.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved.\

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Wal-Mart selling own brand of energy efficient CFLs

Reuters
Thu Sep 20, 2007                   [back to top] 

NEW YORK  - Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N: Quote) said on Thursday that it has launched its own private label of compact fluorescent lightbulbs and is now selling the "Great Value" energy efficient bulbs in more than 3,000 stores.

"The introduction of our Great Value bulbs make CFLs a more accessible option for our shoppers as we strive to sell 100 million CFLs by the end of 2007," said Wal-Mart General Merchandise Manager Andy Barron in a statement.

The world's largest retailer said the bulbs, which use less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs and last longer, will save consumers money and protect the environment.

But shoppers have been slow to embrace compact fluorescent lightbulbs, which largely have an unusual, squiggly shape and cost more money up front than traditional bulbs. Advocates say the higher initial cost is offset by the bulb's longer life and instead saves shoppers money.

Wal-Mart has made more room on its store shelves to sell the bulbs. It has also worked with its suppliers, including General Electric Co (GE.N: Quote) and Royal Philips, to cut the tiny amount of mercury the bulbs contained after worries were raised that mercury would wind up in garbage dumps after shoppers discarded the bulbs.

Wal-Mart said four of its "Great Value" CFLs will sell for the cost of three regularly priced brand name CFLs.

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Critics Take on Wal-Mart Over China

By MARCUS KABEL
09.20.07                         [back to top] 

Under new management, union-backed Wal-Mart critics unveiled an ad campaign Thursday that seeks to tie the world's largest retailer to the recent slew of safety problems in Chinese imports.

It is the first campaign from a new team of strategists at WakeUpWalMart.com after the two founding leaders left in July for the Democratic presidential campaign of John Edwards.

The group is one of two political campaign-style organizations launched by unions in 2005 to pressure Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (nyse: WMT - news - people ) from the outside after years of failing to unionize its stores. WakeUpWalMart.com and the other group, Wal-Mart Watch, criticize the retailer over issues including wages and benefits.

Wal-Mart has responded by adding public relations staff and hiring global PR agency Edelman to press its message of being a good corporate citizen with competitive wages and benefits.

The two sides have been waging a public relations battle for over two years with TV ads, Web sites, blogs, opinion polls and their own opposition research staffs who dig up material against the other.

WakeUpWalMart's new national TV ad claims Wal-Mart's price pressure on Chinese suppliers leads to safety problems in some imports. It will run in 32 markets during morning and evening news shows through the weekend and kick off a series of ads on the topic of China.

The group has criticized Wal-Mart's business with China before, seeing it as an issue that resonates with consumers across the political spectrum.

Wal-Mart, which recently announced stepped-up safety testing of imported toys, defended its large business with China, as it has in the past.

"Our commitment to low prices is never at the cost of safety. Product safety has always been and will continue to be a top priority at Wal-Mart," spokesman David Tovar said. Wal-Mart has previously said it buys overseas in an effort to help consumers by offering low prices.

Wal-Mart is China's largest single corporate customer. In 2004, the last year it released a total, the company said it bought roughly $9 billion in goods from China directly and another $9 billion indirectly, or goods produced in China for another company and then sold to Wal-Mart.

Analysts are split on whether the union strategy of linking Wal-Mart to China's export problems will hurt the retailer's reputation.

Labor specialist Gary Chaison said it is a logical pressure point for unions because American consumers are unsettled by a string of safety recalls this year of China-made products from toys to dog food.

"The unions are hoping that Wal-Mart will be very vulnerable on China. They're looking for points of vulnerability and Wal-Mart tries to plug those up as fast as they can, like in health care," Chaison said.

"Wal-Mart can't plug up the China issue, because it is very much dependent on bringing in Chinese goods to keep its prices low," Chaison said.

But corporate reputation specialist Steven Silvers said the question of Chinese imports is one that affects all big retail chains and it will be hard to make people think Wal-Mart alone is to blame.

"Overall, I don't think this approach is going to move most Americans from whatever stand they may already have on Wal-Mart, good or bad," said Silvers, a partner in Denver-based public relations firm GBSM, Inc. who also blogs about marketing and PR.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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Medical Marts' retail clinics putting doctors inside stores

BY BRUCE JAPSEN
Chicago Tribune
September 20, 2007                              [back to top] 

The physician-staffed retail clinic model has officially opened its doors in the Chicago area.

Medical Marts opened clinics this month in Aurora and St. Charles, with plans to open a third in Algonquin by the end of the month. All are located in Meijer supercenter stores, but Medical Marts is working with other retailers and plans to open two clinics in Kmart stores in Rockford before Nov. 1.

Unlike the burgeoning number of retail clinics that are largely staffed by advanced-degree nurses known as nurse practitioners, Medical Marts staffs its clinics with two full-time primary-care physicians, as well as two full-time medical assistants or licensed practical nurses. As the clinics grow, Medical Marts can add doctors or additional nurses or assistants.

So far, Las Vegas-based Medical Marts has escaped the scrutiny and criticism of the retail clinics opened by the likes of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Walgreen Co. that are staffed by nurse practitioners. Medical groups such as the American Medical Association say clinics' nurse practitioners should have direct access to a physician and referral systems so patients with severe medical issues can be treated elsewhere.

"Our clinics are as one would find in any newly constructed, state-of-the-art medical facility, generally with three exam rooms, a procedure room, nurses station, reception area, physicians office and washroom," said Dr. Kenneth Richmond, a Wilmette physician and vice president and chief medical officer of Medical Marts. "The reception areas are purposely small, as patients are seen upon arrival. Should the physician be occupied, patients are given a pager, given time to shop, and paged when the physician is ready to see them."

Medical Marts clinics are open seven days a week, from 8:30 a.m to 8:30 p.m Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Saturday and 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sunday.

Founded three years ago, Medical Marts has a goal of 400 clinics in retail outlets across the country by the end of 2009. The company has opened seven in Utah in Shopko stores, with four under construction in St. Louis and Virginia.

But Medical Marts has a long way to go to catch up to some of the industry leaders.

There are at least 600 retail medical clinics in the U.S., according to a report last week by Merchant Medicine, a Minneapolis-based research and consulting firm that advises medical-care providers and employers on how to work within the retail clinic industry.

CVS/Caremark Corp. subsidiary MinuteClinic is by far leading the pack, with more than 250 retail clinics, followed by Walgreens' subsidiary Take Care Health Systems, with 55 clinics. There are at least 16 companies operating retail health clinics.

Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune

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Retail Group Spends $200,000 Lobbying

Associated Press
09.20.07                                        [back to top] 

WASHINGTON - The Footwear Distributors & Retailers of America spent $200,000 in the first half of 2007 to lobby the federal government, according to a disclosure form.

The trade group - which counts Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Nike Inc. and Gap Inc. among its members - lobbied on tariff legislation, according to the form posted online Sept. 13 by the Senate's public records office.

The group, which says it accounts for about 75 percent of U.S. shoe sales, lobbied Congress and the U.S. Trade Representative's office.

Under a federal law enacted in 1995, lobbyists are required to disclose activities that could influence members of the executive and legislative branches. They must register with Congress within 45 days of being hired or engaging in lobbying.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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Why Not Walmart Too?

David Nassar
Wal-Mart Watch                        [back to top] 

Toys "R" Us sells 18% of our country's toys. That may seem like a lot, but consider this: Wal-Mart sells 30%. So when the U.S. House and Senate decided to summon Mattel and Toys "R" Us to committee hearings on the recent toxic toy recalls, we wondered: Why not Wal-Mart too? After all, as the world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart sets the standards for product safety -- and those standards are putting our children at risk. Over the past week, thousands of Wal-Mart Watch supporters in targeted districts across the country have asked their senators and representatives in Washington that very question. We've been putting the pressure on Wal-Mart and holding them accountable for their role in the recent toy safety problems. Now it's your turn. Let your friends and neighbors know the important part that Wal-Mart plays in the safety of our children's toys. Write a letter to your local newspaper now: http://action.walmartwatch.com/toys

From toxic toys to tainted pet treats, Wal-Mart customers are concerned about the safety of the stores' products. To ease those concerns, Wal-Mart released a five-point plan for "more checking, more testing, more dialogue, more help for China, and more selection." This all looks nice on paper, but there are some big problems with the company's plan. First off, the plan is weak, vague, and, most important, voluntary. And even worse, the plan only applies to new toys that haven't been made yet. That means that all of the toys in their warehouses and shipping docks -- all of this year's Christmas toys -- won't be subject to the "tough" new inspection guidelines. While other manufacturers and retailers set aggressive standards for product safety, Wal-Mart sets aggressive standards for public relations. It would rather bully its suppliers for dirt cheap products than ensure that its products won't harm our children. Let your friends and family know about Wal-Mart's real priorities by writing a letter to your local newspaper: http://action.walmartwatch.com/toys

The good news is people are already starting to point to Wal-Mart. On Friday, the Associated Press wrote: Shoppers have become accustomed to cheap playthings from China because Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other discounters have waged cost-cutting campaigns. Critics say real safeguards were sacrificed to keep prices low, however. "I will pay more (for toys) because I know it will ensure safety," said Lisa Sallese, a Wilton, Conn., mother of a 7-month-old boy and a 2-year-old daughter. "But it stinks. It should have been safe to begin with." Wal-Mart Watch members are saying the same thing. As Sandy from Latrobe, Pennsylvania told us: I used to love Walmart! Now, everything at Walmart is junk or toxic! Is this what Sam Walton would have wanted? Sandy's not the only Wal-Mart Watch member who feels betrayed by Wal-Mart.

Let your hometown know that you feel betrayed too.

Sincerely,
David Nassar
Wal-Mart Watch

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Chaos at Wal-Mart opening; Taxpayers foot $26 million traffic bill...

judyth piazza
newsblaze.com                             [back to top] 

Parking chaos at American Canyon Wal-Mart opening Wednesday; Another bad land use decision that has taxpayers left footing a $26 million traffic bill

The official opening of a Wal-Mart Superstore here Wednesday - after years of court fights - is yet another very bad land use decision by elected officials that will victimize consumers, local residents and the environment in the long run, charged a community organization here Tuesday.

"Wal-Mart in American Canyon is the worst form of corporate welfare imaginable. A $26 million dollar highway widening as a result of the 187,000 square foot Wal-Mart will be paid for by local residents. Wal-Mart won't pay a dime," said Joe Feller of Vallejoans for Responsible Growth.

Feller also noted that the traffic at the opening today/Wednesday indicates citizens were right in calling for a better traffic plan - one reason the project was delayed by the courts. "People were caught in a massive parking jam Wednesday at the opening and are parking cars on Napa Junction Road on undeveloped, private property in the dirt. The parking clearly, as we claimed, is inadequate for this Wal-Mart. And, this is just a weekday. The weekend will be much worse," Feller said.

He said Wal-Mart continues to build stores in locales that hurt people and environment, including a planned Superstore on the banks of a protected wetlands in Vallejo, and a huge distribution center - with diesel trucks running 24-hours a day - in one of the worst air pollution areas of the country, and next to schools and homes in Merced, where one in five children has asthma.

The American Canyon Wal-Mart was originally approved in 2004, but has been delayed three years following a series of taxpayer and City lawsuits. The courts first stopped construction because the City did not adequately address zoning and environmental issues. Eventually the city commissioned additional traffic and economic studies.

The City of American Canyon sued the state when Cal Trans refused to permit a turn lane along Highway 29, noting the highway, because of the size and projected traffic of the Wal-Mart anchored project, would have to add 2 lanes to the existing four-lane road. The City balked, and sued the state because the price tag was in the $26 million range - and it would take decades and decades of tax revenue from Wal-Mart to repay the City.

"Now the City is on the hook for the $26 million, somewhere down the road. It is unconscionable that Wal-Mart is able to get that kind of consideration when we do not even have enough money to fill our potholes or educate our children," added Feller.

Only three Wal-Mart Supercenters have been approved in the Bay Area the last four years. The City of Hercules is using eminent domain to stop Wal-Mart there, and Oakland, Alameda County, Livermore and Martinez have big box ordinances. Antioch rejected a Wal-Mart expansion earlier this year.

Copyright © 2007, NewsBlaze, Daily News

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British Supermarkets In Hot Milk

Vidya Ram,
09.20.07                            [back to top] 

LONDON - Got fines?

It's a question some of Britain's leading supermarkets might just have to answer the hard way, after they were accused of colluding with dairy processors to fix the retail price of milk products by the country's consumer watchdog on Thursday.

The Office of Fair Trading released a provisional statement accusing the companies of sharing commercially sensitive information to fix the price of milk, butter and cheese, which may have cost consumers around £270 million ($540 million). The accused include Britain's largest food retailers, Wal-Mart (nyse: WMT - news - people ) 's Asda, Morrison (other-otc: MRWSF.PK - news - people ), Safeway (nyse: SWY - news - people ), Sainsbury (other-otc: JSAIY.PK - news - people ) and Tesco (nasdaq: TESO - news - people ) and five dairy processors.

Tesco was trading up 75 pence ($1.51), or 0.2%, at £4.37 ($8.77) in morning trading in London, while Morrison was trading down 1 pence (2 cents), or 0.4%, at £2.77 ($5.56), benefiting from better-than-expected results for the first half of the year. Sainsbury largely shook off the news, after it announced that it had opened its books to the Qatari investment group Delta Two about a take over bid, rising by 19.50 pence (39 cents), or 3.5%, to £5.74 ($11.52). Wal-Mart and Safeway are listed in New York.

A spokeswoman for the trade regulator said that the supermarkets face a fine amounting to "hundreds of millions of pounds" between them, if found guilty.

"This kind of collusion on price is a very serious breach of the law," said Sean Williams, the executive director of the regulator. "Businesses should understand that where we find evidence of this kind of anti-competitive activity we will use the powers at our disposal to punish the companies involved and to deter other businesses from taking such actions."

The supermarkets have till mid December to respond to the regulator, which will then decide whether an actual breach of the law has occurred.

David Stoddart, a retail analyst at Teather and Greenwood told Forbes.com that while British supermarkets have been the subject of various inquiries by the watchdog, this was the first time that allegations were this specific.

"The Office of Fair Trading thinks there is a case to answer," he said. "But it is an accusation at this point and there obviously going to be some vigorous attempts to refute the allegations."

A spokeswoman for Tesco told Forbes.com that the company would vigorously defend itself against the allegations it had acted against the best interest of its customers, but refused to comment any further.

In August the Office of Fair trading slapped a £121.5 million ($243.95 million) fine on British Airways, its largest to date, as part of an inquiry about the surcharges added to ticket prices in response to rising fuel costs.

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Shop 'til you drop

Despite long battle, shoppers swarm hard-won Wal-Mart Supercenter

By RACHEL RASKIN-ZRIHEN
Vallejo Times Herald
09/20/2007                                     [back to top] 

AMERICAN CANYON - There was joy in the Napa Junction parking lot Wednesday as the new, hard-won Wal-Mart Supercenter opened for business. "We're thrilled. It's been quite a battle," said Pam Wilkinson, American Canyon Chamber of Commerce president.

Several hundred Wal-Mart employees, officials, shoppers and others braved the early morning chill for speeches, thanks and congratulations, before being allowed in for a peek.

The 173,000-square-foot stone and stucco-faced structure, includes a full grocery department, including bakery, produce and meat sections, as well as wine and liquor, home and apparel products, jewelry, shoes, electronics and general merchandise. The 24-hour store also contains nail and hair salons, a vision center, a McDonald's restaurant and a bank, as well as a delicatessen with a sushi bar and a lawn and garden center.

"To be opening the 30th Supercenter in California and the first in the region is exciting," marketing manager Mike Hedges said. Supercenter No. 31 also opened Wednesday, in Lancaster, added regional manager Henry Jordan. Wal-Mart serves about 6.5 million California customers weekly, he said.

Mayor Leon Garcia called it "an exciting day that was a long time coming."

More than two years of political and legal wrangling with Wal-Mart opponents delayed the store's completion, but a final ruling in May cleared the way for Wednesday's grand opening.

The new store replaces Vallejo's Wal-Mart, which closed Tuesday.

Wal-Mart's Supercenter is expected to generate about $600,000 in annual sales tax revenue for American Canyon, said city finance director Barry Whitley.

The new building was designed to reflect the region's railroad history and its proximity to the Napa Valley, Jordan said. Its numerous skylights and automatically dimming overhead lights help reduce energy

consumption and are a particular source of pride, said store manager Mike Sellick, a former Vallejo Wal-Mart manager. He and other Wal-Mart officials noted the floors are made from low-maintenance concrete which requires no special chemicals to clean.

Many of Wednesday's Wal-Mart shoppers said they were just glad it's finally open.

"I love to shop at Wal-Mart," said Joann Alcantara of Vallejo. "It would have been nice to have it in Vallejo, but American Canyon is still close enough."

Eager to peruse the new store's camera equipment, American Canyon residents and bus drivers Harold and Kristina Jones said they're hoping the new giant retail outlet will help thin out the congestion at the nearby Safeway supermarket.

"I get groceries at the Safeway, and they got 20 people in line, no matter what time you go," he said. "And the prices are lower here."

Wal-Mart officials still hope to build a Supercenter in Vallejo's long-vacant White Slough area on Sonoma Boulevard where the Kmart Store once stood, but they face fierce opposition. Many of those opposed to the plan say the "ecologically sensitive" wetlands site isn't suitable for a so-called big-box store.

"I'm hugely disappointed that Wal-Mart was able to shove this down the people of American Canyon's throat," said Joe Feller of Wal-Mart opposition group, Vallejoans for Responsible Growth. "Now they're going to be stuck with a huge bill for widening Highway 29 to accommodate Wal-Mart traffic. It's insane, and I'm glad I don't live in American Canyon because of it."

Feller vows to continue fighting against a Vallejo Supercenter though company officials say they're equally determined to see it developed.

The Vallejo project is "still at the beginning stages," with the city having recently found consultants to produce an environmental review, spokesman Kevin Loscotoff said. The EIR could take up to 16 months to complete, he said. But Wal-Mart is looking no where else in Vallejo, Loscotoff added.

"We're focused squarely on the White Slough project," he said.

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Wal-Mart eyes Galt site

Company files to build superstore as the city discusses restrictions.

By Loretta Kalb
The Sacramento Bee
Thursday, September 20, 2007                       [back to top] 

Wal--Mart Stores Inc. wants to build a 132,000-square-foot superstore, including a garden center and grocery department, in the city of Galt.

Community Development Director Curt Campion told The Bee that the application filed Sept. 6 is for a Wal-Mart project on the south side of Twin Cities Road, east of Fermoy Way. That's a short drive west of Highway 99.

The city Planning Commission already has been discussing a proposed ordinance to govern the establishment of superstores. The topic will be addressed at its next meeting later this month, Campion said.

Andrew Meredith, Galt's vice mayor, said Tuesday that he is glad the superstore ordinance is being pursued.

The ordinance would ban superstores over 140,000 square feet that devote more than 10 percent of their floor space to groceries.

For stores the size of the proposed Wal-Mart that have 10 percent grocery space, the ordinance would require several analyses of community impact.

These would include an evaluation of the store's compatibility with the surrounding neighborhood and its potential economic impact on the community.

The ordinance also would require stores in this category -- 100,000 square feet to 139,999 square feet -- to undergo crime and urban decay analyses.

"Certainly this Wal-Mart store needs to be studied," Meredith told The Bee in a voice-mail message. "It needs to be investigated.

"If those reports come back positive or negative, that will be a big factor in the council's decision."

Meredith said, based on information from the city attorney, that the Wal-Mart application would be governed by a city superstore ordinance, even though an ordinance has yet to take effect.

"Our attorney said, 'No, the superstore ordinance will still apply to their application's specifications,' " Meredith said.

A spokesman for Wal-Mart could not be reached for comment.

Meanwhile, an environmental impact report will be needed for the Wal-Mart project before the superstore proposal reaches the Planning Commission for formal consideration. That report could take nine to 12 months to complete.

In July, the Elk Grove City Council imposed a partial ban on retail stores over 150,000 square feet.

That decision came two years after members of the grass-roots Elk Grove Coalition Advocating Proper Planning turned back a 247,724-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter proposed for a largely residential area in the city.

Copyright © The Sacramento Bee

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Of lead paint and low prices

By Froma Harrop ,
Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune
September 19th, 2007                          [back to top] 

China's factories are pretty soulless affairs. Into one end are fed sweatshop workers and the world's raw materials. Through their stacks pour smog and greenhouse gases. The local environment is hideous, and the industrial pollution is so thick that plumes of dust and aerosol particles are making their way to California. The products of this manufacture get stamped with familiar American brand names.

None of these realities has aroused U.S. consumers as much as news that lead paint has been found on made-in-China toys bearing the Mattel label. Now the matter is personal -- that is, about the health of people's children. And, suddenly, parents are checking dolls and toy cars for country-of-origin labels. But let's back up. The story isn't simply about Chinese suppliers using lead paint, which was against Mattel's rules. It is about American society's obsession with low prices.

Consider the whole picture. Big-box stores fight every penny increase in manufacturers' prices. That immediately knocks the American worker out of the game. Wal-Mart has actually told its U.S. suppliers to move their factories to China. This price mania has also cost jobs in Mexico, where workers are still better paid than in Asia.

So Mattel now makes two-thirds of its toys in China. (It closed its last U.S. plant in 2002.) But there's still more price-scraping to do. Even the Chinese factories have to undercut each other.

