Local stores have an increased risk of going out of business when located near a new Walmart. As soon as a Walmart is established in a city or a town, small businesses cannot afford to stay open, causing many local stores to have to shut down, meaning fewer jobs. By March 2008, 82 out of 306 small businesses went out of business after the opening of one Walmart in September 2006. Walmart is a huge job killer. They kill three local jobs for every two jobs they creat at their store openings, which in effect, reduces retail employment in every county they enter by 2.7%. Local businesses are much better for our cities and towns because they keep more consumer dollars in our local economy whereas Walmart sends most of theirs out. For every $100 spent in locally owned businesses, $68 stayed in the local economy. But for every $100 spent at Wal-mart, only $43 was left to re-circulate locally.
Works Cited:
"New Study: Wal-Mart Means Fewer Jobs, Less Small Businesses, More Burden on
Taxpayers." NYC Public Advocate. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 May 2013.
"The Wal-Mart Effect: Poison or Antidote for Local Communities? - Fedgazette - Publications
& Papers | The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis." The Wal-Mart Effect: Poison or
Antidote for Local Communities? - Fedgazette - Publications & Papers | The Federal
Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 May 2013.