Why a Wal*Mart Supercenter Is Wrong for Oro Valley

Wal*Mart Increases Crime

Crime rates are higher in areas near a Wal*Mart than in areas near any other retailer. A national study of 551 Wal*Marts found the average rate of reported police incidents for each Wal*Mart store was up to 10 times higher than the average rate for the nearest Target store—and six times higher for serious and violent crime.

Wal*Mart Lowers Prices (Including Your Property Value)

Wal*Marts have decreased property values in surrounding neighborhoods. Because Wal*Mart leads to the closure of surrounding businesses (see below), the property values on those commercial strips decrease as more and more establishments remain vacant (Thomas Muller and Elizabeth Humstone, What Happened When Wal-Mart Came to Town? A Report on Three Iowa Communities with a Statistical Analysis of Seven Iowa Counties, For the National Trust for Historic Preservation, May, 1996, p. 7.). When a Wal*Mart is built close to a residential neighborhood, as is planned at the Oro Valley Marketplace, the property values of those homes are put in danger and people are more apt to move.

Wal*Mart Puts Locally-Owned Stores Out of Business

Locally-owned businesses contribute significantly more to our economic development and growth. A new Wal*Mart routinely puts local competition out of business. Wal-Mart routinely engages in a practice known as "predatory pricing" to put local competition out of business. When it opens a new store, it sells products at that store below wholesale price, drawing customers away from local shops. With over 4,700 stores worldwide and annual profits of over $7 billion, the chain easily absorbs this temporary loss. Once competitors close, Wal-Mart raises its prices and moves on to its next new store. The effects can be devastating. In Oklahoma City, 30 supermarkets closed after Wal*Mart saturated the area with Supercenters. In Kirksville, Mo., a new Wal*Mart quickly put out of business four clothing stores, four grocery stores, a stationery store, a fabric store, and a lawn-and-garden center. (Sources: Business Week; Jim Hightower: How Wal-Mart is Remaking Our World; Puget Sound Business Journal.) A 2002 study found that local merchants generate substantially greater economic impact than chain retailers. Because they spend a much larger portion of revenue on local labor, they keep their profits in the community, and they provide strong support for the local community, they are literally invested in our growth and success. (Economic Impact Analysis: A Case Study, Local Merchants v. Chain Retailers, prepared by Civic Economics, Dec. 2002; executive summary available here.) The loss of locally owned businesses could be potentially devastating to the economic vitality of our neighborhoods.

Wal*Mart Increases Traffic and Congestion

A 24-hour Wal*Mart Superstore will significantly increase traffic and congestion on Oracle and Tangerine Roads. The Oro Valley Marketplace is surrounded by residential neighborhoods, accessed by streets that are already congested and may not be able to handle a huge increase in traffic from shoppers and 18-wheel trucks making deliveries 24/7. In one study, the count of cars exiting the Hopkinsville, KY Wal*Mart showed an average of 909 cars per hour on a Friday evening from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. This increased traffic is not only inconvenient and a drain on local productivity, it can seriously increase the response time for critical emergency services.

Wal*Mart Contributes to Noise Pollution and Light Pollution

A 24-hour Wal*Mart Superstore will increase noise and light pollution. Around the country, neighborhoods situated near a Wal*Mart complain about excessive noise from the store's refrigeration systems and idling tractor trailers waiting at the loading dock.

Wal*Mart Means Fewer Local Employment Opportunities and Lower Overall Wages

Wal*Mart will decrease local employment opportunities and overall wages. Because Wal*Mart uses a lower employee ratio than many stores, it replaces only two-thirds of the retail jobs lost when it puts local stores out of business. And because Wal*Mart has defined full-time work as 28 to 34 hours per week, these new jobs nearly always mean a drop in income for store workers. In 2003, the average full-time Wal*Mart employee made about $14,000, an amount below the federal poverty line for a family of three. Fewer than half of all Wal*Mart employees have health care coverage (as compared to more than two-thirds coverage for workers nationally), with local hospitals and taxpayers making up the gap. Even with coverage, a single Wal*Mart employee choosing the cheapest health plan available may have to spend as much as $6,396 - nearly half his or her annual salary - before benefits kick in. Wal*Mart stores average almost 50 percent employee turnover annually, with many stores reaching 100 percent annual turnover. As the San Francisco Chronicle observed: "If you earn a livable wage...you can probably buy all your monthly needs at Wal-Mart. But that's because the average Wal-Mart employee cannot do the same." (Sources: Business Week; Jim Hightower: How Wal-Mart is Remaking Our World; San Francisco Chronicle; Wal-Mart: An Example of Why Workers Remain Uninsured and Underinsured, AFL-CIO, October 2003.)