Mattel owns 12 Chinese plants, which make about half its toys from that country. The rest are produced by outside vendors. These other suppliers were responsible for the lead paint in Barbie's accessories, Pixar cars and other toys. These factories cut corners because labor and material costs had recently risen. Rather than just charge more for the toys, the factories used lead paint, which was cheaper, if hazardous to children.

Why didn't Mattel produce all its Chinese toys in company-owned factories, where it had maximum quality control? Because the subcontractors did the job for less money. Wall Street had even been urging Mattel to sell its 12 factories and subcontract all the work.

And so what are the remedies here? Politicians in Washington demand stiffer penalties for companies that sell dangerous products, but is that really necessary? Mattel can face no greater torture than having its CEO testify before Congress on the nightly news, following recalls of its Elmo Light Up Musical Pal -- and all in time for the launch of the holiday shopping season.

We can go after China, but why bother? Seeing its giant American market in jeopardy, China just signed an agreement to ban lead paint in the toys it exports. But China also has "laws" mandating a 40-hour week and paid vacation for all workers.

"It's a game. It's a joke," says Charles Kernaghan, executive director of the National Labor Committee in Support of Human and Worker Rights.

Reports on China's globe-threatening environmental degradation haven't moved the public. Chinese exports to the United States have nearly tripled over five years to $288 billion. Stories of abused labor in Asia and the collapse of factory employment here haven't changed the buying habits of flag-waving Americans who fill the big-box parking lots.

Perhaps the specter of dangerous toys will make the difference. Even Wal-Mart's customers worry about the safety of the toys, according to the retailing giant. The solution, ultimately, is for Americans to vote with their credit cards against a production system that trolls the earth for the most downtrodden labor force and lowest environmental standards. Rather than zero in on one country or company, let's zero in on ourselves. American consumers must understand that low prices come with a price.

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Wal-Mart to cut Seiyu management jobs

By Jonathan Soble
and Jonathan Birchall ,
Financial Times
September 19th, 2007                  [back to top] 

Wal-Mart plans to cut 450 management jobs at its Japanese unit, Seiyu, at a one-time cost of Y4.5bn ($39m) as it steps up its effort to restructure the money-losing business.

The job cuts, equivalent to 7 per cent of Seiyu's work-force, will deepen the unit's net loss for 2007 from Y5.9bn to a forecast Y10.4bn, Seiyu said in a statement. The company expects to make back most of the difference next year through lower personnel costs.

Wal-Mart has invested more than $1bn in Japan since it first bought a minority stake in Seiyu in 2002, but it has yet to turn a profit. The world's largest retailer sold its loss-making operations in Germany and South Korea last year, but has argued that it remains committed to achieving a turnaround at its Japanese subsidiary.

Katsura Kihara, retail analyst at Credit Suisse, said of the staff reduction: "It's good for cost cutting, but the real problem is the top line. They're still going to be under very big pressure from shareholders."

Wal-Mart, which owns just over 50 per cent of Seiyu, has struggled to come to terms with Japan's tangled distribution system and finicky consumers. Local rivals such as Aeon and Seven & I Holdings have done a better job of applying core Wal-Mart principles such as efficiency and scale, analysts say.

Seiyu's share price fell 7.5 per cent to Y86 yesterday ahead of the announcement. The stock is now down 85 per cent from its 2002 peak.

It was the second time in just over a month that Seiyu has cut its profit forecast. It expected to post its first group net profit in six years but reversed the outlook in August after weaker-than-expected sales in the first half.

Under the staff reduction plan, Seiyu will offer early-retirement buyouts to middle managers aged 44 to 59. Recent integration of the group's six regional subsidiaries and the opening of a new centralised distribution centre mean the company can operate with a smaller white-collar staff, Seiyu said.

Wal-Mart acquired its initial stake in Seiyu in 2000, as part of a big international expansion that included buying the UK's Asda superstores in the previous year. The retailer has argued that by taking a majority stake in the Japanese retailer in 2005, it would be better able to turn the retailer round.

Wal-Mart's efforts continue to be challenged by the comparative size of Seiyu. Last year, Wal-Mart lost out to Aeon, its larger Japanese rival, in a bid to acquire a stake in Daiei, the bankrupt department store chain.

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Ceres residents cite Wal-Mart concerns

By MICHELLE HATFIELD
The Modesto Bee
Wed, Sep. 19, 2007                         [back to top] 

CERES — About 20 people showed up to the first of two "scoping meetings" set today on the proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter.

Community members and representatives of agencies such as the Regional Water Quality Control Board attended. Three people spoke on the proposal, expressing concern that the project would bring noise and blight.

The 314,000-square-foot Mitchell Ranch retail center plans include a Wal-Mart Supercenter. The review and comment period for the initial environmental report runs through Oct. 5.

The 44-page initial study includes detailed plans and maps of Mitchell Ranch. The report will include analysis of how the shopping center would affect 15 environmental factors, including aesthetics, public services, noise, traffic and air quality, according to the document.

The project is proposed at the northwest corner of Service and Mitchell roads in south Ceres. Plans call for restaurants and retail stores anchored by a 208,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter.

Wal-Mart has a regular store at 1670 Mitchell Road. Supercenters are larger and sell more groceries, including meats, fruits and vegetables.

While city officials are looking at the center to provide much-needed sales-tax revenue, some residents don't like the idea of locally owned businesses competing with two Wal-Marts.

A second public meeting is set for 7 tonight in the City Council chamber, 2210 Magnolia St.

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Wal-Mart working to improve home, clothes sales-CFO

Reuters
Tue Sep 18, 2007                          [back to top] 

NEW YORK, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) is seeing improvements in its home and apparel businesses, but there is still much work to be done to get the categories back on track, its chief financial officer said on Tuesday.

"We're still struggling with negative traffic in these categories and have lots of room for improvement," said CFO Thomas Schoewe, speaking at a Bank of America conference that was broadcast over the Internet.

Last year, Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, downplayed its discount roots to try to expand its image beyond that of a low-priced retailer. It stocked more upscale items such as high threadcount sheets, trendy clothes and plasma TVs, hoping wealthier shoppers would spend more in its stores.

While its efforts to boost electronics sales by increasing its selection of name-brand items and renovating its electronics sections resonated with its shoppers, its core lower-income customers balked at other changes, like its push to sell trendy clothes.

That left it with heaps of unsold merchandise. Wal-Mart has been working to clear its stores of poor selling clothing and home goods, resulting in price cuts that have undermined its sales and margins.

Schoewe said the retailer is in "very good shape" now when it comes to its apparel and home inventory.

But he said the retailer is still not happy with its initial efforts to remodel its home area and is experimenting with a different home section layout at a store in New Jersey.

Wal-Mart shares rose 39 cents, or almost 1 percent, to $43.71 in late morning New York Stock Exchange trading. (Reporting by Nicole Maestri)

© Reuters 2006. All rights reserved.

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Wal-Mart expands health plans for U.S. workers

By Nicole Maestri
Reuters
Tue Sep 18, 2007                             [back to top] 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc said on Tuesday it is expanding the number of health care plans it will offer its 1.3 million U.S. employees, including adding health care credits and $4 monthly prescriptions for any of 2,400 generic drugs.

The new plans will go into effect in January.

Wal-Mart, which has faced criticism from labor groups and politicians for its pay and health care practices, said its employees will have more than 50 ways to customize their health care coverage options for next year, up from nine choices this year.

For instance, employees who enroll in its "Value Plan" can choose to receive an annual health care credit of either $100, $250 or $500 for each covered family member. The credits can be used to cover medical expenses and will be paid by the plan, not the employee.

Wal-Mart employees can also choose different premiums, including a premium of $8 a month that includes a $2,000 deductible, or a premium of $79 a month that includes a $500 deductible.

Wal-Mart Watch, a vocal critic of Wal-Mart that has pushed the retailer to change its health care benefits, said the coverage changes "show signs of improvements and demonstrate the company is listening to us and other critics," but it said some of the plans are still unaffordable to low-wage workers.

Health care is expected to be a central theme in the upcoming 2008 U.S. presidential election as costs rise and millions of Americans lack coverage.

On Monday, Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton became the last of the top Democratic candidates to roll out all of her proposals for an overhaul of the health care system and coverage for uninsured Americans. For details, see

Wal-Mart has also joined a coalition of labor groups and businesses that are pushing for "quality, affordable" health insurance coverage for all Americans by 2012, although the group has not yet unveiled any specific plans.

Wal-Mart shares rose 25 cents to $43.57 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Additional reporting by Justin Grant)

© Reuters 2006. All rights reserved.

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Wal-Mart's Japan unit cuts jobs, sees bigger loss

Reuters
Tue Sep 18, 2007                           [back to top] 

TOKYO, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc's <WMT.N> Japanese unit, Seiyu Ltd <8268.T>, boosted its annual loss forecast by 76 percent due to a charge to cut about 7 percent of its work force as it battles sluggish sales.

The world's largest retailer has invested more than $1 billion in the 393-store Japanese supermarket chain since 2002, but has yet to see anything more than temporary upswings in sales amid tough competition with rivals such as Aeon Co <8267.T>.

Seiyu is headed for its sixth straight annual loss in 2007, giving rise to speculation that Wal-Mart may consider withdrawing from Japan, the world's second-largest retail market, as it did from South Korea and Germany last year.

Seiyu, 53.6 percent owned by Wal-Mart, said it would offer early retirement for 450 employees out of a group work force of about 6,500. The programme mainly targets headquarters staff and there are currently no plans for shop closures, Seiyu said.

It will book a charge of 4.5 billion yen ($39.15 million) for the programme, and accordingly widened its 2007 group net loss forecast by that amount to 10.4 billion yen. The retailer kept its forecasts for operating profit and sales unchanged.

Seiyu, which eliminated about 1,600 jobs in 2004, said this would be the last time it needed to carry out big job cuts.

"I don't think we will need this kind of restructuring (in the future)," Seiyu Chief Operating Officer Toru Noda told a news conference, adding that he also did not expect the retailer would need to close stores.

Prior to the earnings announcement, shares of Seiyu ended down 7.5 percent at 86 yen. The stock has shed about 38 percent since the start of 2007, underperforming a 22 percent fall in Japan's retail sector subindex <.IRETL.T> during the same period.

It has lost four-fifths of its value since Wal-Mart first took a small stake in May 2002.

© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved.

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Wal-Mart opens in AmCan after 3-year battle

By JENNIFER HUFFMAN
and KERANA TODOROV,
Register 
Tuesday, September 18, 2007                           [back to top] 

After three years of legal wrangling and public debate, American Canyon's Wal-Mart Supercenter is set to open Wednesday.

The 187,000-square-foot store, including a 13,800-square-foot garden center, will be Napa County's largest store. The company is the world's biggest retailer.

To open, teams of employees have worked for the past five weeks stocking shelves with groceries, toys, garden supplies, sporting gear, cosmetics, electronics, CDs and more. The 24-hour store will also house a nail salon, a Tri Counties Bank branch, a McDonald's and an optical center.

Store manager Mike Sellick, who supervises the store's 550 employees, said on Wednesday he and his staff are ready to open. He will spend the next few days going over detail after detail.

Sellick spent the last four years as assistant manager at the Vallejo Wal-Mart, which will close Tuesday.

"When you build a store like this from the ground up, it's awesome," said Sellick, 35, who also helped open Napa's Wal-Mart in 2001. "You have a lot of ownership."

The American Canyon Supercenter becomes the first in the Bay Area, he said.

Sellick said the other closest supercenters are in Sacramento, Gilroy, Dixon and Stockton. Sellick expects to draw customers from all over the North Bay, including Vallejo, Napa, Benicia, Petaluma and Fairfield.

New to some Wal-Mart shoppers will be a full selection of groceries and meats. Hispanic and Filipino food items will also be stocked, he said. "We'll find out what the community's needs are."

The average total for a regular Wal-Mart shopping trip is approximately $30 to $40, Sellick said. With a Supercenter selling groceries and more services, it's likely to be higher, he said.

The 40-acre Napa Junction project includes the Wal-Mart store, 216 apartments, a retail complex that includes Jamba Juice, Starbucks, Roundtable Pizza, a T-Mobile branch and a future 100-room Holiday Inn Express.

Vincent "Buzz" Butler of Lake Street Ventures, the Menlo Park-based developer of the Napa Junction project, on Thursday said he expects the store will generate more than $600,000 a year in retail sales tax revenues to the city.

American Canyon Mayor Leon Garcia planned to be on hand for the opening events, including a VIP tour of the store Monday evening.

"I think there is going to be a lot of excitement," said Garcia, who has supported the project all along.

Twenty-seven front registers will stand ready 24-hours-a-day to accommodate night owls and other off-hour shoppers. Cleaners and stockers refilling any of the 140,000 items for sale will work around guests, he said.

A tour around the massive store revealed most shelves filled and ready for the grand opening, including a selection of Halloween and Christmas merchandise. Tastings, demonstrations, a live band and characters will greet the first customers on Wednesday morning.

"We're expecting a pretty big turnout," Sellick said.

A long process

The city approved the Wal-Mart project in 2004, after two public hearings attended by more than 500 people who were sharply divided on the issue.

Proponents of the store said the city had followed appropriate planning measures and said it is important that residents of the growing city have retailers and service providers in American Canyon. Opponents said the city had not followed appropriate steps and criticized Wal-Mart, which has drawn controversy over its impact on other businesses and labor practices.

Two groups filed suit against Wal-Mart in Napa County Superior Court over the city's approval of the project. The city sued Caltrans to obtain permission to install traffic signals at Napa Junction and Eucalyptus Road.

The store remained dark for months as the challenge from the two community groups meandered through the legal system. Work on the store ground to a halt in November, after California's First District Court of Appeal ruled that American Canyon had violated the state's environmental laws. News studies were ordered and the city re-approved the project in the spring.

Butler, whose company sold the land to Wal-Mart but continues to own the land where other Napa Junction businesses are in place or planned, said business at Napa Junction has picked up significantly because of Wal-Mart's opening.

Payless Shoesource will open Sunday, a store supervisor said last week. Great Clips, a beauty salon, will open this week as well.

Lina Fabunan of Payless said her company waited for Wal-Mart to open because of the anchor store's draw.

"They bring that foot traffic in," she said, adding that Wal-Mart will not be a competitor.

Sellick, an American Canyon resident, said more than 1,200 people have applied for jobs. Employees from the closing Vallejo store were offered transfers, with an additional 250 new positions created by the relocation, he said.

According to a press release, the majority of Wal-Mart employees work full time with an average wage of $10.95 an hour.

While the public can begin shopping Wednesday, at a VIP event on Monday officials will distribute about $25,500 in donations to community organizations, including $10,500 to the American Canyon Family Resource Center. According to Wal-Mart, smaller checks will be given to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Napa Valley-American Canyon, Ronald McDonald House, Napa Junction and Canyon Oaks elementary schools and American Canyon Troop Support, a group that sends care packages to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Protesters rally against proposed Wal-Mart center

Group hopes for poetic justice at City Council meeting

By LESLIE ALBRECHT
Merced Sun-Star
Tuesday, Sep. 18, 2007                      [back to top] 

The City Council got a taste of political poetry Monday night from young activists fighting Wal-Mart's plan to build a distribution center in southeast Merced.

Two students from Golden Valley High School read poems against the proposed distribution center during the council meeting's public comment period. One poem, called "Taming the Beast," described the trucks that would serve the distribution center as "mindless predator(s) ...belch(ing) excrement."

Before the meeting the students joined about 40 other protesters to rally outside the Civic Center, chanting, "Whose air? Our air! Whose City Council? Our City Council!"

The protest marked another chapter in the increasingly vocal opposition to the Wal-Mart distribution center, which has become a regular feature of City Council meetings over the past several months.

Wal-Mart announced plans to build the distribution center two years ago; the project is now undergoing environmental review. The council will vote on the center when the environmental review is complete sometime this fall or winter.

Proponents say the project -- slated for a 275-acre parcel between Childs and Gerard avenues west of Tower Road -- would eventually bring 900 jobs to economically depressed Merced. Opponents say the 900 diesel truck trips the center would generate each day would worsen Merced's already poor air quality.

In April, Merced's Stop Wal-Mart Action Team announced a campaign to educate council members on its cause. Since then the group's members have been regular speakers at council meetings, bombarding the council with information about Merced's air quality and other issues. The group has also tried to drum up support by hosting events, including a picnic featuring pinatas shaped like Wal-Mart trucks.

Patrick Lauppe, the Golden Valley junior who read the poem called "Taming the Beast," said he wasn't worried that the council could grow weary of the sustained anti-Wal-Mart campaign.

"The more we attend these meetings, the more they'll realize we're unequivocally against this project and we won't let it into our town without a fight," said Lauppe.

In July, Wal-Mart representatives paid their own visit to the City Council. Spokesman Keith Morris told the council then that although the project's environmental review is taking longer than originally expected, Wal-Mart is "still committed to building the facility in Merced."

The anti-Wal-Mart folks showed up elsewhere on Monday night's council agenda. The group also submitted a letter applauding a proposed resolution on development policies, but the council failed to vote on the measure.

One policy would have directed city staff to carefully study how building shopping centers near the new Mission Avenue highway exit could affect area traffic. The site where Wal-Mart wants to build its distribution center is about three-quarters of a mile from new Mission Avenue exit.

The other policy would have told commercial developers that the City Council "is not inclined to entertain" requests for discounts on the fees developers pay when they build in Merced. The policy would also state that the City Council "refrains from negotiating impact fees (with developers) on an individual basis."

Councilwoman Michele Gabriault-Acosta said she worried that the policy on fee discounts could sound hostile to developers, and asked city staff to come up with some new language.

"To me it seems the door is shut and there's no ifs, ands or buts about it...I'd like to see something that explains (the policy) without shutting the door and saying (to developers) 'head to Madera,'" she said.

But Councilman Bill Spriggs urged his colleagues to OK the no-discount fee policy, noting that developer fees pay for critical infrastructure such as streets, parks and sewer capacity.

"It's incumbent on us to set policy that lets developers know that they're not going to blow into town, blow out of town, and let us live with their problems for the next 50 years," he said.

The council voted unanimously to send both items back to city staff, asking for more clarity in the resolution's language.

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Wal-Mart Cuts Premiums, Adds $4 Generics

By MARCUS KABEL
09.18.07                                       [back to top] 

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is adding $4 generic drugs to its health insurance plans and offering lower premiums and deductibles, the third year in a row of changes to employee health benefits that have been a focus of union-led criticism of the nation's largest private employer.

The Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer said the new 2008 plan will add more than 2,400 generic prescriptions at $4 each. That compared with fewer than 20 generic drugs for a co-pay of $3 under the existing plan.

It will also offer premiums on its lowest-priced Value Plan as little as $8 a month nationwide from $24 a month currently. The new lowest-premium plan for individuals has a deductible of $2,000 a year but no maximum on coverage and an upfront credit of $100 before the deductible kicks in.

Since late 2005, Wal-Mart (nyse: WMT - news - people ) has shortened the waiting period to become eligible for insurance, allowed part-time workers to cover children, lowered premiums and lowered co-pays for prescription drugs.

The result has so far been an incremental rise in workers taking the company plan. As of the start of this year, 47 percent of Wal-Mart's 1.34 million U.S. employees were enrolled in company coverage, compared with 46 percent a year earlier and 43 percent at the start of 2005.

Wal-Mart has said most of the remainder are insured through other plans, such as a spouse's or a second job. That justifies its contention that 90 percent of employees have health coverage.

The retailer wants its number of insured workers to increase, Linda Dillman, Wal-Mart's executive vice president of risk management, benefits and sustainability, said in a statement.

"Our health coverage next year will be even stronger, offer more options and give people more tools to help them save money and live better lives," Dillman said in a statement.

The company's health coverage has been a focus of union-led critics, who claim that Wal-Mart skimps on benefits.

An internal company memo leaked to unions and the media in October 2005 conceded that the company was vulnerable to criticism because its health plans at the time were expensive for low-income workers with families.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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Brand Wal-Mart: Basics Bungled, Leadership Lost

By Patrick T. Davis,
Unbound Edition
September 17th, 2007                             [back to top] 

The retail giant's new slogan suggests Wal-Mart is part of a higher standard of living. There's more than one problem with that claim, from internal policies to a lack of marketing vision.

In its ongoing effort at improving public perception, Wal-Mart has abandoned its decades-old slogan, "Always Low Prices," in favor of a new, friendlier, more emotionally rich claim: "Save Money. Live Better."

This sort of move was needed, but as crafted it is simply another wrong step in the "reinvention" of the world's largest retailer. Remember the disastrous blog backfire? Or the DOA social network hub? Or the embarrassing foray into more "fashionable" merchandise?

The slogan is simply one expression of a brand trying to find a core identity that is modern, mass and worthy of continued belief and growth. Here's why the statement simply doesn't work:

1) The leader has become the follower, again. "Save Money. Live Better" is a syntactic parroting of Target's brilliant value equation "Expect more. Pay less." With its new slogan, Wal-Mart tracks Target but can't live up to the claims. Target delivers on higher expectations; Wal-Mart can ensure only half of its equation -- the low prices it has always had. Nothing new here, except the high likelihood of a broken brand promise.

2) The slogan suggests that Wal-Mart is part of the "trade up" phenomenon. The theory goes, in brief, if we save money on staples by shopping discount, then we will have more disposable income to enjoy things like Coach bags or BMW cars. The Wal-Mart shopper is not the trade-up consumer; the low prices are, generally, a budgetary requirement, not an acquisitive strategy. Target's consumers, however, closely overlap those who also shop at Nordstrom's or Williams-Sonoma. Target's consumers do trade up.

