I’ve contended before that many local businesses can do very well alongside Walmart, and will weather an expansion of our current Walmart, store number 1274 of that retail chain. I can safely say this, because in towns across America with Walmarts, there are other businesses, too. They co-exist. Consumers should be able to make choices between different merchants, including a larger Walmart. I have no doubt they’ll typically make the right decisions for their circumstances.
Walmart sells goods from all over, and many of their products are made in China and Pacific rim countries, or other places abroad.
About local merchants, I’d say that I frequent those local businesses that offer unique goods or unmatched services. There are many local merchants like this. While I don’t believe that one should pay more for an item simply because a merchant is local, there are many reasons to pay a merchant for his or her superior product or service.
I don’t consider that merely paying more, but paying the right price for a better product, and better guidance and suggestions about its use. When one goes to a proper restaurant, one does so for a better quality of food, and superior service. I wouldn’t say that a fine restaurant is simply more, but rather it’s the right price for its superior offering.
Fresh produce is like that, too — it may be more expensive than something frozen, but it’s not ‘more expensive’ than the market price for fresh fish, meats, and vegetables. On the contrary, the price for sale is likely to be the market-clearing price for fresh fish, meats, and vegetables.
In a world of Walmart and smaller merchants, consumers can decide for themselves where to shop, and for what products. I would not make that choice for them, through government intervention; I’d leave it to each person to decide for himself or herself. I am wholly opposed to government’s efforts to pick winners, to favor some consumer outcomes over others.. I have, and will, continue to shop selectively.
I would note, however, that Walmart 1274 is local to many people here, including many of its employees, who are residents of Whitewater. It’s not a local merchant offering specialized products or services — but it has been here long enough, and employs enough residents, so that it’s hardly foreign to us. It’s been at the same local address for years, and expansion or not, it will still be at that same address.
Here’s a photo of Whitewater’s current Walmart, and an illustration of the proposed, larger Walmart:
