When Walmart enters a new city or town, something called the Walmart effect starts to occur. A new Walmart will cause local businesses to close, destroys jobs, thus creating fewer jobs for people. Walmart drives down wages for workers at competing local business and increases taxpayers costs. It causes the middle class to drecrease as well as increases pollution. In Maine, during the year 2001, retailers sales of apparel dropped by 28%, hardware dropped 20%, and specialty store sales dropped 17%. This occured just within a few years of Walmart entering their various communties. Another terrible effect of Walmart is their various abandoned stores. Most of Walmart's stores are almost two times the size of the average discount store. This makes these unoccupied stores too large for new store owners to be able to afford and occupy. Walmart is so powerful, it has the ability to destroy a whole community with just one store.
Here is a link to the book "The Wal-Mart Effect" by Charles Fishman:
http://books.google.com/books?id=oq2pgMztlzsC&pg=PA20&lpg=PA20&dq=how+does+walmart+affect+our+economy&source=bl&ots=UPZ1qDkHFL&sig=B4VskD5jYX6LsWe8DU7mSDWtjJU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=dumDUZzLOsPZqgGP2YD4Dg&ved=0CE8Q6AEwBQ
Works Cited:
"Walmart’s Impact on America’s Economy, Environment, and Communities." Local 881
UFCW. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 May 2013.
"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:." Google Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 May 2013.
Kurtzleben, Danielle. "Walmart Struggles to Overcome Environmental Criticism." US
News. U.S.News & World Report, 20 Apr. 2012. Web. 08 May 2013.
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