3) Brands are about operations. Ask FedEx. The promise of overnight, worry-free delivery is the result of everything from weather forecasting to labor relations. Wal-Mart's new slogan suggests a higher standard of living. If you save money here, you can live better out there. We get trickle down economics, thanks very much. What makes no sense, however, is the glaring conflict with Wal Mart's own policies and practices. The facts are compelling, if hotly political. The arguments aren’t new: Wal-Mart drives small companies out of business, pays wages that equal less than the poverty level, refuses to adopt reasonable health insurance policies, and treats employees inhumanely (no meal breaks as required by law; locking workers inside of stores, to name but two examples). The company does not stand for a better quality of life. It actively creates lower standards of living for individuals and communities. Wal-Mart’s own internal operations are not in line with its new public voice. It’s not enough to make promises; companies have to be machines that keep and deliver promises every day to all constituencies.

In the end, Wal-Mart continues to give evidence that it is a master at logistics, leverage and mass discount. It does not really understand how to market to the (even slightly) more sophisticated consumer. Perhaps the company should play to its strengths, and go even lower – competing in a bloodbath for the bottom feeders? There are more than 13,000 dollar stores in America now. Wal-Mart can use its strengths to win in that battle.

Try to out-Target Target? Forget it. Find your own leadership again.

Hope to win the trade-up consumer? Their identity is all about rejecting Wal-Mart, not embracing it.

Raise the standard of living for consumers? Start at home, or keep the false promises to yourself.

Such a successful company missing so many of the basics is hard to watch. Then again, the drama in the marketing department – and the terrible "advice" of so many of America’s (b)ad agencies – are likely part of the problem. There is simply no marketing leadership around Wal-Mart these days.

© 2005 United Food and Commercial Workers International

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China Steps Up Scrutiny of U.S. Food

By JOE McDONALD
Associated Press
09.17.07                                          [back to top] 

BEIJING - China has sharply increased inspections of imported U.S. food, escalating a dispute with Washington over product safety and leaving American beef piling up in warehouses and delaying shipments of black pepper and other goods.

Authorities who used to inspect as little as 5 percent of imported goods now check every shipment of American poultry, snack foods and other products, companies and trade groups say.

"I suspect they are doing this to keep the pressure on the United States to relent on some of these (food safety disputes), because the U.S. is taking a very tough stand on Chinese products," said James Rice, the China country manager for Tyson Foods Inc. (nyse: TSN - news - people ), the world's largest meat processor.

Chinese authorities banned chicken imports from two Tyson plants in June after salmonella was found in shipments from them, Rice said. But he said the company, which sells about $200 million worth of chicken to China every year, still was allowed to import from its 167 other facilities.

The stepped-up inspections are the latest volley after a series of large-scale product recalls - from bad pet food to dangerous toothpaste and toys - raised scrutiny of Chinese-made products in the U.S.

On Saturday, Beijing said it rejected 18.4 tons of American pork because it contained ractopamine, a drug that is used by U.S. hog farmers to produce leaner meat but is banned in China.

The United States restricted imports from China of five types of seafood in July after tests found unapproved drugs - a move that Beijing criticized as improper and excessive.

The tougher Chinese inspection regime is forcing importers and retailers to adjust shipping and delivery schedules, although so far they say the delays have not harmed their bottom lines.

But the moves add to tensions in a relationship that is strained by China's multibillion-dollar trade surplus with the United States. Chinese officials have suggested the U.S. government might be using safety concerns as an excuse to block imports from China.

A U.S. Embassy spokeswoman declined to comment on whether Washington has complained about the increased inspections.

China is a major market for U.S. soybeans and chicken - although there appeared to be no immediate effect on soy shipments - and sales of citrus, beef and processed food also are growing.

It is unclear how much U.S. food has been rejected in China's latest campaign or whether the rate has increased. China's product safety agency, the Administration for Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, did not respond to a request for comment.

The agency, known as AQSIQ, said in June it would step up inspections of U.S. food for chemical or biological contamination. It cited the discovery of excessive bacteria and sulfur dioxide in raisins, dried oranges and health care products from several American companies.

Rice said the AQSIQ director, Wang Daning, told him last week that he mobilized every available employee to minimize delays for shippers, sending people who work at desk jobs to join the agency's 7,000 field inspectors.

"He said, `I'm under a lot of pressure. I have a lot of pressure now to ensure what's going to the U.S. is safe, and what's coming in is safe,'" Rice said.

In Hong Kong, shipments of U.S. beef bound for China's mainland are piling up in refrigerated warehouses while they await inspection, said John Nam, program director in Hong Kong for the U.S. Meat Export Federation, a trade group.

"Over the past two months, we saw that plenty of shipments to China have stayed quite a while in Hong Kong warehouses, which means turnaround time has been lengthened," he said.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (nyse: WMT - news - people ) has seen brief delays in deliveries of black pepper and other imported groceries, according to a company spokesman, Jonathan Dong. The Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer has more than 60 stores in China selling food and other goods.

"In a few cases, there was a few days' delay because of extra paperwork or whatever," Dong said.

Chinese grocery stores and importers said that so far they have seen little impact on their business from the increased inspections.

"We just need to arrange our schedule better and make more time for the inspection," said the sales manager of Shanghai's ID Food Center Inc., which he said imports nuts, wine, cookies and chocolate from the United States. He would give only his surname, Sun.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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ASDA prosecuted for misleading customers

a2mediagroup
Mon, 17 Sep 2007                        [back to top] 

Manchester City Council has successfully prosecuted ASDA following complaints of misleading prices at three of their stores in Manchester.

At Manchester Magistrates' Court on 10 September 2007 ASDA pleaded guilty to seven offences of giving misleading price indications under Section 20 of the Consumer Protection Act 1987.

They were fined £3,500 and ordered to pay £3,700 in costs.

The complaints that instigated the set of test purchases by Manchester Trading Standards were logged in late 2005.

In September and October 2005, officers carried out a number of test purchases at three branches of ASDA and found misleading prices in all of them.

Two of the misleading price offers included a 20% off ales and ciders promotion in Eastlands, Longsight and Hulme branches and the Eastlands store refused to honour their price match offer in relation to a 'buy one get one free' promotion for Power Ranger toys which was available and advertised at a high street retailer.

Councillor Neil Swannick, Executive Member for Environment said: "Price wars occur regularly between large stores and shoppers are often enticed to buying goods as a result of these appealing offers.

These stores have a responsibility and a duty of care to their customers to not renege on any deals or mislead their customers through the prices they are offering.

This prosecution shows that no store however large is above the law and we will not hesitate to prosecute them."

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Subway Becomes Wal-Mart's Primary Concessionaire

NCS
September 17, 2007                                  [back to top] 

MILFORD, Conn. - Subway restaurants began appearing in Wal-Mart stores only three years ago, but today, the sandwich chain has more locations inside the big-box retailer than McDonald's, which once had an exclusive in-store agreement with Wal-Mart, The Wall Street Journal reports, suggesting that Wal-Mart is losing its taste for burgers and fries.

Today, Subway has locations in 1,419 Wal-Marts, while McDonald's has 1,021. Thus far in 2007, Subway has unveiled 105 Wal-Mart locations in the United States, compared to McDonald's at 34.

Subway has been expanding rapidly worldwide, and McDonald's has been focusing on increasing sales and building customer loyalty at existing locations. The newspaper wonders if Subway's healthier image is more attractive to Wal-Mart, given the retailer's recent attempts to become a better corporate citizen by reducing greenhouse gases and wasteful packaging. The superstores also have been pitching healthier foods, such as organics.

When opening new stores, Wal-Mart provides McDonald's and Subway with a list of possible locations, but the sites don't overlap and the two brands cannot bid against each other for a specific location.

A Wal-Mart spokeswoman said in an e-mail that the retailer chooses its in-store foodservice vendors to "align with the customer needs in each market...matching customer tastes and preferences with the right restaurant partner."

Elizabeth Rolfe, director of new business development for Subway, told the newspaper that one reason Wal-Mart wants the sandwich chain in its stores is because "they're looking for the healthy alternative."

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We're Just Another Brick In The Wal-Mart

Brandweek
September 17, 2007                         [back to top] 

Wal-Mart loves to crunch numbers. So it's new campaign, "Save money. Live better," grew out of research from Global Insight that shows the retailer saves American families $2,500 each year "based on Wal-Mart's national and local impacts in terms of jobs, wages, prices, consumer buying power and gross domestic product." Broken down, says Wal-Mart, that's $957 per person per household of about 2.3 people. So, the Wal-Mart thinking goes, why not take that money and enjoy life more. Such as taking a "Road Trip," in which a family hits the open road and soaks up the scenery. Unlike Animal House, there is no booze or chick-hunting on this road trip; and unlike National Lampoon's Vacation, Aunt Edna doesn't die, Dad doesn't have a nude swim with Christie Brinkley and no one smells bad. In "Car," a father and son are returning from shopping at Wal-Mart when they pass a used car lot. Dad pulls in and follows as his son walks to a red car. "Go ahead," says Dad. "Check it out." Text reads, "How will you use your savings?" Obviously, such issues as car insurance for a male teen driver and the price of gas will be addressed elsewhere. I want to thank Wal-Mart for the $900 and let them know I'm eyeballing a toilet seat from Toto (MSRP: $900; not sold at Wal-Mart) that includes MP3 playback abilities, has a self-cleaning function, a fragrance emitter and a light that turns on when it senses you're approaching.

© 2007 VNU eMedia Inc. All rights reserved.

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Lab Tests Find Lead, Other Toxins in Pet Toys Sold at Wal-Mart

Vets say there's no risk to pets but others aren't so sure

By Lisa Wade McCormick
ConsumerAffairs.Com
September 16, 2007                              [back to top] 

Two Chinese-made toys for pets sold at Wal-Mart stores contain elevated levels of lead, chromium, and cadmium, according to a forensic toxicologist whose lab tested the products for ConsumerAffairs.com.

Two veterinarians, however, said the levels of toxic metals found in the toys do not pose a health risk to dogs or cats. Whether the toys are a hazard to children and adults who handle them isn't clear.

ConsumerAffairs.com hired ExperTox Analytical Laboratory in Texas to test four imported toys for pets -- two for dogs and two for cats -- for heavy metals and other toxins.

One of the dog toys -- a latex one that looks like a green monster -- tested positive for what the lab’s toxicologist said are high levels of lead and the cancer-producing agent chromium.

A cloth catnip toy also tested positive for “a tremendous amount” of the toxic metal cadmium, the lab said.

ExperTox also analyzed two other Chinese-made pet toys – a cloth hedgehog for dogs and a plastic dumbbell toy for cats. The lab detected cadmium in those toys, but said the levels were “about the amount you’d find in one cigarette” and not considered significant.

ConsumerAffairs.com purchased the four pet toys earlier this month at a Wal-Mart store in Kansas City, Missouri. All the toys had a tag attached that read “Marketed by Wal-Mart stores and Made in China.”

"Potentially toxic" Forensic toxicologist Dr. Ernest Lykissa, Ph.D., director of ExperTox’s lab, described the levels of heavy metals in the green monster and catnip toys as potentially toxic and said Wal-Mart should pull the products off the market.

“Or put a warning label on them that says if you put this (toy) in your mouth you will get poisoned,” he said. “There is nothing good about the agents (in these toys) that I’m reporting to you.”

Lykissa said lead goes to the brain and causes learning disorders in children. “It’s also implicated in high instances of heart attacks. It is a very heavy metal.”

Chromium, he said, is a cancer producing agent. “It can cause cancer in the bladder and kidneys, and if it’s inhaled, cause cancer in the lungs. There’s nothing good about chromium. “And cadmium is a horrible thing to get into the body. It creates havoc in the joints, kidneys, and lungs.”

ExperTox’s tests on the green monster toy detected what Lykissa said are elevated levels of lead -- 907.4 micrograms per kilogram.

“That’s almost one part per million. With that kind of concentration, if a dog is chewing on it or licking it, he’s getting a good source of lead.”

The green monster toy also had what Lykissa considered high levels of chromium -- 334.9 micrograms per kilogram.

“With that kind of chromium in there you have what can be an extremely toxic toy if they (animals) put it in their mouths. And dogs put things in their mouths. If a dog puts this in his mouth, he runs a big chance of getting some type of metal toxicity that may shorten his life.”

Which is worse? Which heavy metal -- chromium or lead -- poses a bigger threat to dogs?

“Toxic burden is toxic burden,” Lykissa said. “You are increasing the burden on the animal by having these in there. A dog is going to get a good dose of chromium and lead from this toy.”

The lab also detected other toxic metals in the green monster toy.

“There’s cadmium, arsenic, and mercury in there,” Lykissa said. “This is not a clean toy. This is toxic. Bank on it.”

ExperTox’s tests on the catnip toy detected “concerning” levels of cadmium – 236 micrograms per kilogram.

“That one is worrisome to me,” Lykissa said. “That’s a big number. It’s a good dose of cadmium.”

There’s another reason Lykissa is concerned about the heavy metals in these chew toys.

“These (toxic) materials came off the toys freely, like with the lick of the tongue from a dog or cat,” he said. “They were readily liberated from these toys. We didn’t take a sledge hammer and pound on them. I just did what a dog or cat would do by licking it. That’s why this is so serious.”

Lykissa said toxicologists cut off a small piece from each of the toys, weighed the samples, and put them in acidic water.

“We left the samples for a while and then heated them up to body temperature,” he said. “Then we put them in a machine (called an ICP-MS -- or Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry), and that machine told us this is lead and this is chromium . . .

“We didn’t dissolve the toys,” he added. “These materials were leeching off the toys. Whatever leeched off the toys is what I’m reporting to you. The material came right off. Somebody’s saliva or the sweat in their hands would freely pick up these materials. And that’s absorbing it. If you ate the materials, like a dog might, it would be worse.”

Lykissa said he wasn’t surprised to find these levels of toxic materials in the toys.

“I knew where they came from – China. And anything from there seems to be made using very old manufacturing processes that are ripe with these types of problems. Unfortunately, it’s becoming routine in my business to see these types of results (on products made in China).

“But we better be worried,” he said of lab’s findings. “Some of the toys you had were clean, like the hedgehog and the plastic dumbbell. They had small amounts of cadmium. But then you look at that catnip toy and it has 236 (micrograms per kilograms) of cadmium. That’s something that somebody out there ought to be worried about.

In my business, if you’re going to sit there and let dogs and cats play with a toy that has heavy metals freely released from it -- and put it in their mouths – it becomes a concern.”

Vets disagree But veterinarians who reviewed ExperTox’s results disagree.

“I don’t see any of those numbers being a toxicity concern for dogs or cats,” said Dr. Mike Murphy of the University of Minnesota’s College of Veterinary Medicine. “Latex paint can contain one-half to one percent of lead, which is 10,000 parts per million. What he (Dr. Lykissa) is saying is that one part per million is a risk. But latex paint is 10,000 times higher than that and we don’t recognize latex paint as a toxicity risk to dogs and cats.

“I disagree with the interpretation that’s being made (by Lykissa),” added Dr. Murphy, who holds a Ph.D. in toxicology. “I consider these to be extremely low numbers and they are not a toxicological concern for pet owners.”

Dr. Fred Oehme at Kansas State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine said the risks to dogs and cats from these toys depends on how much of the heavy metals are absorbed in their bodies.

“Could they be harmful? The poisoning depends on how much is taken into their systems. Most animals require 30 parts per million of their total daily diet before you get into a problem with lead. Cadmium is more than that.”

Potential hazard Should pet owners be wary of these toys?

“I think they’re a potential hazard – just like a car can be a potential hazard,” said Dr. Oehme, a professor of toxicology, pathobiology, medicine, and physiology. “The hazard in this case implies how the compound is being used and its availability.

“I’m more concerned about the lead than the other two (heavy metals),” he added. “Lead accumulates and if it gets into the body, it builds up.”

ConsumerAffairs.com contacted Wal-Mart about ExperTox’s findings, but the company did not respond.

We also shared the lab’s findings with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). A spokeswoman said the FDA does not regulate toys for pets, and she is not aware of any governmental agency with regulatory power over these products.

What about the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)?

“Although it’s not in the fine print, the CPSC will regulate pet toys as they assume those toys would come in contact with children,” according to a spokeswoman for the American Pet Product Manufacturers Association (APPMA).

We shared ExperTox’s test results with APPMA -- a non-profit trade group that represents more than 900 pet product makers. The group’s president, however, was traveling last week and unavailable for comment.

We also contacted the CPSC, but the agency did not respond to our inquiry.

Consumers upset Meanwhile, pet owner Doris B. told us she’s horrified by ExperTox’s results — even though she doesn’t have a dog or cat.

Her pet is a ferret.

“These lab results are very disturbing,” said the Columbus, Georgia, woman. “If I had a dog or cat, I would be mad as H-E-L-L.”

Doris first contacted us in late August with concerns about possible toxins in pet toys.

“There is a lot of public outcry (and rightly so) over the Menu Foods and Mattel toy recalls,” she told us. “One overlooked area is the pet toy industry. It seems like every cat toy, dog toy, etc. says ‘made in China.’ Has anyone tested these things to see if they are safe for our pets to chew?”

We did — about two weeks later. And ExperTox’s test results didn’t surprise Doris.

“I had a sneaking suspicion this was the way it was going to come down,” she said. “We’ve had these pet food recalls and the (melamine-tainted) ingredients came from China. And the children’s toys that have been recalled were also made in China.”

But pet owners shouldn’t be the only ones alarmed by ExperTox’s findings, Doris said. Parents should be worried, too.

“There are children playing with their pets and their pets’ toys,” she said, “and sometimes small children will put their pet’s toys in their mouths.

“Somebody ought to care enough to do something about this.”

Copyright © 2007 ConsumerAffairs.Com Inc. All Rights Reserved

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Combining Groceries and Finance

By The Associated Press
09.16.07                                            [back to top] 

MORTGAGE WITH YOUR MILK? The Kroger Co., the nation's largest traditional grocery chain, is expanding its personal finance division, marketing everything from pet insurance to home loans in stores. Retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc. also has been expanding financial services in stores.

WHY? Kroger (nyse: KR - news - people ) says the financial services, which started with a Kroger-branded credit card, help build customer loyalty and increase store traffic.

WHY NOT? Some analysts say grocers risk straying too far into new businesses outside their expertise. Competitors such as Supervalu Inc. (nyse: SVU - news - people ) are staying out of personal finance products for now.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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Grocer Stocks Up on Financial Services

By DAN SEWELL
09.16.07                                           [back to top] 

CINCINNATI - Weekend grocery shopping list:

_ Milk, on sale at four half-gallons for $5.

_ Cookies, two packages-for-one at $3.99.

_ New $200,000 fixed-rate mortgage, 30 years at 6.2 percent.

The Kroger Co., the nation's largest traditional grocery chain, has been quietly but steadily expanding its financial services business since beginning with a Kroger credit card three years ago. Stores now market mortgages, home equity lines of credit and a just-expanded set of a half-dozen insurance coverages from identity theft to home and life policies.

The company has been broadening its offerings at the same time as rival Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is expanding its financial services business. Kroger sees its services not as big moneymakers, but as a good way to increase traffic and customer loyalty.

"It's about driving more people to the store and bringing them back," said Kathy Kelly, president of the Kroger Personal Finance division formed in 2004.

The grocery chain, which had $66.1 billion in total revenues last year, reaps fees for the services provided in partnership with conventional banks and insurance companies. Kelly wouldn't disclose specific numbers but said that the services offered are usually priced in the middle to lower end of market averages.

For consumers, they're a convenience, if surprising to find from their grocer, which so far markets them mainly in store displays and brochures.

One of Kroger's initial offerings was pet insurance, through Jeffersonville, Ind.-based PetFirst Healthcare. Wayne DeLancey of Parkersburg, W.Va., was passing the time while his wife was shopping when he spotted the Kroger rack with brochures about its financial products.

He read through one on pet insurance and soon signed up their beloved Blu, a 5-year-old Siberian husky and German shepherd mix.

"I told my wife if this thing does what they say, this is a pretty good deal," DeLancey recalled.

For $24.95 a month, most of Blu's health-related expenses are covered, including 90 percent of a recent tumor removal.

"We're real happy with the coverage. I'm glad Kroger did this," he said.

Wal-Mart, which sells groceries nationwide in its Supercenter stores, early this year dropped a bank license application that drew opposition from critics who said having a bank would give the world's largest retailer too much economic power. But Wal-Mart is adding a new prepaid Visa debit card to its branded credit card and other money services while planning to increase more than fourfold the number of "MoneyCenter" alcoves in stores.

Combining financial services with groceries has been common for years in some other countries such as Britain, where leading chains Tesco PLC and J Sainsbury PLC have done so for a decade. Kroger partnered with Royal Bank of Scotland, which has a joint venture with Tesco, for its personal finance launch.

Kroger stores, like Wal-Mart and supermarket chains from Stop & Shop Inc. stores in the northeast to Pleasanton, Calif.-based Safeway Inc. stores, have long hosted banking company branches in some locations. But Kroger has now made financial services part of its own business. Advertised in stores by a cartoon figure, the loans and policies can be applied for on Kroger's Web site.

Kelly thinks financial services will continue to grow in the grocery industry, just as many grocers began offering full-service pharmacies and gas stations in past moves into new businesses.

Analysts say grocers, in a low-margin business, are constantly looking for ways to pull another dollar or two from customers in their store visits and to increase traffic, so financial services can look like a simple way to add profits.

Spencer Hapoienu, president of Insight Out of Chaos, a database and marketing company, cautioned that grocers might range too far from their area of expertise.

