Mega Retail Chains: Are “They” Really All That Bad?

Editor’s Note: An interesting discussion about supporting local business to improve the domestic jobs market vs. the necessity for some Americans to shop at mega-retail chains as a result of low-income or no-income. As was noted in the comments published at Ozmites, “Microcosmically, when we look at it from the eyes of a struggling American and short-term immediate benefits, Walmart-style retail shops are a necessity. The problem of course, is that on a macrocosmic level, every single dollar we spend further increases the influence of foreign manufacturing. Every time we buy a shirt, toy, or food (yes, nowadays even apples are imported from China) we are essentially promoting the expansion of the labor force in these foreign countries as we shift capital (the only vote that counts these days!) from here to there. Slowly but surely we are transferring our wealth, labor and manufacturing outside of the USA.”

It’s a difficult dialogue to be sure, and one that seemingly has no simple solution given the economic state of affairs in America and the effects it has had on the tens of millions of poverty stricken.

Excerpted via Ozmites:

When we encourage folks to spend locally, what we really mean is to stop (or at least curtail) shopping at the large, national chain stores. But, are they really that bad?

Well, there are plenty of stats that clearly support the benefits of spending locally. Most obviously is the fact that, on average, 3 times the amount of money you spend stays in your community when you spend at a local business than if you spend at a national chain store. But, does this make the chains bad? Not necessarily. There are certainly people within every community for whom the benefits of the large, one-stop shop chains outweigh the drawbacks.

A person on a fixed, low income wage, who has no car and must rely on public transportation greatly benefits in the immediate present when they shop at a store like Wal-Mart. It’s cheaper. They don’t have to spend an entire day (or more) running from store to store in order to acquire all of the goods they need. The Wal-Marts of the world know this; they put their stores on high traffic bus routes, and in other easily accessible high traffic areas. In fact, many of the people who shop in these stores work in them as well, often for the same reasons.

Ironically, this leads us back to the need for stores like Wal-Mart by people on fixed, low-income wages.

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