"I think the problem is whether or not the grocery chains understand the other businesses and execute properly," he said. "If you start doing financial services and you have a bad experience, it can backfire on an individual consumer level and business level."

He noted that the current national credit crunch could squeeze some Kroger credit-card customers, for example. Kelly said the company hasn't had any negative feedback, although business for some financial products has been sluggish.

Some other grocers aren't convinced that consumer finance is a business for them. Spokeswoman Haley Meyer said Minneapolis-based Supervalu Inc., the nation's third-largest traditional grocery chain, hasn't "at this time" seen a demand from its customers to offer personal finance.

Kroger's partner on life insurance, Garden State Life, says it was intrigued by the reach of the company, which has stores in 31 states.

"We know Kroger's got a lot of stores and those stores get lots of traffic, so the potential to expose our message to lots of people was certainly there," said John Barrett, vice president of marketing for the League City, Texas-based company.

He said the partnership is too new to evaluate, but the company expects to be represented in 2,000 stores by mid-October.

Meanwhile, Kroger keeps adding products, including a bevy of gift cards for everything from restaurants to airline tickets. It's also trying out Kroger-branded ATM machines for its stores, gaining fees from customers accessing their bank accounts through Kroger.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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Wal-Mart Fires Worker Over Photos of Management

By Al Norman,
Huffington Post
September 14th, 2007                        [back to top] 

At Wal-Mart, one of the key personnel mantras is "respect for the individual." One Wal-Mart worker once told me, "I'm sure Wal-Mart respects the individual -- I just never met that individual." Any manager will tell you that you can judge a company by how it treats its front line workers. Here is the story of one Wal-Mart worker who got no respect.

Christine Knowels was a loyal Wal-Mart worker who lost her job, and wanted it back. She was hired by Wal-Mart in August of 2000, and worked for roughly seven years---all at the Wal-Mart supercenter #1841 in Chesapeake, Virginia. She was abruptly fired for "gross misconduct", with a "mandatory no rehire" finding. According to her store manager, "Christine displayed 13 potentially offensive pictures of the management team in the back hallway while on the clock.

Christine used/took company resources (digital media/or photo copies off of company property without permission."

When Knowels went to file for unemployment compensation, the Virginia Employment Commission wrote up her case as follows: "Christine was discharged from her position with Wal-Mart for displaying photos of the management team that were considered to be potentially offensive. Christine reported that she had been told by the employee who was taking down the photos that she could have them.

Christine used a program on her computer to make funny pictures and brought the altered pictures back to work the following day.

Christine said she had done such pictures in the past and co-workers thought it was good for morale. Christine said no one had complained about them in the past and while she was putting up the pictures on the board a co-manager saw them and laughed. When Christine was let go she was asked if she had permission to take the pictures and told [the store manager] who was removing the pictures had told her it was ok to do with them what she wanted.

Christine did not feel the pictures were offensive, and did not mean for them to be taken that way. Christine said she signed off on Wal-Mart's separation form as she was very upset and needed to get out of the office as she was sick when she heard the news of her discharge. Wal-Mart has said that Christine was discharged for putting up potentially offensive pictures of the management team on company time and for taking company property without permission. Wal-Mart has not provided any copy of the policy the claimant allegedly violated, or given any explanation on how the pictures were thought to be offensive.

Regarding claims of Christine taking the pictures without permission, she states that she had permission. The burden of proof lies with the employer to show evidence of misconduct. In this case, Wal-Mart has provided only a statement of why Christine was dischared. However, there is no documentation to show her actions were willful or deliberate, or amounted to the level of misconduct. The charge of misconduct in connection with employment is a matter to be taken very seriously in the instant case. While Christine may have shown poor judgment in what she did...such action cannot, in the opinion of the Deputy, be deemed misconduct. Accordingly, the claimant is Qualified for Benefits."

For her part, Knowels says her co-workers thought the pictures she created were a big hit. "I have done pictures of an associate, who works as ICS Lead and Truck Unload Leader. I have put lime green, bright yellow, hot pink, blue and purple different styled wigs on him in the pictures, they hung in grocery receiving for a few weeks. I also made him into Shrek by turning his skin all green, bulging out his eyes and elongating his ears. This picture hung at the time clock for at least a week. He wanted to take the pictures home for his kids." On the day she was fired, Knowels says, "When I was called into the office, Mr. [E] was sitting there. He had already had the green sheet filled out and a copy of the surveillance CD, which was placed on top of his computer. Even after speaking with me about the pictures Mr.[E] just took the green sheet down off his computer top and asked me to sign it. He did not add any information I told him, or change anything to what I told him. He didn't correct what he wrote either. He had me fired before I got in the office."

Knowels says "the pictures in question were made to boost the moral of the store, make people laugh and have a good time, because several associates have been saying we are not allowed to have any fun anymore and the morale is gone. Let me just say that I have been making these type of pictures...for as long as I have been working for Wal-Mart and no one told me I couldn't do it or that it was harassment, nor did I think it to be as such. I have had several people ask me to make their pictures or their kids picture, which I have done also.

If I felt it would of hurt anyone's feelings or was even considered harassment I never would of made the pictures. I would of taken the pictures down if anyone told me to, and I would have apologized."

Knowels admits she signed a "green sheet" on separation, stating that she did not have permission to have the photos, but she adds, "the moment [they] said I was fired my stomach turned and I felt I was going to regurgitate any minute and I just scribbled my name and got out of the office to get to the bathroom."

Looking back on her termination, Knowels says that her store manager lied about the photos, because she did have permission to use them. "So many associates have called me and emailed me saying how they thought it was wrong to fire me because they know I was just trying to raise the morale and have a good time."

Knowels says her loss is not just emotional, but economic as well.

"To lose the Health Insurance on my husband and myself, my Accidental Death Insurance, Dental Insurance, Part of my 401k & Profit sharing (as I had 3 weeks to go before being fully invested) Life Insurance and Stock options, over something I have been doing for years and always got great response is just horrible."

Christine L. Knowels, loyal seven-year employee at Wal-Mart, had to turn in her badge and her discount card. But she also left something much more important on the table in that back office in supercenter #1841 in Chesapeake, Virginia: her pride and self-respect. And she's prepared to fight the world's largest retailer to get them back.

Alongside of Knowels' photos of employees wearing lime-colored wigs, is a grim snapshot of life inside the Wal-Mart corporation itself.

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At Wal-Mart, Subway Is Winning Turf War

Associated Press
09.14.07                                               [back to top] 

NEW YORK - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is losing its taste for burgers and fries.

Subway, the fast-food chain that likes to promote its sandwiches as a healthy alternative to traditional fried and grilled fare, began doing business with the world's largest retailer only three years ago. But from a lone restaurant inside a Wal-Mart (nyse: WMT - news - people ) in Ozark, Ala., Subway has quickly overtaken McDonald's Corp. (nyse: MCD - news - people ) as Wal-Mart's primary fast-food concessionaire across the United States.

At one time, McDonald's was the exclusive in-store restaurateur for Wal-Mart. But now Subway, a unit of closely held Doctor's Associates Inc. of Milford, Conn., is in 1,419 Wal-Marts compared with 1,021 McDonald's. So far this year, Subway has opened 105 Wal-Mart locations in the U.S. - more than three times the 34 locations McDonald's opened.

In some ways, Subway's rapid rise at Wal-Mart isn't surprising. The sandwich chain has been expanding at a torrid clip worldwide while McDonald's has been reining in growth, focusing on boosting sales and returns at existing locations. Also, a restaurant inside a Wal-Mart can't operate a drive-through window. That's a big drawback for the hamburger giant, which does about half its business with motorists.

Another major factor, however, may be what's on the menu. Wal-Mart's embrace of Subway comes as it battles an image as a ruthless corporate giant with stingy wages and benefits for employees. Looking to portray itself as a good citizen, Wal-Mart has been tackling greenhouse gases and wasteful packaging. Pitching the virtues of "sustainability," it also has been emphasizing healthier foods at its stores, including organics.

As it struggles to cap rising health care costs, Wal-Mart has singled out employee diets as a concern. Andy Ruben, Wal-Mart's vice president for corporate strategy and sustainability, suggested this spring that "eating healthy meals instead of fast food" might be a good start.

An internal memo leaked in 2005 revealed that the retailer was looking for ways to cut its health care costs without damaging its reputation. It noted that rates of obesity-related heart disease and diabetes were growing faster among its employees than the general public. Among its recommendations were discouraging unhealthy people from working at Wal-Mart and requiring all jobs to include some physical activity, such as cashiers gathering shopping carts in parking lots.

The memo sparked an uproar, and Wal-Mart retreated on the shopping-cart idea. But it has since launched what it calls "personal sustainability projects" for employees to take better care of their bodies and the environment. More than 400,000 of Wal-Mart's 1.3 million U.S. employees are participating in the fast-growing program organized by San Francisco-based Act Now Productions. In addition to recycling more and cutting energy use, workers this year have been resolving to get more exercise and eat better.

Subway franchisee Maurice Novak thinks he's a beneficiary of the program. Six months ago he was invited by Wal-Mart to replace a McDonald's inside a store in Great Falls, Mont., after the hamburger chain let its lease expire. McDonald's cited disappointing sales, but Novak thinks there were other factors at work, too.

"They're trying to push healthier lifestyles - they have a 'green' initiative, a 'sustainability' initiative," Novak says of Wal-Mart. "It made sense to get a Subway in there. The management is thrilled to have us."

As it opens new stores, Wal-Mart hands out lists of prospective locations to both McDonald's and Subway. But the sites on the lists don't overlap, and the two brands aren't allowed to bid against each other for a specific location.

Wal-Mart executives declined to be interviewed for this story. But spokeswoman Linda Blakley said in an e-mail that Wal-Mart picks its in-store restaurant vendors to "align with the customer needs in each market, ... matching customer tastes and preferences with the right restaurant partner."

Elizabeth Rolfe, director of new business development for Subway, contends that one reason the chain is sought out by Wal-Mart is that "they're looking for the healthy alternative." She also noted that, unlike McDonald's, Subway outlets have "no cooking, no frying."

McDonald's rejects the suggestion that it is trailing Subway in the Wal-Mart race because of its food. While McDonald's does occasionally choose to exit less-profitable Wal-Mart locations, it gets "the lion's share of what we ask for" when it comes to leases with Wal-Mart, says Bill Lowery, a McDonald's vice president in charge of business with the retailer.

"As far as food service inside Wal-Mart, we are still their best bet from an economic and any other standpoint," Lowery insists, adding that he is unaware of any situation in which the retailer had asked McDonald's to vacate a store in favor of a rival concessionaire.

While the average full-size, standalone McDonald's grosses about $2.1 million a year, the company says its Wal-Mart restaurants average just $900,000 annually. Subway doesn't disclose its sales, but Technomic Inc., a Chicago restaurant industry consultant, estimates that the typical Subway unit grosses around $400,000 a year. Industry sources say it makes little difference to a Subway's sales whether it's inside a Wal-Mart or not.

"A Subway can make it on fewer dollars," says Dennis Lombardi of WD Partners, a retail and restaurants development firm. By the same token, a McDonald's franchisee may calculate that the investment return from a full-size store is much greater than that from a Wal-Mart satellite unit.

Subway, which has more than 21,000 U.S. stores versus about 13,700 for McDonald's, enjoys an advantage in that its operation can fit into a smaller space than a standard McDonald's. And while they employ relatively small ovens to bake bread, Subways don't use fryers and grills, which require costly ventilation systems and hog more energy.

Both chains have master leases with Wal-Mart, allowing them to be in a store for 10 years. While neither restaurateur will discuss contract terms, "Our rent is based on our sales," says Subway's Rolfe.

Montana Subway franchisee Novak, who has two other stores in Great Falls, says that so far his Wal-Mart location is performing well - "equal to my busiest store." He appreciates the fact that he doesn't have to maintain restrooms, and that security isn't an issue since Wal-Mart takes care of that.

And while he says he's received compliments from many customers, not everyone feels that way. Occasionally, would-be patrons will order french fries.

When told that Subway doesn't serve them, Novak says that some "turn around and walk out."

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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Wal-Mart still sees no love in the Bay Area

By Brian White ,
bloggingstocks.com
September 13th, 2007                               [back to top] 

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) may not ever get any love in the San Francisco area. The world's largest retailer had its hopes for more store frontage in the San Francisco Bay Area dashed this week when the retailer's primary construction vendor pulled out from its prior application to build the big-box location. The vendor was controlled by a family that was apparently sympathetic to the plight of chasing off new Wal-Mart stores in the Bay Area, so it pulled its application for building a new Wal-Mart Supercenter as a result.

The new Wal-Mart location, which was to be built in the North Concord area, now has no firm to build it. North Concord residents and the City Council there had cited the Wal-Mart proposal as inadequate in addressing issues such as traffic, public safety, urban decay, water control, energy and parking. In other words, the usual suspects when a municipality wants to fend off a proposed Wal-Mart location.

Of course, Wal-Mart has a history of trying again and again to get locations built in areas that have significant shopper traffic and good demographics, and surely the retailer won't put its tail between its legs and leave town like Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott indicated would happen in New York City recently. With only three Wal-Mart Supercenters approved in the Bay Area in the last four years, Wal-Mart has been beaten up pretty well in that area, although it continues the fight.

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Wal-Mart ad goes down the tubes

By LEWIS LAZARE ,
Chicago Sun Times
September 13th, 2007                            [back to top] 

Maybe we should blame You Tube?.

The online community site that has become such a hugely popular destination for young people -- and increasingly an older demographic -- to view all manner of homemade videos looks to have had a huge influence on the debut brand campaign from the Martin Agency in Richmond, Va., for discount retailing behemoth Wal-Mart.

We wish the Martin creatives had resisted the temptation to be so influenced.

As is now clear, last month's round of Wal-Mart back-to-school commercials from the Martin Agency was merely the appetizer to prepare us for this main course, the brand campaign that broke Wednesday. This brand work is intended to position Wal-Mart as a discount outlet that can save families large sums of money that can presumably be used to make their lives better in many ways. That overarching message is summed up in the new, decidedly ho-hum tag line (the first new one for Wal-Mart in 19 years) "Save Money. Live Better."

There's certainly nothing new or surprising about the campaign's underlying theme suggesting people who shop at Wal-Mart can save money. What is different is how much this new work harps on the lifestyle theme, which is what the debut 60-second anthem spot called "Roadtrip" is all about. Much, we hasten to add, to the commercial's -- and to Wal-Mart's -- detriment.

At least the back-to-school work last month tried to talk to consumers about why it made sense to shop at Wal-Mart. "Roadtrip" doesn't talk at all. The spot comes with no voiceover copy, merely a passable folk song for underscoring and a lackluster succession of images -- shot to look as if they were taken with the family camera (and maybe they were ) -- that show us what went on during one family's vacation.If this sounds boring on paper, it's even more so in the viewing.

Shots of the family playing in the car, romping around on beds in a hotel room (how stale can it get?) and various and sundry other instantly forgettable visuals just don't compel attention. They only made us wonder why we were watching this stuff -- a question that is finally answered in a bit of copy that appears on screen at the end to inform us Wal-Mart can save a family $2,500 a year, before more copy asks viewers what they will do with their savings.

If we were in an especially philanthropic mood, we'd like to contribute our savings to a fund to help make this Wal-Mart work more exciting. Certainly, Target can rest easily. As the savviest advertiser in the discount retailer category, it is under no threat yet.

At some point, Wal-Mart is going to have to come up with advertising that gives the chain a distinct profile, a truly unique and interesting personality among discount retailers. The Martin shop has done this extraordinarily well for clients such as Geico, UPS and NASCAR. We hope the agency will eventually be able to do the same for Wal-Mart.

Lew's view: C

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Wal-Mart's New Tack: Show 'Em the Payoff

By Ylan Q. Mui and
Michael S. Rosenwald
Washington Post 
Thursday, September 13, 2007              [back to top] 

Wal-Mart is shelving its "Always Low Prices" slogan after 19 years and launching an advertising campaign that plays up life's little pleasures over no-frills practicality.

The new motto -- "Save Money. Live Better." -- will show up on everything from store receipts to plastic bags. Accompanying 30-second TV spots were created by the Martin Agency, the Richmond firm behind the Geico gecko and caveman ads. The Wal-Mart ads began appearing yesterday and will run on network season premieres, specials and cable channels.

Stephen Quinn, Wal-Mart's chief marketing officer, said the campaign is aimed at personalizing the chain's low prices. In the two kickoff ads, for example, the company's name is sidelined for scenes of vacationing families and father-and-son bonding while browsing for cars. The commercials conclude that shopping at Wal-Mart saves families an average of $2,500 a year, making such experiences possible.

"People know they can save money by shopping at Wal-Mart," Quinn said. "The emotional connection . . . was what those savings allowed them to do as a family."

Wal-Mart has been searching for ways to reposition itself to combat slowing sales growth as its stores saturate the nation. Its strategy had long been to open in small towns and suburbs much like its headquarters of Bentonville, Ark. But with more than 3,300 U.S. stores that draw roughly 127 million shoppers each week, it is running out of room to grow.

Wal-Mart now is trying to persuade its more-affluent customers to see it as a destination for more than toilet paper and laundry detergent. It hired music celebrities such as R&amp;B girl group Destiny's Child and country crooner Garth Brooks to star in its holiday campaign two years ago. It ran ads in Vogue magazine for its more fashionable clothing line, Metro 7. A campaign with the tagline "Look beyond the basics" was supposed to surprise shoppers with the range of products in its stores.

But the experiment backfired after an unhappy flirtation with an edgy New York advertising agency, which the company dropped in favor of the Martin Agency and its salt-of-the-earth sensibility. Martin created the campaign with MediaVest, GlobalHue, the IW Group and Lopez Negrete.

Martin is the agency behind Geico's successful and long-standing come-on line: "Fifteen minutes could save you 15 percent or more on car insurance." In Wal-Mart's case, the agency latched on to a study by the economic research firm Global Insight that found the retailer's low prices saved customers $287 billion last year -- or $2,500 per household.

The agency crafted the two kickoff ads around that number. Each ends with the new slogan and a question, "Wal-Mart saves the average family $2,500 per year. What will you do with your savings?"

In one commercial, a man and his son drive to a used-car lot. The son spots a sporty red car. The father elbows him and tells him to go check it out. As the son runs his fingers across the hood, cue tagline.

In the other, a real-life family leaves a Wal-Mart parking lot in their minivan and hits the road for a vacation. They stay at a tiny hotel. The kids jump on the bed. They swim in a pool, eat ice cream and frolic on the beach. Then the van is shown headed down the highway, passing underneath a sign pointing toward Orlando. Cue tagline.

"I love retail ads that make a specific promise," said Steve Bassett, a creative director at Martin. "Always low prices was specific, but for me, 'Save Money. Live Better' is a bigger promise that is backed up by a number that's pretty impressive."

But branding consultant Rob Frankel said Wal-Mart should move away from its focus on price. Most of its customers still shop there because they have to, he said. Wal-Mart should give them another reason to walk through the door.

"What they've really done is akin to rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic," Frankel said. "This is another corporate stroke that's completely out of touch with what Wal-Mart shoppers need to see, feel and hear from Wal-Mart."

In addition, a study last year by the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, questioned the methodology of the study by Global Insight, conducted in 2004 at Wal-Mart's request. It reported that the retailer saved consumers $263 billion that year, or $2,330 per household, though it slowed growth in wages. Wal-Mart critics argue that there is a net loss in jobs in a community when a Wal-Mart store opens.

In the ads, however, the exact amount of savings is less significant than the message.

"What we're telling people is that the little things that they do all year at Wal-Mart -- the basics they buy, the apparel, all the things they buy -- that stuff adds up to something," Bassett said.

© 2007 The Washington Post Company

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Hit a Wal-Mart, get your Tim's

By SUN MEDIA
September 13, 2007                             [back to top] 

"Welcome to Wal-Mart ... and how will you take your coffee?"

Those words will soon be heard in at least two Eastern Ontario Wal-Mart stores after today's announcement that the retailer is teaming up with Tim Horton's. Tim's outlets will begin appearing in Wal-Mart Canada Supercentres later this year, including the Brockville location. Soon afterward, the Orleans Supercentre will also open a Tim's. Nationwide, the companies plan to have seven of the co-operative ventures open by the end of 2008.

Wal-Mart Supercentres, which are designed to take on an increasing diverse group of competitors, are a continuation of a retailing trend to offer customers more services under one roof. Tim Hortons counters and seating will be located at front entrances similar to other services offered at existing Wal-Marts -- travel agencies, beauty salons, photo services, pharmacies, convenience food and more.

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Ex-Wal-Mart Executive Coughlin Seeks New Hearing On Fraud Sentence

BENTONVILLE, Ark. (AP)--Former Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) executive Thomas Coughlin is asking for a hearing on an appeals court ruling that could mean he will face a prison term rather than home confinement for fraud and tax evasion.

Coughlin, who was once the No. 2 executive at Wal-Mart, filed papers Tuesday seeking to overturn an appeals court panel's order that the trial court conduct a new sentencing hearing.

Coughlin pleaded guilty in January 2006 to felony wire fraud and tax evasion charges after embezzling cash, gift cards and merchandise. The company estimated the loss at nearly $500,000.

He was sentenced to 27 months of home confinement, even though he could have been sent to prison for 28 years. Coughlin was also ordered to serve 33 months of probation, pay a $50,000 fine and ordered to make $411,218 in restitution.

Coughlin, 58, had also faced fines of up to $1.35 million.

On Aug. 28, a three-judge panel of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis, in a 2-1 decision, found that the sentence "does not fall within the range of reasonableness," and ordered a new sentencing hearing.

Prosecutors had appealed the original sentence.

In a petition filed Tuesday, Coughlin asked for a new hearing, either before a panel or the full 8th Circuit appeals court. Coughlin's lawyers say he has health problems that include coronary disease, hypertension, diabetes and pulmonary arrhythmia and that he has a pacemaker-defibrillator device.

Coughlin worked at Wal-Mart for 28 years and was seen as founder Sam Walton's protege.

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Wal-Mart rolling out new company slogan

Reuters
Wednesday September 12                                       [back to top] 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT - News) said on Wednesday that it is rolling out a new advertising campaign with the slogan, "Save Money. Live Better," replacing the motto "Always low prices" after 19 years. The new slogan comes as Wal-Mart is incorporating more of an emotional tone into its advertising as it tries to boost sales at its U.S. stores.

Its back-to-school ads showed actors posing as customers, talking about how Wal-Mart helped them save money amid high gasoline prices, a contrast to its previous ads featuring a smiley face character zooming around stores, slashing prices.

Wal-Mart said it will begin running TV ads on Wednesday illustrating "how saving money on the little things adds up and helps families live better."

The discount retailer is trying to revive its U.S. sales after its same-store sales rose at their slowest pace on record last fiscal year. Its back-to-school advertising campaign was accompanied by price cuts of as much as 50 percent on 16,000 items like backpacks and school supplies.

The results produced a higher-than-expected 3.1 percent rise in August sales at its U.S. stores open at least a year -- its biggest same-store sales gain since March.

The new ad campaign also highlights the results of new research it commissioned from Global Insight. The report said that as of 2006, the retailer saves American families $2,500 each year, up 7.3 percent from $2,329 in 2004.

Global Insight said it found that the expansion of Wal-Mart from 1985 to 2006 led to a 3.0 percent decline in overall consumer prices as measured by the Consumer Price Index for all items, which includes prices for goods and services.

The research firm said its updated study concludes that the reduction in price levels due to Wal-Mart translated into savings for consumers of $287 billion in 2006, which is $957 per person or $2,500 per household.

Wal-Mart shares were up 2 cents to $42.96 in late morning New York Stock Exchange trading.

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The High Cost of Low Cost

By Robert J. Elisberg,
Huffington Post
September 11th, 2007                                           [back to top]  

A successful freelancer once explained to me that he regularly tells companies who balk at paying his price, "If you think I'm expensive, wait until you work with amateurs." Lower-quality work will invariably cause big problems and much more money spent correcting them.

But this isn't just a reality for all business. It's the way of all life.

This is far more basic than Economics 101. It's nothing more than a wise saying everyone learned in grade school.

You Get What You Pay For.

Usually, that's said with a shrug and a wistful smile. But then, we generally don't expect the payment to be made with people's lives.

Save money by not doing required repairs on a bridge. It collapses, causing devastation and death. The original price to fix the bridge was $3 million. The financial cost only of replacement and economic upheaval is an estimated $500 million.

Save money by cutting $65 million from required maintenance on levees. They're breached, wiping out a major American city and killing 1,577 people.. The cost of rebuilding the levees is $10 billion. Rebuilding the city is an additional $53 billion.

Save money by having your toys made cheaply overseas. Toxic paint is found in 21 million products for children, in three separate recalls.

Save money by importing on pet food more cheaply from overseas. Contaminated food kills over 17,000 pets.

Save money on toothpaste by importing it more cheaply from overseas. Products with a poisonous chemical is distributed to hotels.

Save money on automobile tires by importing them more cheaply from overseas. Over 450,000 faulty tires that can fall apart were recalled.

These aren't isolated incidents. This is a pattern.

You do get what you pay for. Wal-Mart might love to advertise with that little smiley-face knocking the prices down, but when they had to remove those toys with toxic paint from their shelves, remember: a frown is just a smile upside-down.

The manufacturing problem for all those recalls was caused elsewhere, in China. But someone had to hire them. And someone had to cut government costs for inspecting them.

There are many dirty fingers. When Wal-Mart strong-arms its suppliers to under-price everyone else, those suppliers are forced or choose to go overseas where there is cheap labor and cheaper consumer protection. And other retailers are pressured to follow, or do so happily.

Companies can insist they're just giving the public what it wants, low prices. And that's a wonderful argument until reality kicks in and you stock your stores with toxic toys, toxic pet food, toxic toothpaste and exploding tires. Surveys show that customers tend to not want those things.

Everyone likes low prices. Spending less. Saving money.

But you get what you pay for.

It's not Economics 101. It's Life 101. Here's another basic, wise saying: pennywise and pound foolish. But this is pennywise and pound insane.

And it holds true in everything. Including the crass political tactic that anyone who wants to raise taxes is just a "Tax and Spend Liberal" and irresponsible and evil and smells bad. Well, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty (R) played that card and vetoed a transportation bill because it would have raised taxes. His way collapsed a bridge.

There are apparently 79,427 bridges considered inadequate in the U.S., and the cost to repair them all is estimated at $9.4 billion every year, for 20 years. That's $188 billion. Think that's a lot? Nah, it's peanuts. Chump change. If the cost to the economy of this one Minnesota bridge is $500 million, then the potential damages for all those inadequate bridges is $40,000,000,000,000,000. (That's "$40 quadrillion" but it's a word so large to be meaningless. It's so large it sounds like you're an eight-year-old making up words.)

Fun with Math: to pay that scary $188 billion national bridge repair, you'd only have to shut down the Iraq War 2-1/2 years early. Or just have taken 2-1/2 years looking carefully for those pesky WMDs before shock-and-awing. The bridges would be paid for by now. Not suggesting a plan, of course, but merely putting things in perspective.

If something is important to you, you find the money.

That is, unless you're too cheap and don't mind the risk of flooding a city, killing pets or poisoning the nation's children. Is that a cheap shot to take? Perhaps. But it's less cheap than not minding the risk of flooding a city, killing pets or poisoning the nation's children.

But then, you get what you pay for.

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Wal-Mart Pulling Flip-Flops From Shelves After Complaints

By Fox 4 Dallas-Ft Worth,
September 11th, 2007                                       [back to top] 

Wal-Mart announced Tuesday that it is removing certain made-in-China flip-flops from its stores after some people complained the product caused injuries to their feet.

One North Texas woman told FOX 4 she developed a painful and serious rash after wearing them.

"It hurts, it's irritating, very irritating," Taylor Vanover said of the rashes on both her feet that she said follow the exact design of the flip-flops she bought in Gun Barrel City in June.

Wal Mart released the following statement:

“Product safety is a top priority at Wal-Mart and we are taking this report very seriously. Of several million of this product sold, we have had only a few similar claims. Nonetheless, we are removing the product from our shelves for testing and are preventing our registers from selling them. “

Vanover told FOX 4 that after her experience, she saw a Web site by Kerry Stiles, a young woman in Florida who claims the same brand of Wal-Mart flip-flops gave her a similar rash.

Stiles told FOX 4 News nearly a dozen others have sent her pictures of their feet with rashes that looked like hers.

Stiles posted pictures of her rash, as well as a response she said she received from Wal-Mart.

She said Wal-Mart suggested she contact the Chinese manufacturer about her problem.

A Wal-Mart spokesman told FOX 4 they will be doing tests on the flip-flops to determine if there are any foreign or harmful things on them.

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Wal-Mart's role in Bharti restricted to tech support

Economic Times
11 Sep, 2007                                   [back to top] 

NEW DELHI: US retail giant Wal-Mart, which has signed a joint venture with the Bharti Group for wholesale cash and carry business, will restrict itself to technical support and training in Sunil Mittal firm's foray into retail.

"Bharti's retail venture would be entirely owned by the Indian promoters," an official of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) said.

However, the US firm will provide technical know-how and training to the Bharti Group, which has announced its plans to open stores next year.

As per the present government policy, foreign direct investment is not permitted in retail trade except 51 per cent holding in single brand retailing. However, there is no restriction on foreign companies from undertaking wholesale cash and carry business.

In the cash and carry business, the company operates like a bulk dealer on behalf of several manufacturers and sells the merchandise to retail traders.

FDI in retail has been strongly opposed by Left parties, the key allies of the UPA Government. While the policy does not prohibit entry of big business houses like Reliance, Shoppers' Stop and Future Group into retail trading, they are also facing resistance, including in states like Uttar Pradesh.

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Wal-Mart takes charge tied to German sale

by Lewis Krauskopf
Tue Sep 11, 2007                               [back to top] 

NEW YORK, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) recorded a $153 million quarterly charge for the sale of German operations, according to a regulatory filing.

The charge reduces net income for the second quarter ended July 31 to $2.95 billion, or 72 cents per share, from $3.1 billion, or 76 cents per share, reported by the company on Aug. 14.

Wal-Mart agreed to sell German operations to Metro AG (MEOG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) last year.

In its quarterly filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Wal-Mart said: "To reflect recent nonbinding discussions with Metro at the end of August 2007, the company recorded a second-quarter 2008 charge of $153 million to discontinued operations related to a post-closing adjustment and certain other indemnification obligations."

© Reuters 2006. All rights reserved.

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Ark.: Sam's Club Liquor Store Opens

Associated Press
09.11.07                                       [back to top] 

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - A liquor store attached to a Sam's Club in Fayetteville opened this week, despite a continuing legal battle over whether the store's sale of spirits violates state law.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (nyse: WMT - news - people ), which owns the members-only Sam's Club warehouse stores, received a permit from the state's Alcoholic Beverage Control Division in July. The permit was opposed by the Arkansas Beverage Retailers Association.

A Sam's Club membership is not required to shop at the liquor store, which is located near the interchange of Interstate 540 and Arkansas 112.

The alcohol retailers group had argued the Sam's Club liquor store violates state law, which says liquor stores can sell only alcohol and related items. But the Fayetteville Sam's Club is designed so that the liquor store is walled off from the rest off the store and will operate separately.

The lawsuit was originally dismissed by Pulaski County Circuit Judge Ellen Brantley, but later reinstated by the Arkansas Supreme Court. Arguments are scheduled for Oct. 26 in Brantley's court in Little Rock.

Wal-Mart has said the Fayetteville liquor store would hold Wal-Mart's only permit to sell liquor in Arkansas. A state law bars permit holders from having more than one permit.

Andrew Johnson, an employee at The Spirit Shop in Fayetteville, said he doesn't expect the Sam's Club store to affect sales much at his liquor store.

"We have a loyal clientele and offer speedy service. If we see someone we know pulling through the drive-through, we have their order ready at the window," he said. "I don't see someone driving down the road to save 30 cents on a case of beer."

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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Working With the Enemy

Once the youngest president of the Sierra Club, Adam Werbach used to call Wal-Mart toxic. Now the company is his biggest client. Does the path to a greener future run through Bentonville?

By: Danielle Sacks
Fast Company
September 2007                                    [back to top] 

“To this day, they won't speak to me," says Adam Werbach. His clients--or rather, his old clients--fired him when word got out last year that he was doing work for Wal-Mart. Of course, many people make compromises to do business with the largest company in the world--accept lower profit margins, absorb relentless performance pressure. But for Werbach, 34, a lifelong environmentalist, the cost of working with Wal-Mart has been personal. Some of his old friends don't speak to him. His former colleagues think he's sold out. And then there are the threats. "I attended this event and someone came up to me," recalls Werbach, his discomfort still fresh. "He said, 'I wouldn't feel safe if I were you. People have gotten hurt.'" Werbach has stopped speaking in public without special security.

He has made a leap that is either visionary or naive, depending on your perspective. He's been a leader in the environmental world, president of the Sierra Club at just 23, author of a 1997 book Act Now, Apologize Later that called Wal-Mart "a new breed of toxin" that "could wreak havoc on a town." He was such an iconoclast, he'd publicly challenged old-line environmentalists in a speech in 2004.

But in signing on to Wal-Mart last year, he went too far, driving off even those nonprofits who still did business with his small consulting firm, Act Now. They didn't want the help of someone who would sell his services to the Behemoth of Bentonville.

Folks at the Sierra Club, which funds the watchdog Wal-Mart Watch, begged him to reconsider, and activists John Sellers and Barbara Dudley wrote an open letter headlined, "The Death of Integrity: In Working With Wal-Mart, Activist Adam Werbach Is Abandoning His Principles."

For Wal-Mart, winning over Werbach is a critical part of its battle to redefine itself as environmentally progressive. There are nagging doubts in many quarters about just how sincere that effort is--doubts magnified this summer when Wal-Mart postponed the release of its own long-awaited sustainability progress report. But, in fact, Werbach is hardly the only activist to see Wal-Mart as a potent partner for change. Environmental Defense has opened an office in Bentonville to work more effectively with the company, although the group is careful to take no money from the chain. Even environmental icon Amory Lovins now advises the company on its green policies. But none of that provides quite the same sheen of legitimacy as signing up the former Sierra Club golden boy.

The journey to Bentonville has been difficult, even painful, for Werbach. Yet now this activist who'd set foot in a Wal-Mart store exactly once in his first 30 years is bleeding Wal-Mart blue. "I wholeheartedly believe in what Wal-Mart's doing, which astounds me," he says. "Wal-Mart is expert at solving problems."

His new vision: to do nothing less than make Wal-Mart as well known for environmental sustainability as Target is for everyman design. And to do that in a way that's good for the business. "Our goal," he says, flopping into a retro orange chair in his Act Now office, "is to have Wall Street look at Wal-Mart's green performance, and say, 'Wow, do more of that.'"

Today, his firm operates out of new offices in a renovated pie factory in San Francisco's Mission District. The space has been retooled with eco-friendly carpeting, skylights, and a meditation room. In the last year, Werbach has hired three dozen new employees to help handle the Wal-Mart business, boosting Act Now's staff from 8 to 45. He's also pulling in other corporate clients, including General Mills, Sony BMG, and Procter & Gamble.

The Act Now team is running one of Wal-Mart's key environmental initiatives, a program Werbach himself helped design, which aims to teach the company's 1.3 million U.S. employees about sustainability. He says the company offers him the organizational leverage to make change rapidly and on a scale that the traditional environmental establishment just can't provide. The movement, he says, "is not willing to suggest solutions that are as big as the problems."

In the nonprofit world in which Werbach grew up, his conversion is not just unpopular, it's incomprehensible. Wade Rathke, who runs ACORN, a community-organizing group based in New Orleans, says he called Werbach to try to persuade him not to become a Wal-Mart contractor, but never heard back from him. "For you to believe that you and your little lonesome are changing something with a million-and-a-half employees, $350 billion of sales, well, there's a level of ego there that just is staggering," Rathke says. "It sounds like an Adam Sandler movie or something." He pauses. "I have no idea what Adam believes anymore."

Werbach woke up the morning of December 9, 2004, with the hangover of his life. The previous night, he had stood at a wooden lectern at San Francisco's Commonwealth Club to tell a packed room of 250 people, including the leaders of environmentalism's most influential organizations, that their movement was dead. He had become increasingly discouraged by a supposedly progressive movement that didn't know how to be progressive with its own ideas. Within the first five minutes of the hour-long, 31-page speech, he announced with the tone of someone reading last rites: "I am done calling myself an environmentalist."

In its effort to protect seal pups and redwood trees, he told his mentors, friends, and colleagues, the movement had forgotten human beings. What was needed, he said, was a new way of connecting sustainability to the aspirations of everyday people. "Make executive directors [of environmental groups] go to a red state and try to explain environmentalism to the average American. If they don't have a plan to activate the values we share [with] the majority of Americans, then they need to move on."

The next morning, Werbach was overwhelmed with the consequences of committing professional hari-kari. "I thought the speech would be cathartic," he says. "It wasn't." His phone wouldn't stop ringing, but the voices on the other end didn't want to discuss how they could reimagine environmentalism. They wanted to tell him how wrong he was. The board at Common Assets, an environmental startup he'd been running, promptly fired him, leaving Werbach, who had a newborn daughter, without his primary source of income. Even worse, he had ousted himself from the very life he had always dreamed of. "I just remember thinking, 'What am I going to do today, become a fireman?'"

Werbach had been drawn to environmental issues since elementary school. As a 7-year-old in L.A.'s San Fernando Valley, he would check the daily smog reports before T-ball practice. By 13, he had persuaded his parents to let him open a checking account so he could become a "rainbow warrior" with Greenpeace. In 1990, as a high-school student, he walked into a campaign center working to pass "Big Green," the sweeping voter initiative in California that would have promoted everything from fuel economy to open space. Werbach recruited hundreds of students to the cause. The initiative was defeated, but the morning after, his recruits were asking their accidental leader what to do next. By the time Werbach had graduated from Brown University in 1995, he had created the Sierra Student Coalition, the first national student-run environmental organization; today, it has 30,000 members.

It was this dynamism that got him recruited in 1996 for the monumental task of changing the face of the Sierra Club, the nation's largest and oldest grassroots environmental organization. "When he was hired, people were probably expecting a scruffy kid with a beard and flip-flops," says Jon Coifman, national media director for the Natural Resources Defense Council. "That's certainly not what they got. He was articulate, smart, and had a real fresh take on things." Werbach quickly realized he could use his youth to his advantage and questioned the Sierra Club's every habit. Instead of focusing on policy, he set out to engage the public. During his first year in office, he toured the country giving more than 200 speeches, trying to reach young people. By the end of his second term, the average age of a Sierra Club member had come down to 37, from 47. But he felt that he was wasting time managing internal battles. And, he admits, "I was trying to push a lot of change very fast, so I think there were a lot of people frustrated with me."

After his second term, Werbach moved on to more-entrepreneurial environmental efforts: starting Act Now, cofounding the Apollo Alliance to jump-start an alternative-energy economy, and picking up the Common Assets post. Restless and impatient, he was beginning to question not the goals but the methods of mainstream environmentalism. Then, in 2004, two colleagues, Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus, published a controversial essay, "The Death of Environmentalism." That led Werbach to phone the head of every major environmental group and ask one question: Have you achieved your goals? "They literally laughed at the absurdity of the question," he says. But he wasn't laughing. While he was in college, he says, "I helped create the largest desert park in the country, Death Valley, and I'll proudly take my daughter there. Meanwhile global warming is going to turn the entire country into a desert."

This realization seemed so urgent that he issued his manifesto at the Commonwealth Club. In the difficult months that followed, he recalls, he thought he knew what hitting bottom was like. Then Wal-Mart called. "It felt like proof that I was wrong."

The text of Werbach's controversial speech had taken on a life of its own, circulating furiously online. It ended up in the least likely of hands. Andy Ruben and his wife read it together on a flight from Arkansas to Chicago. A former Ernst & Young management consultant with no environmental background, Ruben was Wal-Mart's recently named vice president of sustainability.

When Werbach said yes to Wal-Mart, a colleague said, "I have no idea what Adam believes anymore." "I was really moved by the guts it took to have that perspective," says Ruben, 34. Charged with designing an environmental push for the company, he was trying to talk to as many environmentalists as possible. He asked one of his consultants to see if Werbach would meet with him. Werbach's response: No thanks.

Ruben persisted, and Werbach finally agreed to meet in the spring of 2005. On one condition: "I remember people saying, 'Don't let them buy you lunch because once they do, you become tainted.'" He quickly learned that wouldn't be an issue--Wal-Mart never buys anybody lunch.

At San Francisco's Town Hall restaurant, Werbach insisted to Ruben that Wal-Mart's business model precluded it from being a sustainable company. "I wanted to talk about labor conditions," Werbach says. "If employees weren't happy with labor conditions and didn't have health care, you couldn't be a sustainable company." Ruben replied that he didn't believe Wal-Mart's labor practices were abusive. Says Werbach, "I didn't buy it."

He left the lunch suspicious that Wal-Mart wanted to use him as a PR fig leaf. "I thought I was being spun," he recalls. But he couldn't shrug off the audacity of Wal-Mart's ambitions. "Even if they did a hundredth of what [Ruben] was talking about, that would be good." He found himself thinking about how environmentalism has been aimed mostly at "people in big cities, coastal towns, and college towns. But Wal-Mart speaks to 90% of the American public every year."

Werbach had given Ruben a list of things to do if he really wanted to understand the landscape--check out Curitiba, Brazil's efficient transportation system; learn about San Francisco's solar program; meet with experts on carbon emissions; read Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. "He followed up with everyone I suggested and read every book I told him to read," Werbach says.

He and Ruben continued to talk over the next several months. Early in 2006, Ruben invited Werbach to Bentonville for Wal-Mart's quarterly assessment of performance. When senior managers were told that improving sustainability would be factored into their evaluations and bonuses, he was floored. At that moment, he concluded that Wal-Mart was serious about making sustainability part of its daily business.

But he saw a major problem. Your customers, he told Ruben, don't buy things at Wal-Mart because they're recycled or use less energy. They shop for the lowest prices. Once Wal-Mart stocked green products, it would face the same problem environmentalists had struggled with for years: getting customers to buy the stuff. How could Wal-Mart make sustainability matter to its customers?

Then he and Ruben hit on an idea: Wal-Mart and Sam's Club's 1.3 million employees were the ideal focus group for the company's customers--and for most of America. If they could get the associates to care about sustainability, they would know how to reach the company's 127 million weekly customers in the United States And the employees could help spread the message. Ruben offered Werbach the opportunity to do a pilot project.

Werbach hesitated. He knew the fallout of signing on with Wal-Mart could be severe. But his wife, Lyn, CFO of Act Now, says Wal-Mart's potential was irresistible: "Imagine that struggle of knowing there's an opportunity that has unprecedented reach and not taking it." Werbach realized that as much as Wal-Mart could use him, he could use the company.

At the last minute, a wealthy supporter offered to fund his Wal-Mart work, so he wouldn't have the indignity of a Wal-Mart check. Werbach turned him down. He recognized that people respect advice more when they pay for it. For him, it was worth betting his reputation and his business on Wal-Mart only if he could get a seat at the table. "It seemed pretty clear that [by signing on] I would get a level of access that I would never get as an outsider."

Wal-Mart gave Werbach the lab to do what he'd exhorted his colleagues to do in the Commonwealth Club speech: make sustainability personal. The program he has designed for the largest employer in the country, in fact, is called the Personal Sustainability Project. The idea of PSP is simple. Each participant picks some part of his or her life that seems somehow "unsustainable" and develops a plan to fix it. The goal is to teach Wal-Marters what sustainability is, and to show them the power of changing even the smallest habit, like not printing a paper receipt at the ATM.

Since Werbach started testing his ideas last summer, he and Act Now's 12 field trainers have conducted 150 PSP sessions across the country, covering 4,000 U.S. stores. Each store in a given region sends two volunteers to a paid retreat, a daylong series of open, guided discussions that start with Werbach's stripped-down definition of sustainability: "having enough for now, while not harming the future."

The sessions are designed to encourage participants to discover for themselves how to apply the idea of sustainability to their own lives. For some, it's finding ways to preserve a precious bass-fishing spot; for others, it's realizing that buying things on credit reduces future spending power. Each employee comes up with a PSP, a single, repeatable action--biking to work, quitting smoking--that is good personally and for the wider world. When they return to their store, armed with guides and DVDs, they are supposed to recruit 10 volunteers apiece to help the rest of the staff develop their own PSPs.

The program is radical for Wal-Mart in two important ways: It's totally voluntary. And, unlike Wal-Mart's usual highly detailed procedures, it is free-form. Some stores have shrugged off the program altogether; others are so enthusiastic they have developed store-level PSPs and community-wide PSPs. The strategy is to spread PSP practices virally through the Wal-Mart ecosystem and beyond.

Wal-Mart would not allow Fast Company to interview employees, but according to Act Now, there's some evidence of progress. Shonda Godley, who works in Bentonville, decided to connect her PSP with her farmer grandfather's death from cancer, which she believes resulted from a lifetime around pesticides. She is taking her fourth-generation family farm organic. "On the surface, it sounds rather silly to say that when I choose organic foods, farmers can be healthier," she said in an in-house PSP magazine. "But we sustain organic farmers by purchasing their products; we know that they are not putting their health at risk to make a living."

And Werbach talks about 17-year Sam's Club associate Kim Nicholson, who challenged a senior manager to explain why a meal of pizza and soda in the company cafeteria cost $2, while salad and water cost more than $5. Within a week, Werbach says, the price of the healthy food was lowered in all Sam's Clubs.

Although Werbach's PSP method sounds a little hokey, it's rooted in positive psychology. The idea is to change behavior not, as he puts it, by the "blunt-force trauma scare tactic" that most activists use, but by getting people to change tiny behaviors--nanopractices. "For too long, environmentalists have been telling people they need to sacrifice," Werbach says. "But the great modern challenge is how to be happy. This is the missing link."

Although the PSP program is relatively new, it's being measured, like everything Wal-Mart does. According to weekly reports from the stores, roughly 40% of associates who have made a PSP are staying committed to it, Werbach says, and 12,000 employees have quit smoking.

The PSP effort baffles some of Werbach's former colleagues. "Someone with [Werbach's] kind of brain who has been called a wunderkind is now doing a hybrid between Jenny Craig and SmokEnders for Wal-Mart," says John Sellers, who heads an activist group called the Ruckus Society, a former Act Now client.

Werbach, of course, argues that issues like weight loss are among the most effective entry points for getting people to care about the environment. "People care about themselves first, so you have to start with what's important in their lives." It's Organizing 101: Meet people where they are. "If Wal-Mart doesn't fulfill its goals," Werbach says, "there will be a lot of very angry associates who are very much bought into this now."

A few environmentalists are starting to see value in Werbach's work. Hunter Lovins, cofounder of the Rocky Mountain Institute and coauthor of the pioneering book Natural Capitalism, was so dubious of Wal-Mart's green conversion that she went to Bentonville in person to see CEO Lee Scott. She calls Werbach's Wal-Mart strategy "absolutely world-changing brilliant. By the time he's done, he'll have spoken to 1% of the U.S. workforce."

Werbach is eating in a vegan restaurant in San Francisco, just back from a Greenpeace International board meeting in Amsterdam. He's getting amped up about a "greenwashing attack" he wants to mount against 7-Up for claiming its flavors are "100% natural" in a recent TV campaign. "It's a total misuse of the term 'natural.' You're tricking people into thinking they should improve their lives with this thing that is natural and healthy--it's immoral," he says. "I'll go talk to them about it first. I'll tell them to fix it. If they don't? Then you attack."

When asked how Wal-Mart would feel about him exercising his activist self, the question catches him by surprise. "Who knows if Wal-Mart would like that?" he shrugs, as if not realizing how much shelf space 7-Up's parent, Cadbury Schweppes, has in every Wal-Mart store.

Werbach knows he's straddling two contradictory cultures. He is a complicated blend of creativity, idealism, and pragmatism; sometimes, he admits, that puts him at war with himself. He seems able to compartmentalize things that might otherwise be inconvenient--his irritation over 7-Up's ads versus the wishes of his largest client; his initial outrage over how Wal-Mart treats its employees versus the opportunity to leverage Wal-Mart to change the world.

"There's an interesting book called Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity," he says. "I guess that's where I live, somewhere between all those places. I don't know whether it's irony or hypocrisy." (After 20 years as a vegetarian, Werbach has started eating meat again since joining forces with Wal-Mart. If he sees any irony in his rebirth as a carnivore, well, he lets that pass.)

There are many questions about Wal-Mart's commitment to sustainability. The CEO has announced bold, clear goals for the company: to produce zero waste; to use 100% renewable energy; to supply customers with sustainable products. The hurdles, though, are enormous. (See "How Green Is Wal-Mart?") Two years ago, amid much fanfare, Wal-Mart opened two experimental energy-saving stores. This year, the company says it will open four "high efficiency" supercenters. Meanwhile, in the two years ending December 2007, Wal-Mart will have opened hundreds of conventional stores.

And for every success story, like the Wal-Mart in Brady, Texas, that has recycled 8,000 tires, doubled paper and aluminum recycling, and created community PSP teams that include the mayor and the city landfill manager, there's a story like the one in Santa Fe. We visited the New Mexico store that went through the PSP training in April; the associates we asked had never heard of PSPs. One of Werbach's staff acknowledged in an email that the Santa Fe store's management team didn't buy into the PSP training and never passed it on to the staff.

"I'm an insider with outsider tendencies," says Werbach. "I'm still trying to channel the outsider." Some moments in the past year have been surreal for Werbach. One day in Bentonville, he was leaving Wal-Mart headquarters, walking to his parked car. "I looked back to Lee Scott's window, and he was waving me good-bye. It was the oddest experience, the CEO of the world's biggest company waving, kind of like, Come back, ya hear."

But for Werbach, the big surprise is how much he's learned from Wal-Mart. He riffs on the company's obsession with its core mission, its relentless tracking of results, its "correction of error" meetings. "In failure," he says, "you don't hide your head in shame, you actually get on the phone the next day and you talk about what went wrong." In Wal-Mart's culture, he has found what he thought was missing from the environmental establishment.

"Right now I'm an insider with outsider tendencies, but I'm still trying to channel the outsider," he says, washing down his hummus with coconut juice. "I don't think you can be both. I mean, we'll see. I'm going to try. I'm trying."

Copyright © 2007 Mansueto Ventures LLC. All rights reserved.

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Wal-Mart lowers second quarter profit

World's largest retailer takes a charge of $153 million due to the sale of its German retail operation.

September 10 2007                              [back to top] 

BENTONVILLE, Ark. (AP) -- Wal-Mart reduced its reported second-quarter profit by $153 million due to expenses from selling its German retail operations, the world's largest retailer reported Monday.

In a regulatory filing, Wal-Mart (Charts, Fortune 500) said the added cost reduced its earnings per share for the quarter that ended July 31 to 72 cents from the 76 cents it originally reported Aug. 14. That compares with 50 cents per share in the year-ago quarter.

Wal-Mart said the late charge came after "recent nonbinding discussions with Metro at the end of August 2007." Germany's Metro AG agreed last year to buy Wal-Mart's German operations.

Wal-Mart called the new charge a "post-closing adjustment."

Metro bought Wal-Mart's 85 sites in Germany last year for an undisclosed sum as Wal-Mart quit Germany and South Korea after losses in both markets.

Housing woes hammer Home Depot, Wal-Mart

Harry Potter's dollar magic will live on

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Start-Ups Sprout On Wal-Mart's Green Path

by: Nate Berg
10 September 2007                        [back to top] 

Wal-Mart's efforts to reduce waste and operate in an environmentally-friendly manner has fueled a green business boom in an Arkansas town near the corporation's headquarters.

"Two years ago, the world's largest retailer set out on a mission to change that reputation by promising to transform itself into an eco-friendly business. It set wildly ambitious goals to create no waste, be supplied by renewable energy and sell more sustainable merchandise."

"Critics have dismissed the effort as a public relations stunt designed to draw attention away from Wal-Mart's controversial labor and health-care policies. How successful Wal-Mart will be at greening itself remains to be seen. But there is little question that it already is reshaping its own back yard."

"A wave of start-ups developing the technology to help suppliers prove their green credentials has swept into this sleepy college town, half an hour from the company's headquarters in Bentonville."

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Wal-Mart continues supercentre expansion in Canada

CBC News
Monday, September 10, 2007                         [back to top]  

Wal-Mart — the world's biggest retailer — said Monday it would have 28 of its giant "supercentres" open across Canada by early 2008.

The Arkansas-based retailer will open its five newest supercentres in Alberta on Sept. 19. The stores are in Wainwright, Vegreville, Lethbridge, Pincher Creek and Edmonton.

Wal-Mart supercentres feature their own "Your Fresh Market" grocery sections. Supercentres, which are about 30 per cent larger than a normal Wal-Mart, carry an extensive line of fresh groceries, including natural and organic products.

The Alberta stores will join eight existing supercentres in Ontario. More supercentres in Ontario and Alberta are opening in the next few months.

"Since opening Canada's first Wal-Mart Supercentre almost a year ago, we've been overwhelmed by our customers' positive response," said Mario Pilozzi, CEO of Wal-Mart Canada, in a release.

Many of the supercentres actually are expansions of existing Wal-Mart stores. There are more than 270 of Wal-Mart's regular-sized discount stores in Canada, employing more than 70,000 people.

The major Canadian grocery chains, such as Loblaws and Sobeys, have long been bracing for what analysts have predicted will be an eventual countrywide rollout of Wal-Mart Supercentres.

Loblaws, for instance, has built its own superstores in Ontario and lowered prices to counter the threat from Wal-Mart. Last month, it announced a pilot project to rework its superstores to focus more on fresh groceries, and less on non-food merchandise like furniture and electronics.

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Kodak Brings High-Quality, Everyday Low-Cost Printing to Wal-Mart

BusinessWire                                  [back to top] 

Eastman Kodak Company EK today announced that it has extended the consumer reach of its breakthrough home inkjet printer line while reinforcing the product's unique value proposition by making it available at Wal-Mart, America's leading retailer. The KODAK EASYSHARE 5100 All-in-One (AiO) Printer (U.S. MSRP $129.99), is now available for purchase at 2,600 Wal-Mart stores nationwide.

With replacement ink cartridges priced at just $14.99 MSRP for color and $9.99 MSRP for black, the KODAK EASYSHARE AiO Printer delivers crisp documents and brilliant photos, offers print, scan and copy features, and saves consumers up to 50 percent* on everything printed in the home.

"This new offering is an extension of Kodak's longstanding commitment to making technology easy, affordable and widely accessible to consumers," said Phil Faraci, President of Kodak's Consumer Digital Group. "Momentum is clearly building as our unique AiO is now widely available at Wal-Mart Superstores, along with Best Buy and Office Depot in the U.S., Dixon's, Media Markt, PC World and Currys in Europe and JB HiFi and select Kodak Express stores in Australia."

Kodak's revolutionary inkjet business model continues to be embraced by consumers. In fact, a recent study** conducted by Ipsos, a leading global survey-based market research company, stated that consumers rank cheaper ink cartridges and higher-quality photos as the #1 and #2 most desired features and functionalities of an inkjet printer.

"Almost 70 percent of home printer users cite lower-cost ink as a top priority," said Faraci. "Kodak designed our entire system with this in mind, and we remain focused on addressing this significant need."

To help reinforce its commitment to making ink affordable, Kodak is offering Wal-Mart shoppers a limited-time offer: three additional high-yield, 5-ink color cartridges (a $45 value) at no additional cost when they purchase the KODAK EASYSHARE 5100 AiO Printer (U.S. MSRP $129.99), while supplies last. Kodak's low-cost ink cartridges offer low cost-per-page, as recently confirmed by independent testing lab, QualityLogic, and Kodak's cost-of-printing analysis. For more information on the savings, testing and analysis, visit: www.kodak.com/go/inkdata.

* Savings based on home printing of documents and photos using average ink cost of comparable consumer inkjet printers. Actual results may vary. For more information, visit www.kodak.com/go/inkdata.

** Ipsos study: Data were collected through an internet-based sampling and data collection methodology using the Ipsos US Internet panel and accurately reflects the online population (18 years and older). A total of 1,183 respondents completed the online questionnaire between April 3 and April 8, 2007. For more information, visit http://www.ipsosinsight.com/pressrelease.aspx?id=3609

Copyright 2007 BusinessWire

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China's Recall Woes Bad For Wal-Mart

The problem with tainted goods from China is strongly impacting retailers.

By Eric Newman
September 10, 2007                      [back to top] 

NEW YORK -- Last week 675,000 Barbie accessories were recalled as the pile of tainted products from China grows into a mountain. While this is obviously bad news for Barbie-maker Mattel, the ill will from the plague of product recalls has also begun to affect Wal-Mart, according to a new study.

The survey, published by Strategic Name Development, a marketing consultancy based in Minneapolis, was based on responses from 503 participants in an online panel from Aug. 22-23. The sample set was balanced by gender, geography, income and age to produce results at a 95% confidence.

It asked respondents to answer questions regarding their perceptions of both Wal-Mart and Target following the recalls.

Only 40% of respondents felt that they could trust Wal-Mart to protect them from products made in China. The study further showed that 39% of respondents said they were more fearful of buying products from Wal-Mart, versus 22% for Target.

As far as public image, 56% said they felt Wal-Mart was "more interested in profits than people," compared to 41% who felt that way about Target.

Because the low-cost retailer is associated with regularly providing products from China, responders offered that Wal-Mart "sold out the American consumer just to make a buck" and "It's been my policy to avoid all things associated with China, including Wal-Mart . . . I haven't been [there] in three months and I used to go weekly."

Despite the recalls, Wal-Mart asserted its business is fine. "We haven't seen evidence of such findings at our registers," said Melissa O'Brien, a Wal-Mart rep. "Wal-Mart has been the only retailer to date to publicly announce a new safety-net check and test program for toys—which we know parents have reacted favorably to—as an effort to step above and beyond."

She added that the company's own research has shown that, in cases of product safety, consumers laid responsibility at the feet of manufacturers and government before blaming retailers.

Still, the damage has been done, according to some analysts, despite Wal-Mart's efforts and Beijing's announcement last week that it will implement a new food and toy recall system to crack down on poor quality products and unlicensed manufacturers.

"It's a gigantic problem for both China and Wal-Mart," said Jack Trout, president of Trout & Partners, a marketing strategy firm based in Old Greenwich, Conn. "Wal-Mart is known for everyday low prices and China is known for making products cheaply, so they're both hoisted by their own petard. It's going to take a long time to turn this [negative perception] around."

The survey also shows that in the wake of the recalls, many consumers would now rather buy products manufactured in India than those produced in China. In key affected categories, such as pet food, 78% of respondents preferred that product be produced in India, compared to 74% citing prescription drugs and 73% for toys.

In only four of 25 categories did consumers prefer Chinese products: automobiles, cell phones, computers and flat screen televisions.

"This is a seismic shift in terms of marketing goods made in China," said William Lozito, president of Strategic Name Development.

Despite building a reputation for higher-quality products, the recalls have sent China back to its 1980s reputation for poorly made, cheap goods.

"It's a problem for brands that are inextricably linked with the 'Made in China' label," said Lozito. "The safety of products coming from China is a genuine, deeply embedded concern for consumers."

Trout added: "This isn't going away."

© 2007 VNU eMedia Inc. All rights reserved.

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Wal-Mart Paid Lobbyist $120,000

Associated Press
09.10.07                                            [back to top] 

WASHINGTON - Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, paid Patton Boggs LLP $120,000 to lobby the federal government in the first half of 2007, according to a recent disclosure form.

The firm lobbied on health care and tax reform, according to the form posted online Aug. 13 by the Senate's public records office.

Former Senator John Breaux, D-La., is among those registered to lobby on behalf of Wal-Mart (nyse: WMT - news - people ).

Under a federal law enacted in 1995, lobbyists are required to disclose activities that could influence members of the executive and legislative branches. They must register with Congress within 45 days of being hired or engaging in lobbying.

Wal-Mart is based Bentonville, Ark.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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Circuit City, Wal-Mart Join Crime-Fighting Database

TWICE                                     [back to top] 

WASHINGTON ' Circuit City and Wal-Mart are the latest retailers to join the Law Enforcement Retail Partnership Network (LERPnet), a secure national database that allows merchants to share information on organized retail crime with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies and with each other.

The Web-based program, launched in April, was developed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in collaboration with the National Retail Federation (NRF) and the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) to help retailers fight back against burglaries, robberies, counterfeiting and online auction fraud perpetrated by organized theft rings.

"Organized theft rings steal billions of dollars of merchandise every year, which victimizes retailers, endangers the safety of retail employees, and raises the price of consumer goods," said Joseph LaRocca, NRF's loss prevention VP.

According to NRF's 2006 Organized Retail Crime survey, 81 percent of retailers said they have been a victim of organized retail crime. The group's 2007 report, released last month, found that 71 percent of retailers have noticed an increase in criminal activity in the past 12 months, compared with 48 percent last year. The FBI estimates annual retail losses to organized retail theft at $30 billion.

Total retail shrinkage reached $41.6 billion in 2006, NRF reports.

The system, programmed by ABC Virtual of West Des Moines, Iowa, uses a secure Web interface for data entry, viewing and queries of incidents. Retailers can report information about suspects, getaway vehicles and identification numbers of stolen products, and can post photos and video footage to help law enforcement discern crime patterns.

Circuit City and Wal-Mart join a long list of participating retailers including GameStop, JCPenney, Kohl's, Macy's and Sears. The annual cost to participate is $1,200.

Copyright © 2007 Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Green Valley In Wal-Mart's Back Yard

Start-Ups Set Out to Sustain Giant's Eco-Friendly Focus

By Ylan Q. Mui
Washington Post 
Friday, September 7, 2007                                [back to top] 

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. Daniel Sanker has traveled to the most chic cities -- London, New York, Los Angeles -- as founder of the shipping and logistics firm CaseStack. But his quest to create a more sustainable business is taking him to the home turf of a company that is virtually synonymous with suburban sprawl: Wal-Mart.

Two years ago, the world's largest retailer set out on a mission to change that reputation by promising to transform itself into an eco-friendly business. It set wildly ambitious goals to create no waste, be supplied by renewable energy and sell more sustainable merchandise.

Critics have dismissed the effort as a public relations stunt designed to draw attention away from Wal-Mart's controversial labor and health-care policies. How successful Wal-Mart will be at greening itself remains to be seen. But there is little question that it already is reshaping its own back yard.

A wave of start-ups developing the technology to help suppliers prove their green credentials has swept into this sleepy college town, half an hour from the company's headquarters in Bentonville. Sanker is looking at ways to improve fuel efficiency in shipping. Others are developing agricultural-based alternatives to petroleum or studying how electronics can function at higher temperatures, thereby cutting energy use. The University of Arkansas has established the Applied Sustainability Center at the campus here using a $1.5 million grant from Wal-Mart.

It may seem an unlikely place for a green revolution, far from such traditional environmental strongholds as Portland and Seattle, but local officials hope Fayetteville will become to sustainability what Detroit is to the automotive industry and the Silicon Valley is to technology. In fact, they've coined their own term for the vision: Green Valley.

"We are driving a stake in the ground to become the center of the sustainability movement," Fayetteville Mayor Dan Coody said.

Wal-Mart's magnetic power has brought explosive growth to Bentonville and nearby Rogers. Scores of vendors who supply the merchandise for Wal-Mart's shelves -- from massive conglomerates like PepsiCo to smaller players like Sassy baby products -- have opened satellite offices in the region to keep up with their most important client. Construction cranes dot the landscape, and strip malls are clogged with traffic.

The effect has been less in Fayetteville, a progressive outpost in this largely conservative landscape. It is home to the University of Arkansas and boasts a walkable downtown, quaint coffee shops and an organic restaurant. Locals call residents of Bentonville and Rogers "Wal-Martians," while they scoff at the strict city ordinances and more liberal posturing of "Fayette-Nam."

Fayetteville's quirky personality is proving attractive to sustainable businesses. Eventually, the town may consider financial and tax incentives to help lure more green companies. But for now, news is spreading through word of mouth and Wal-Mart.

Arkansas "is called the Natural State," said Tom Muccio, founder of BioBased Technologies, which manufactures agricultural-based chemicals that can replace petroleum in the production of plastic. "I think now we have the opportunity to really bring that alive."

"The environmental community is really focused on Northwest Arkansas," said Jonathan L. Johnson, executive director of the university's Applied Sustainability Center. "There's a huge experiment going on here."

Critics argue that the big-box model of retailing is inherently unsustainable because it eats up large tracts of land and forces customers to drive long distances to run errands. A report released last week by Wal-Mart Watch, which is funded by the Service Employees International Union, estimated that the retailer's new stores will use more energy than can be saved through its current programs.

But some suppliers and local officials say they think Wal-Mart is serious and that being green is key to winning new business from the retailer. Coody recalled attending the screening of "An Inconvenient Truth," the environmental documentary featuring former vice president Al Gore, at Wal-Mart's home office last summer. At the event, Chief Executive H. Lee Scott Jr. told the audience of suppliers that the company would consider environmental impact when choosing products to sell. The crowd grew visibly tense.

"Everybody was looking around the room at each other going 'uh-oh,' " Coody said.

Such statements are spurring companies such as BioBased to move their headquarters to Fayetteville. Muccio has purchased a 20-acre site on Cato Springs Road in the southern part of town. Rust envisions the facility as anchoring the western end of a technology and research corridor along the road, which is now dotted by small single-family homes.

At the eastern end is a research and technology park owned by the University of Arkansas, where one of the buildings is a former pantyhose factory and another is the first structure in the state to be certified by the U.S. Green Building Council. Tenants include Arkansas Power Electronics International, a $2 million research and development firm that works on electronics systems; BioDetection Instruments, which helps find pathogens and chemicals in food; and Virtual Incubation, a venture capital firm focusing on green business.

The city has also adopted the philosophy. The mayor regularly rides an electric bike to work and is planning to build a solar-powered home. He appointed the town's first sustainability director, whose salary is paid by energy savings that he implements. All traffic signals have been outfitted with LED lighting, chopping $53,000 from the town's electrical bill.

"People recognize hypocrisy when they see it," Coody said. "We want to show people we're serious here."

Fayetteville isn't the only city hoping to turn green into greenbacks. This summer, San Bernardino and Riverside counties in Southern California launched their own Green Valley Initiative. The region hopes to attract environmentally friendly businesses and development and create sustainable neighborhoods. In Kentucky, Louisville partnered with a local school district and the University of Louisville to reduce energy costs and convert all educational facilities into green buildings. The Metro Mayors Caucus in Denver has developed strong policies on energy efficiency and consumer education for the more than 37 cities in the region.

Many of those areas have more technology companies and more venture capital. But they don't have Wal-Mart.

"Wal-Mart is so large that when Wal-Mart changes how it does business, most businesses have to come along," said Charles Fishman, author of "The Wal-Mart Effect." "This where the change is."

That's why Sanker moved his wife, Jane, and two sons from Santa Monica, Calif., to rural Fayetteville three weeks ago. They used to walk to Trader Joe's and shop at Nordstrom. Now, there are bales of hay lining the two-lane country road leading to their home.

Sanker is looking for office and warehouse space and anticipates he will hire as many as 100 people. He tried to get space in the research park on Cato Springs Road, but it was booked. He is betting his career and his family's future that Wal-Mart will live up to its promise -- and that Fayetteville will come out on top.

"It was just so much more dynamic than anything I've seen," Sanker said. "Maybe we're all crazy, but I don't think so."

© 2007 The Washington Post Company

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DHL wins Wal-Mart contract

New York Connection                        [back to top]  

DHL said it had won a new three-year contract with Wal-Mart that will nearly double its volume and revenue from the giant retailer. DHL provides ground and air service to the retailer. It will continue its exclusive specialty product repair and return delivery service for Wal-Mart, and has now been awarded specialty product transportation for Wal-Mart stores and Sam's Clubs nationwide. In addition, Wal-Mart has made DHL one of its primary carriers for its state transportation program for all outbound shipments from assigned states, including transportation between and among Wal-Mart retail stores, distribution centers and suppliers. DHL also continues its exclusive management of several customized services for Wal-Mart, including its optical product logistics, fulfilling major online floral distribution on holidays such as Valentine's and Mother's Day, and handling all express transportation from Wal-Mart mailroom distribution centers. Wal-Mart will make use of the DHL Optical Village, 3.5 million square feet of facilities near Columbus, Ohio, designed to meet the unique manufacturing, packaging, storage and distribution needs of lens and eye wear companies. All orders for eye glasses from Wal-Mart's four U.S. optical labs are transported to DHL's Optical Village, where they are sorted and packaged for each of its retail stores and then shipped for next day delivery.

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23 Organizations Issue Joint Report Critiquing Wal-Mart’s Sustainability Initiatives

Human rights, labor and environmental groups find Wal-Mart’s “green” initiatives lack real impact on global warming, employee health and welfare

The Cornacopia Institute                                    [back to top] 

Washington, DC—As Wal-Mart prepares to release its long-anticipated sustainability progress report, 23 environmental, farm, labor, and human rights groups have released their own report, “Wal-Mart’s Sustainability Initiative: A Civil Society Critique.”

The report, prepared by some of the country’s most respected public interest groups, includes sections on Wal-Mart’s specific commitments in seven product areas — organics, seafood, shrimp, forest products, cypress mulch, product packaging, and toxic chemicals — as well as sections on global warming and Wal-Mart’s international business practices. It argues that even if Wal-Mart achieved all of its stated goals, the company’s business model is inherently unsustainable.

This damning critique comes nearly two years after Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott announced a bold initiative to turn the world’s largest company green. However, as the report explains, “Wal-Mart’s claim that it will cut 20 million tons of greenhouse gases annually would be admirable if it weren’t for the fact that the company publicly acknowledged in 2006 that its global operations created 220 million tons of greenhouse gases every year. That’s more than 40 times the emissions the company says it would like to eliminate.”

In fact, Wal-Mart has used its massive political clout to support an anti-sustainability agenda in the U.S. Congress, the report reveals. According to report contributor Corporate Ethics International, two-thirds of Wal-Mart’s PAC campaign contributions in the last election went to candidates who earned failing grades from the League of Conservation Voters. “Wal-Mart claims to be a leader in the battle against global warming, yet it’s one of the largest contributors to politicians with the worst records on global warming,” says Michael Marx, Corporate Ethics International’s Executive Director.

Ultimately, the report contends that the mega-retailer’s “sustainability” agenda ignores the health and welfare of employees, customers, the environment and local economies both in the US and across the globe. “Wal-Mart can change to more efficient light bulbs, but that doesn’t change its carbon footprint or the enormous social consequences of its globally unsustainable business model. If we look at its practices internationally, Wal-Mart has used its market power to cut costs at the expense of workers and the environment across the developing world,” says report contributor Ruben Garcia of Global Exchange.

Wal-Mart is not only using an astronomically unsustainable amount of fuel in importing cheap goods from China into the US and Mexico, where it is a leading retailer, but it is also undermining local economies by refusing to source from local producers who are being cut out of the market.

“Wal-Mart officials claim to be concerned about sustainable livelihoods, but in reality, the company continues to squeeze workers and suppliers in a global ‘race to the bottom’ in wages, benefits and working conditions,” says Trina Tocco, coordinator of the Big Box Collaborative, which produced the report.

Ultimately, the report asks: “Can a company claim to be “sustainable” when it drives down wages, refuses wages to some 20,000 minors working in its Mexican stores, pays unsustainably low prices to its suppliers (leading to sweatshop conditions), drives local stores and markets out of business, and disregards the wishes of the communities where it establishes its stores?”

This report was coordinated by the Big Box Collaborative, and includes contributions from ActionAid International USA, Agribusiness Accountability Initiative, American Independent Business Alliance, American Rights at Work, Center for Health, Environment and Justice, Centro de Investigación Laboral y Asesoria Sindical (CILAS), The Cornucopia Institute, Corporate Ethics International, Dogwood Alliance, Environmental Investigation Agency, Food and Water Watch, Friends of the Earth, Good Jobs First, Global Exchange, Gulf Restoration Network, Institute for Policy Studies, International Labor Rights Forum, Mangrove Action Project, STITCH, WakeUpWalMart.com, Wal-Mart Alliance for Reform Now (WARN), and Washington State Jobs with Justice.

“As the nation’s largest grocer, Wal-Mart’s impact on the Earth’s environment is profound,” said Mark Kastel of The Cornucopia Institute, one of the reports contributors. “There is no action we take, as consumers, that has a more profound impact on the environment than our choice of food, and Wal-Mart’s dependence on imports and unsustainable factory farming is highly destructive.”

“Over the past month, hundreds of thousands of toys made in China and sold by Wal-Mart were recalled, because they contained elevated levels of lead. The report contends that Wal-Mart continues to sell toxic toys made out of vinyl containing phthalates, dangerous reproductive toxicants that have already been banned in Europe but are still sold in the United States. It’s time for Wal-Mart to stop toying around with our tots’ health and get the lead, phthalates, and other unnecessary toxic chemicals out,” said Lois Gibbs, Executive Director of the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, another report contributor.

“Wal-Mart’s cut-prices-at-all-costs business model is the very essence of the problem,” says co-author David Groves of the Environmental Investigation Agency. “The effects are exemplified in their wood products sourcing, where their demand for the cheapest timber available and refusal to ask where it came from, is contributing to illegal logging in many developing countries.”

“Women are not only the largest group of consumers at Wal-Mart,” says Beth Myers of STITCH, “they are also the largest group of employees – both in the stores and in the global factories that produce goods for Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart should have a special commitment to bettering the lives of women but instead chooses to use its unprecedented world-wide power to drive down women’s wages, support workplaces that ignore families, and create environmental conditions that negatively impact women’s health.”

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Walmart.com testing line of women's apparel

By Nicole Maestri
Reuters
2007-09-07                                          [back to top]  

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc is once again taking the plunge into trendy clothing for women -- and it's hoping for a better reception this time around.

Called z.b.d. design, the new clothing line is being tested by the world's largest retailer only on its Web site, after rocky attempts to sell hipper apparel in its brick and mortar stores.

The z.b.d line features items like a tweed trapeze jacket for $29.88, matching wide-leg tweed trousers for $22.88 and a puff-sleeve button down shirt for $16.88.

The move comes as Wal-Mart is trying to get its apparel sales back on track after efforts last year to compete with Target Corp and sell hipper clothes, like skinny jeans and velvet blazers, backfired with its shoppers, who were looking for basic, classic and affordable clothing.

That left it with heaps of unsold merchandise it was forced to markdown, hurting sales and margins.

"At this time, we are testing this offering only online at Walmart.com," a Walmart.com spokeswoman said. "We'll continue to evaluate this line of merchandise and gauge customer feedback over the coming months."

In its stores, Wal-Mart has reverted to the "basics" -- stocking items like T-shirts or shorts in a wide selection of colors and sizes that emphasize its low prices.

"Today, we are thinking very basic," Vice Chairman John Menzer said at a Goldman Sachs retail conference on Thursday. "If you look at our 3- to 5-year plan, there'll be some brands, some exclusive brands, some more private label.

"But we are just trying to get to basics, get our merchandise flow right and really drive the business."

Wal-Mart often sells different merchandise on its Web site than it does in its stores. It has said its online customers tend to have higher incomes than the customers who shop in its stores, which means some merchandise might be better suited for sale online.

It said it began testing the z.b.d. line in mid-August.

(c) Reuters 2007. All rights reserved.

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Wal-Mart Expects Higher Same-Store Sales

Associated Press
09.06.07                                                    [back to top] 

BENTONVILLE, Ark. - Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, said Thursday it expects same-store sales to rise in September.

For the five-week period ended Oct. 5, the company expects same-store sales to increase between 1 percent and 3 percent.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. 

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Wal-Mart Again Cuts Capital Goal

By KRIS HUDSON,
Wall Street Journal
September 6th, 2007                                        [back to top]

DALLAS -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. saw improvement last month in its beleaguered home-goods department, and the giant retailer anticipates its capital spending might amount to less this year than the $15.5 billion it has forecast.

John Menzer, Wal-Mart's vice chairman and chief administrative officer, said sales of merchandise in Wal-Mart's home-goods department, namely towels, bedding and plastic storage containers, perked up last month amid back-to-school shopping. "We had a turn in the domestics sales," Mr. Menzer said Thursday without providing specific figures. He spoke at a New York conference sponsored by Goldman Sachs.

Along with apparel, Wal-Mart's home-goods department has been a laggard for much of the past year as the retailer struggles to recover from its failed bid to entice trendy, fashion-conscious shoppers. In consequence, Wal-Mart anticipates it won't be finished unloading heavily-discounted merchandise in women's apparel until the end of its current fiscal quarter in late October and in home décor until early next year.

Wal-Mart, Bentonville, Ark., even reined in plans earlier this year to remodel home-goods departments in many of its U.S. stores, reasoning that the projects were too disruptive to shoppers and a drag on sales gains. Now, Wal-Mart is back to studying yet another new look and layout for its home-goods departments in a dozen stores, including one in Saddle Brook, N.J. "The early results are encouraging," Mr. Menzer said.

On another topic closely watched by investors, Wal-Mart now aims to spend less than the $15.5 billion it earmarked for this year's capital spending on building and expanding stores, among other projects, Mr. Menzer said. In June, Wal-Mart pared that forecast to $15.5 billion from $17 billion as it slashed by a third the number of stores it expects to add in the U.S. this year. Investors had pressured Wal-Mart to cut back on its relentless expansion in favor of bolstering the performance of its existing stores and buying back stock.

In curtailing its expansion, Wal-Mart is moving ahead first with the new stores that yield the best return on its spending. The retailer aims to spend less than its $15.5 billion budget by finding ways to cut its construction costs, among other things. "Our goal right now is to beat that number," Mr. Menzer said of the spending forecast.

Wal-Mart on Thursday announced August sales results that exceeded its forecast as well as those of most analysts. The retailer posted a 3.1% gain in sales at stores open for at least a year, excluding the impact of fuel sales. That result beat its prediction of a 1% to 2% gain for the month. Wal-Mart cited gains in sales of back-to-school merchandise, groceries and electronics.

Much of Wal-Mart's momentum last month came from its renewed focus on slashing prices. The retailer imposed "rollbacks" -- or long-term price reductions -- on 20% more products since May than it had in the same period last year. Mr. Menzer indicated the rollback program will remain at that level rather than expanding as Wal-Mart enters the holiday season.

Another positive sign from last month: Wal-Mart shoppers seemed less short of cash at the end of August than they were a month earlier. Wal-Mart had cited a "pronounced paycheck cycle" in July, meaning that shoppers clustered their spending around paydays at the 1st and 15th of the month and spent less at month's end. In that regard, "August was not as steep a cliff as was July," Mr. Menzer said.

Wal-Mart, which operates more than 7,000 stores globally, posted sales of $345 billion last year and is expected to log sales of nearly $378 billion this year. Wal-Mart's stock closed Thursday at $42.76, up 31 cents, or .7%, in trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

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Report criticizes retailer’s methods

BY STEVE PAINTER 
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Thursday, September 6, 2007                               [back to top]

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. ’s lowcost, low-price business model leads to environmental damage, sweatshop conditions at suppliers’ factories and loss of jobs in communities, a coalition of labor, environment and community groups says in a report scheduled for release today.

The Big Box Collaborative, an umbrella organization encompassing two dozen groups, singles out the world’s largest retailer for business practices it says result in more harm than good.

“They’re the biggest so obviously they have the most impact,” Trina Tocco, the group’s coordinator, said in a telephone interview.

“If Wal-Mart is serious about being sustainable, they need to be serious about what sustainability really is,” said Tocco, who works for the Washington-based International Labor Rights Forum.

“Sustainability” has been a buzzword at Bentonvillebased Wal-Mart since 2005, when company President and Chief Executive Officer H. Lee Scott outlined plans to reduce packaging and energy use in its operations and to promote such environmentally friendly products as compact fluorescent light bulbs.

Dave Tovar, a Wal-Mart spokesman, said the company is seriously striving to achieve its environmental goals and is working with suppliers to con- serve resources.

“Judge us by our actions. We feel like we’re making progress. We’re just beginning to scratch the surface of what we’re capable of,” he said.

Wal-Mart has no intention of changing its low-cost business model, Tovar said.

“We know it’s tough right now and Americans are looking for us to provide the best value,” he said.

Among the groups in the 2-year-old Big Box Collaborative are environmental groups Friends of the Earth and the Sierra Club; Cornucopia Institute, which promotes small-scale organic farming; the businesssubsidy watch group Good Jobs First; and organized labor-focused groups American Rights at Work and WakeUpWalMart. com.

On its Web site, Big Box Collaborative says that “while Wal-Mart is the initial primary focus of this campaign, members of the collaborative also include organizations that focus on Target, Costco, Home Depot and Tesco.” All of those companies are large retailers. Tesco PLC is the United Kingdom’s largest retailer and is preparing to enter the U. S. market. Among the report’s other points: The company’s supply chain creates more than 40 times the emissions the firm says it is aiming to eliminate Wal-Mart relies on a shrimp industry-financed group to verify that its suppliers are using the best aquaculture practices. The company sells cypress mulch, which is leading to destruction of some Gulf cypress forests that provide protection against storm surge. Wal-Mart uses its clout with overseas factories to force price concessions and thus brings about worse working conditions for people already working long hours for low pay.

Copyright © 2001-2007 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Wal-Mart, DHL In 3-Year Air Express/Ground Shipping Pact

Lauren Pollock
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
September 06, 2007                                         [back to top] 

DHL Worldwide Express Inc. signed a new three-year agreement with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) to provide the retailer with air express and ground shipping in the U.S.

The new contract nearly doubles the volume and revenue generated through their previous agreement. Further financial terms of the pact weren't disclosed.

DHL, a unit of Deutsche Post World Net, will also continue managing Wal-Mart's optical product logistics program, fulfilling online holiday floral distributions and handling all express transportation from Wal-Mart mailroom distribution centers.

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Robert Reich Lambastes `Supercapitalism,' Goes Easy on Wal-Mart

By James Pressley
Bloomberg
Sept. 5                                                       [back to top] 

Robert Reich's latest contribution to the U.S. political debate, ``Supercapitalism,'' captures a dilemma that nags at many citizens these days.

We love our Chinese TVs, our Exxon Mobil Corp. dividends and the specials at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Yet we fret over communist abuses, global warming and shuttered shops on Main Street.

``The awkward truth is that most of us are of two minds,'' writes Reich, who served as labor secretary under U.S. President Bill Clinton. ``As consumers and investors we want the great deals. As citizens we don't like many of the social consequences that flow from them.''

The tension between capitalism and democracy has become a recurrent theme in our age of anxious plenty. It surfaces in books as different as H.W. Brands's history of the U.S. dollar, ``The Money Men,'' and Benjamin R. Barber's ``Consumed,'' which argues that markets ``swallow citizens whole.''

Reich puts things in context with a crisp history of how capitalism evolved over the past 30 years into something that enriches us yet makes it harder to reach common goals. He calls this ``supercapitalism,'' a clunky name for a useful concept.

Baby boomers often assume that capitalism depends on democracy, even though China's sizzling economy suggests otherwise. So Reich rightly begins by describing the remarkable balance the two forces struck in the U.S. after World War II.

`Not Quite Golden Age'

Between 1945 and 1975, roughly, the U.S. combined a productive economic system with an admired political system, he explains. Mass production generated both profits and jobs. Wage agreements spread the wealth, allowing more people to buy cars and other consumer goodies. This happened partly, Reich says, because oligopolies colluded to maintain output, prices and pay.

In this ``Not Quite Golden Age,'' he says, ``most people enjoyed more security and stability, and a larger share of the nation's income, than they ever had before or ever would again.''

This system splintered thanks to technologies developed during the Cold War, Reich says. Transportation and communication costs plunged as vacuum tubes, manual switchboards and shipping crates gave way to integrated circuits, automated switches and steel containers easily shifted from ship to train or truck.

Global supply chains and fiercer competition followed -- empowering consumers and investors to get better deals. Soon, Americans were driving Toyotas and loading up on Chinese-made microwave ovens. It was ``a Faustian bargain,'' Reich says.

Don't Blame Wal-Mart

We can't blame chief executives, he says: They're just doing what we ask. If politicians really want Wal-Mart's H. Lee Scott Jr. to provide better wages and benefits, they should change the rules, says Reich, a professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley. (He himself favors a higher minimum wage and universal health care.)

What hinders us? The book here doglegs into a discussion of how corporate money has corrupted decision-making in Washington. As companies lost their pricing power, everyday politics became ``dominated by corporations seeking competitive advantage,'' Reich writes. They're locked in a lobbying ``arms race.''

An obvious solution is to pass a law stanching the flow. Yet Reich is too versed in the ways of K Street to suggest that Congress would readily agree. No, genuine reform will only come if citizens demand it, he says.

One might imagine from this that Reich plans a march on Washington. Guess again. He instead urges citizens to see through ``mythologies'' that blur the border between the public sector and the private sector, notably the notion that corporations are people who pay taxes and deserve political representation.

To that end, Reich proposes abolishing corporate income tax. Companies don't really pay this tax, he notes; shareholders, consumers and employees do.

Though his reasoning is admirable, it deflates his balloon. As a rallying cry, ``Ban Corporate Taxes'' lacks the populist ring of ``Throw the Bums Out.''

``Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy and Everyday Life'' is published by Knopf (272 pages, $25).

(James Pressley writes for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)

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How to build whatever you want

To shove that project past the local opposition, just follow these easy steps

By Garret Keizer
Los Angeles Times
September 5, 2007                            [back to top]

Progress without strategy is regress. Time and again a new Wal-Mart or airport runway that would enable investors to make as much money as they want or consumers to travel twice as often from here to there is stalled by the Taliban mentalities of local resistance. Fortunately for America and its future, a formula exists whose careful application seldom fails. It deserves to be better known. Here it is.

Delay announcing your development for as long as possible. Never underestimate the element of surprise. This is not merely a matter of catching your opponents off-guard. Most people have an entrenched fatalism, as evidenced by the number of lottery tickets they buy. To give the appearance of a fait accompli is to take on the authority of fate. It was bound to happen. Whatcha gonna do?

Never lose an opportunity to outlast your opponents by outspending them. If there's a formal approval process, do everything in your power to prolong it. Amend your proposal. Reschedule your testimony. The new paradigm of "let them eat cake" is "let them hold a bake sale" -- again and again.

Exploit local divisions. Learn from history. Tribal animosities helped win the West. They're what turned Pontiac into a hood ornament, what put Tecumseh in front of a cigar store. Most communities are marked by fault lines of culture and class, envy and resentment. Develop a nose for these. Because the more articulate members of your opposition are likely to be better educated than some of their neighbors, it will help to pass yourself off as a common man. Wear jeans to informational meetings. Shoot things.

Ingratiate yourself with the local authorities. Politics is largely a spectator sport, and most people are too harried even to be spectators. As for those in public office, they tend to be overextended, underappreciated and blithely out of their depth. Get on their good side. Appeal to their latent entrepreneurial aspirations. We're men of the world, you're men of the world. We look at things the same way.

Lobby for tax cuts. Declaim without ceasing about the fragile nature of profitability. This might seem like a losing proposition -- but only if you forget the prevailing public mood. Taxes don't benefit people; taxes benefit the government, or gov'nmint, as the case may be. Just as the ordinary person would like to keep more of his or her earnings, so would you. That the ordinary person might be able to do that very thing if you were to pay your fair share of the tax burden is a point too subtle for most ordinary persons to grasp. It's what makes them ordinary.

Wherever possible, cloak yourself in rectitude. Should your project permit any connection, however tenuous, to national security, global warming or the free flow of commerce, express that connection as a patriotic imperative. Drive home the point that the challenges facing America -- nay, the globe -- demand big solutions that only big money can provide.

Promise jobs. Promise that more people will soon be able to make a living in a place where no people in their right minds will soon want to live. Of course you will inevitably need to import or outsource your key personnel, but be sure to hire at least one local person off the bat. He or she should not necessarily be the sharpest tack in the box. What you want people thinking is this: "If that bozo could get a job before the operation was even up and running, think of the opportunities awaiting someone like me." Keep thinking, Einsteins.

Buy out as many of your opponents as you can. There are always a few Alamo types, but most homeowners live with one eye on the door. Everybody has a dream, almost everybody has a price, and virtually nobody is completely happy where he is. You need to turn that truth into an epiphany. Be sure that any buyouts include the contractual forfeiture of the right to speak out against the project, its functionaries, their practices or their pets. Remember that a person who sells out is motivated first by greed and later by guilt, both being highly susceptible to manipulation.

Never miss an opportunity to demean "the aesthetic," "the subjective," the wee and worthless creatures that scurry over the leaves or within the human breast. Bambi belongs in Disneyland. Quiet nights went out with the Conestoga wagon. In the English language, "precious" can mean either priceless or silly. Your job is to make sure it always means both.

Along those same lines, insist on the primacy of expertise over experience. For example, noise is not something people hear; it's something experts measure. You're not even dead unless a doctor says so. What untrained people claim to see and hear is moot. They also see and hear UFOs. Reliance on experts may seem to clash with your professed role as regular guy, but only if you blur this crucial distinction: Your experts are the cross you have to bear to do business. Their experts are the flakes who'd like to put you out of business.

There's the program in a nutshell. Old neighborhoods, small towns, obscure ecosystems, faint sounds and soft murmurs of the heart -- these will always inspire nostalgia, and that's the whole point. They should. They're worthless till they're gone. Making them go is the grand story of America, and you can be part of that story simply by mastering the basic elements of the plot.

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Wal-Mart on stage

Andrew Clark 
Guardian
Wednesday September 5, 2007                                           [back to top]

Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, has failed to see the funny side of a musical about its global dominance, which began an off-Broadway theatrical run in New York this week. Walmartopia is an all-singing, all-dancing account of the US in 2037. The capital has moved from Washington to Wal-Mart's home town of Bentonville, Arkansas, and the famously liberal state of Vermont is the only bastion of democracy. The play depicts the struggle of a Wal-Mart worker and her teenage daughter to get by on low wages and minimal healthcare cover.

Catherine Capellaro, a co-writer, said: "It's satirical, it's fun and it has campy sci-fi elements. But we really wanted to ground it in what it's like to be a Wal-Mart worker and what it's like to make a living in retail in this day and age."

The musical follows one in Houston about the collapse of Enron, while the Edinburgh Festival featured two rival productions about Tony Blair.

The firm is unimpressed, possibly because of a scene with the disembodied head of its revered founder, Sam Walton. A spokesman called it "a futuristic musical that isn't based in fact."

Wal-Mart, which owns Britain's Asda, has 1.8 million employees and annual sales of $351bn (£175bn), ranking it as the biggest firm in the US by sales. It has been accused of bias against unions, women and older staff.

Theatre critics have sided with the multinational. The New York Times sniffed that it was "tired on arrival".

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Opposition building to new Wal-Mart store

By Elisabeth Johns,
Cornwall Standard-Freeholder
September 4th, 2007                                    [back to top]

A Cornwall city councillor is helping to petition regarding a proposed new shopping centre development which could include an expanded Wal-mart store.

"In a way (Wal-Mart) symbolizes a company that puts profits over people all the time," said Elaine Mac Donald?, who is also the president of the Cornwall and District Labour Council.

Mac Donald? and federal NDP candidate Darlene Jalbert were busy passing around a petition against bringing another Wal-Mart into the community at the Labour Day festivities on Monday. "When one store was unionized in Quebec, they shut it down rather than have a union," Mac Donald? said.

Jalbert added that if the company "spent as much on employees as they do fighting labour and unions, we'd welcome them." The two activists aren't the only ones who are opposed to the potential superstore.

A group of residents, about 15 homeowners on Tollgate Road and Martha Avenue - where the proposed development is believed to be built - say the future centre could lead to increased traffic noise and light pollution, as well as decreased home values in the neighbourhood.

A number of business owners have also joined forces to oppose a mega centre from developing in the city's east end.

Jo Ann Langstaff, the chair of the downtown business improvement area, said she doesn't understand why a new Wal-Mart needs to open in the city.

The city's population, she added, is stagnant and it doesn't make sense to close down the Wal-Mart that's already at the Brookdale Centre and open a new one much farther away.

She's concerned that closure will lead to a domino effect of closures of all the stores and restaurants on Brookdale Avenue.

"The whole area looks nice, it's a busy centre . . . what is it going to look like?" she asked, wondering if they will be faced with desolate and boarded up stores and restaurants on the once busy street if the proposed development moves business away from Brookdale Avenue.

This is why she and other business owners have gotten together, including Scott Lecky, who owns the Ramada Inn on Brookdale, and Bruce Maynard, who owns Maynard's Your Independent Grocer. "I've been told for every time a Wal-Mart Superstore comes into town, three grocery stores close," Langstaff said.

The Wal-Mart Superstore combines its regular department store with a grocery store.

Smart Centres, a company which operates 175 shopping centres coast to coast, filed a rezoning application with the city about two months ago to build a 415,000-sq.-ft. big box shopping centre at the northwest corner of Brookdale and Tollgate Road.

According to the information that accompanied the application, the proposed development would be anchored by a 220,000-sq.-ft. Wal-Mart store which would replace the existing Wal-Mart outlet on Brookdale Avenue.

The proposed Wal-Mart would be about the same size as the entire East Court Mall.

Jeannette Ouimet, who is one of the residents opposed to the proposed Wal-Mart opening up on Tollgate Road, said she was also concerned about the local businesses.

Not against development

"We're not against the economic development of the city," she said. "We just don't think this is the right location."

Officials with Wal-Mart could not be reached on the holiday, however, a spokesperson for the company told the Associated Press in an interview in June when the company was criticized for being anti-unionist, that "Wal-Mart creates thousands of jobs, offers competitive wages and provides leadership on environmental sustainability."

In Canada, Wal-Mart operates more than 280 discount retail outlets, superstores and other branded department stores, and employs more than 70,000 people.

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'WALMARTOPIA'

Attention, Shoppers: Anguish in Aisle 4

By CARYN JAMES
nytimes.com
September 4, 2007                             [back to top]

THEATER REVIEW

³Walmartopia,² a time-traveling musical satire about the cultish power of big corporations, is meant for an upscale audience that would never set foot in a Wal-Mart (even if there were any in New York City). Everyone gets the point, though, because Wal-Mart has become an all-purpose symbol of corporate venality, which means that this play takes its scattershot aim at the easiest of targets. Its concept ‹ the Wal-Martization of the world ‹ seems tired on arrival.

A mother and her teenage daughter, tragically underpaid Wal-Mart employees, sing about their dreams. ³My baby girl, there¹s something better for us in this world,² the mother sings. She is afraid to talk back to her superiors, while the angry daughter sees that they are being exploited, but this intriguing generational conflict goes nowhere.

Instead the show (by Catherine Capellaro and Andrew Rohn) brings on a mad scientist with a time machine and takes a leap ahead to 2037, where the disembodied head of Sam Walton hovers on a video screen and ³Walmartopia² becomes an unfortunate collision of Wal-Mart and Orwell. In this future only Vermont, vilified as the land of terrorist hippies, stands free of Wal-Mart¹s domination.

It¹s no coincidence that this power-to-the-workers musical opened last night, on Labor Day. But its earnest heart fits uneasily with such blunt attempts at satire. And the musical numbers are an uninspired pastiche of styles, from a Peter Allen-ish conga line to a bit of gospel.

The redeeming feature is Cheryl Freeman, who gives an engaging performance as the mother; her big, emotional voice even overcomes the banal pop ballads that she is saddled with. Among the lively cast members, most in multiple roles, there are standout comic performances from John Jellison as a villainous executive, Scooter Smiley, and Stephen DeRosa as the scientist, Dr. Normal. (These two have a lovely duet and dance together.)

But the show, which began its life in Wisconsin several years ago and made its way to last year¹s New York International Fringe Festival, arrives in this revamped version as a genial grab bag of lost satirical opportunities.

³Walmartopia² continues at the Minetta Lane Theater, 18 Minetta Lane, Greenwich Village; (212) 307-4100.

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Anti-Wal-Mart play opens in New York

By Jonathan Birchall ,
Financial Times
September 4th, 2007                              [back to top]

It happened to Eva Peron, to the works of Victor Hugo, and to the state of Oklahoma. Now it's happened to Wal-Mart, the low-cost retailer from Arkansas.

Walmartopia, a two-hour musical comedy dedicated to the retailer and its workers, opened this weekend at the Minetta Theatre in New York's Greenwich village. The two-hour show's initial performances have been filling the 399-seat "off-Broadway" theatre but with songs such as Consume and American Dream and lyrics such as Oh joy, another day praying to the Smiley god, Walmartopia is unlikely to have the corporate ranks in Bentonville dancing in the aisles.

The plot and music tell the story of Vicki and Maia Latrell, a mother and daughter who grow disenchanted when a less experienced male is promoted over Vicki's head.

They find themselves catapulted 30 years into the future by a time machine that has already brought back the talking head of Sam Walton, Wal-Mart's founder. In 2037, the retailer is running schools and prisons and waging war against the recalcitrant anti-Wal-Mart residents of Vermont.

Catherine Capellaro, the author of the musical's dialogue and plot, says the musical's first objective is to provide "fun time". But with extensive references to Wal-Mart's anti-union stance and to the class action suit that accuses the retailer of discrimination against women workers, Walmartopia is clearly a musical with a message.

"We are also trying to say something about what is going on . . . when one corporation has so much control and when corporations in general have such a reach into government," she says.

It is not the first time Wal-Mart has inspired political artistic criticism in New York, one of the few US cities not to have a branch of the retailer. Last year's Art Parade on the trendy Lower East Side was led by supposedly pro-Wal-Mart protesters wearing its characteristic blue vests, chanting ironic slogans such as "No Way but Sam's way" in an event organised by Bob Snead, a local performance artist.

Wal-Mart also featured in a show last year including work by Zoe Sheehan Saldaña, who created six handmade versions of shirts she had bought from a Wal-Mart in Connecticut, attached Wal-Mart labels and price tags and slipped them surreptitiously on to the store's racks.

Ms Capellaro and Andrew Rohn, the musical's composer, who describe themselves as a wife and husband team, say they have not received any funding from the unions who have led the anti-Wal-Mart movement in the US, although the UFCW has booked out the theatre for one night's performance this week.

In a theatrical twist, Wal-Mart itself adopted its own agit-prop musical strategy at its annual meeting last year, when some 20,000 of its top associates witnessed a specially commissioned musical including numbers such as The Day that I met Sam, and underlining its push to get customers to use its stores for more than just basics.

Ms Capellaro says Wal-Mart itself has not complained about the use of its trademark name tags, Smiley face and employee vests. The retailer has instead stressed that the musical, like the Phantom of the Opera, is fiction, while Wal-Mart's low prices are real.

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HHS Secretary to Visit Orlando Wal-Mart Supercenter on Import Safety

PR Newswire
09.04.07                                                   [back to top]

As part of a fact-finding tour to gather information on how the U.S. can enhance the safety of imported products, HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt and FDA Commissioner Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach will visit a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Orlando.

Wal-Mart has recently implemented enhanced toy safety efforts to give parents additional reassurance as the holidays approach. During a tour of the toy, baby connection, pharmacy, and produce departments, the Secretary and Commissioner will hear more about Wal-Mart's new supplier-to-shelf safety program.

On July 18, 2007 President Bush asked Secretary Leavitt to chair a working group focused on promoting the safety of imported products. The group is conducting an across-the-board review looking at all consumer products imported from many different countries and will report back to the President with a strategic framework by September 17, 2007. This Orlando visit is one of many the Secretary has led over the last six weeks to gather information for the report.

Media are invited to participate in the tour and will have the opportunity to ask questions of the Secretary and Commissioner at a press availability following the tour.

WHEN: Thursday, September 6, 2007 12 p.m. Secretary Leavitt and Commissioner von Eschenbach tour site (media welcome to join) 12:45 p.m. Media Availability (NOTE: media should arrive before 11:45 a.m.) WHERE: Wal-Mart Supercenter Store #4332 8990 Turkey Lake Road Orlando, FL 32819

CREDENTIALED PRESS, PLEASE ARRIVE BEFORE 11:45AM AT THE FOOD ENTRANCE TO THE STORE (LEFT SIDE FACING STORE)

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Clinton Stumps for Giving, Ignores Misdeeds of Bush, Wal-Mart

By Charles Taylor
Bloomberg                                                   [back to top] 

Sept. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Bill Clinton's ``Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World'' is less a book than a stump speech, an extended argument for the ripple effect of benevolent acts, whether of money, time, expertise or talent.

Clinton's approach is reminiscent of his State of the Union addresses: Bring up a problem, then introduce someone who has faced it or significantly addressed it. So we get vignettes about Bill and Melinda Gates on the one hand, and on the other about Oseola McCarty, the Mississippi washerwoman who saved $150,000 over 75 years and used it to endow an African-American scholarship fund.

Though Clinton mostly highlights people with visionary goals, his purpose is to emphasize that nearly everyone has something to contribute.

But laudable goals don't necessarily make for good reading, and ``Giving'' is, sad to say, a very dull book. Although Clinton writes in his introduction that he's tried not to sound like a policy wonk, that's what he does sound like. There's no trace of the barn-burner speeches he's capable of in person.

And in one area he's simply unbelievable. Celebrating Wal- Mart's attempts to go green while relegating the company's unfair labor practices to an aside ignores the disastrous effect those practices have had on communities, small businesses, the economy and the environment.

Yet the assumptions behind the book are fascinating.

Circumventing Bureaucracy

Clinton is about as far as you can get from an antigovernment voice. (Think of his brilliant 1995 speech linking right-wing government-is-the-enemy rhetoric to Timothy McVeigh's act of terrorism in Oklahoma City.) But he also understands that the response to an urgent situation must not be tied up in government bureaucracy. That may be why he devotes only one chapter, the last, to government's role in giving.

The point is to keep readers from feeling their contributions might be too small to offer, or problems too huge to confront.

Clinton's instinctive pragmatism is on full display when he turns to the subject of corporate giving. He doesn't so much focus on moral responsibility as appeal to big-business egos: CEOs are always looking to burnish their images.

Most significant, time and again he talks about bipartisanship -- as in Bono's persuading Jesse Helms to support African debt relief, or in his own teaming up with George H.W. Bush to work for the victims of Katrina. He assumes that eliminating disease, eradicating poverty and creating educational opportunities are issues that cut across party lines and that bipartisanship is the only way anything will get done.

Christian Environmentalists

Others seem to be reaching the same conclusion, like the socially conservative evangelicals who are starting to speak out against the dangers of global warming (a natural cause for Christians who consider humanity the steward of God's handiwork).

There's something bracing about a book that preaches the moral duty of giving at a time when a selfish and narcissistic administration has asked its citizens to sacrifice their sons and daughters but not to give up anything that might make those soldiers safer.

Troops need armor, yet we've seen no scrap drives of the World War II variety. This administration has proposed nothing in the way of civilian service programs that might provide some comfort to soldiers during their tours of duty.

The failing auto factories in Detroit haven't been converted to wartime production. The cost of the war escalates, yet the wealthy got tax breaks. We are dependent on oil from the most volatile region of the world, but there has been no serious talk of gas rationing.

And here's Bill Clinton, not only talking about sacrifice but talking to -- and acting in concord with -- his political foes, at a time when each side has declared the other not worth talking to. This mundane book, which suggests nothing of its author's magnetism or dynamism, does hint at ways that a viable politics might once again be practiced in America.

``Giving'' is published by Knopf (240 pages, $24.95).

(Charles Taylor is a critic for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)

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Wal-Mart Names New Foundation Head

PRNewswire-FirstCall
September 4, 2007                          [back to top]

BENTONVILLE, Ark., Sept. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. today announced that Margaret A. McKenna has been named the new president of the Wal-Mart Foundation and will be charged with taking the company's corporate giving to a greater level of impact and excellence. Margaret joins Wal-Mart after a long career in the public and non-profit sectors, and having recently resigned as the president of Lesley University after more than two decades of service. Wal-Mart last year gave more than $270 million to support its 4,000-plus U.S.-based communities and has been recognized by the Chronicle of Philanthropy as the largest cash contributor in America. The majority of Wal-Mart's giving occurs at the local level as each Wal-Mart store, Sam's Club, Neighborhood Market and distribution center is empowered to support the issues and causes that are important to their neighborhoods.

"Margaret McKenna has a proven track record in leading organizations to achieve their goals and managing programs that have a positive impact on communities," said Leslie Dach, executive vice president of Corporate Affairs and Government Relations for Wal-Mart. "We are proud of our many accomplishments in the area of corporate giving, and we're ready to take the Wal-Mart Foundation to the next level of effectiveness by strengthening our strategic focus and the impact of our giving. We are confident that Margaret is the person to lead us to achieve this goal."

During her tenure as President of Lesley University, Margaret led the transformation of the institution from a small college with 2,000 students to a 12,000-student university with a national presence. Today the institution is one of the premier teacher training universities in America with 150 locations in 23 states -- making it the largest provider of graduate education in the country. Under her leadership, the university's endowment increased from $2 million to more than $90 million, the number of academic facilities doubled, and undergraduate education was transformed with the addition of the Art Institute of Boston and initiation of coeducation.

Prior to her role at Lesley, Margaret served as Vice President of Radcliffe, Deputy Counsel in the White House and a Civil Rights lawyer in the U.S. Department of Justice. She has served on multiple Boards of Directors for both non-profit and for-profit organizations, and is currently a board member for: the Cisco Learning Institute, Massachusetts Workforce Investment, Teacher Education Accreditation Council, Council on Higher Education Administration, Boston Chamber of Commerce and Dominion Resources, Inc., among others. Margaret is the author of several publications, the most recent in the latest issue of the New England Journal of Public Policy. She is also the recipient of numerous awards and honors from civic, educational and civil rights organizations, and holds seven Honorary Degrees.

Charitable contributions from Wal-Mart enhance opportunities for individuals and families to live better by supporting initiatives in education, economic opportunity, the environment, and health and human services.

"The presence of Wal-Mart stores throughout this country, along with the commitment of the company to philanthropy, creates unparalleled opportunities for significant positive impact in the lives of countless individuals and families," said Margaret. 

Copyright 2007 PR Newswire

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Wal-Mart to Open 28 New Units in Brazil This Year

Brazil Magazine
Tuesday, 04 September 2007                           [back to top]

The Wal-Mart Brazil supermarket chain will invest 400 million reais (US$ 203.8 million) in northeast Brazil before the end of this year. The funds will be invested in the opening of 19 new stores, which will create 2,500 direct jobs. The information was supplied by Vicente Trius, CEO at Wal-Mart Brazil.

Of the new units,