Wal*Mart Routinely Violates Labor Laws

Wal*Mart's Environmental Track Record Is Poor

The Big Wash runs behind many residential homes, and Wal*Mart's track record for environmental compliance presents a substantial risk for contamination. Wal*Mart's history of violation of water protection laws includes violation of state petroleum storage tank laws, Clean Water Act violations stemming from excessive storm water runoff from its construction sites, selling refrigerants that contain ozone-depleting substances and many others.

Wal*Mart Subtracts From Oro Valley's Sales Tax Base

Wal*Mart will not add to the town's sales tax base. A recent study found that for every gain in sales by Wal*Mart Supercenters, there was a corresponding loss in sales for local businesses. In fact, general merchandise sales decreased nearly annually after the opening of the first Supercenter in any area. Sales tax revenues don't increase when Wal*Mart opens a new store; they just shift from existing stores. The town pays for more infrastructure and services to support the Supercenter, yet its sales tax revenues remain flat. (Source: The Economic Impact of Wal-Mart Supercenters on Existing Businesses in Mississippi, Mississippi State University Extension Service.) In the case of Oro Valley, the sales tax revenue will actually go down if people shop at Wal*Mart in the Oro Valley Marketplace instead of shopping at other retail stores. Because of their tax-sharing agreement, Vestar, the developer, pockets 45% of the sales tax revenue from your purchases at the Wal*Mart Supercenter in Oro Valley. For every $100 that you spend at Oro Valley Bicycle, for example, Oro Valley receives $2.00 in sales tax revenue. For every $100 that you spend at the Wal*Mart Supercenter, Oro Valley receives only $1.10, and Vestar pockets the rest.

In Fact, Wal*Mart Costs You Money at Tax Time

A congressional report released in February 2004 found that one 200-person Wal*Mart store costs taxpayers about $420,750 per year—or $2,103 per employee. These numbers reflect subsidies for federal school lunch programs, housing assistance, state and federal health coverage, low-income energy assistance for Wal*Mart's working poor. A 2001 study commissioned by the city of Barnstable, Mass., found that big-box retailers such as Wal*Mart depleted the town’s revenues by $794 per 1,000 square feet per year due to higher road maintenance costs and greater demand for public safety services. In other words, the proposed Wal*Mart Supercenter in Oro Valley will cost the town's taxpayers $138,950 per year in roads and police. Taxpayers are also forced to pick up the tab for Wal*Mart employees because the largest corporation on the planet refuses to cut into its own profit margin to pay its workers a living wage. Nearly one in 10 Wal*Mart employees in Arizona gets health insurance through AHCCCS (the state's Medicaid system), which costs Arizona taxpayers $15 million per year.

Wal*Mart's Profits Won't Stay in Oro Valley

Recent studies in Maine and in Austin found that for every $100 spent at Wal*Mart or other national chain retailers, only $14 stayed in the community. But when that same $100 was spent in local stores, $45 stayed in town—three times the amount! While this ratio is not unique to Wal*Mart, the Maine study also found that Wal*Mart, in particular, contributed only a fourth as much to charity as local businesses. By contrast, Target donated twice as much to charity as Wal*Mart and routinely bought local advertising, boosting community investment. Wal*Mart does not generally buy, bank, or advertise locally. (Source: Institute of Local Self-Reliance, Mid-Coast Maine Study, 2003)

Wal*Mart Does not Have the Lowest Prices and They Were Ordered to Stop Saying So

For many years, Wal*Mart used the slogan "Always the Lowest Price. Always." But when the National Advertising Review Board, funded by the Better Business Bureau, investigated, they found the "lowest price" claim to be false. Ordered by the Review Board to change its slogan, Wal*Mart switched to "Always Low Prices. Always."—a tagline so close to the original that many still perceive Wal*Mart to have the lowest prices. In fact, shopping basket comparisons by newspapers in Arkansas and Texas found that Wal*Mart is not the cheapest place to shop. A survey conducted by a Texas Press Association staff member in the Austin area found K-Mart had lower prices than Wal*Mart on average. (Source: How Wal-Mart is Destroying America and What You Can Do About It by Bill Quinn)

Wal*Mart Sends American Jobs Overseas

Despite past claims to "buy American," the vast majority of Wal*Mart products are now made in cheap foreign sweatshops, where safety and environmental laws are virtually nonexistent. Wal*Mart has become the largest importer of Chinese-made products in the world—accounting for 11 percent of all US imports from China. In fact, if Wal*Mart were a country, it would be China's 8th largest trading partner, ahead of Great Britain and Russia. With the average Chinese worker earning only 40 cents an hour and Chinese currency enjoying a 40 percent advantage over the dollar, the playing field is so uneven that US manufacturers simply can't compete absent a commitment from consumers and major retailers. According to the non-profit Economic Policy Institute, Wal*Mart's Chinese imports have displaced nearly 200,000 American jobs between 2001 and 2006. (See also: An estimated 1300 US textile plants were set to close by 2006. What are the long-range consequences for our working middle-class when the planet's largest retailer abandons American-made products?

Wal*Mart Outnumbers All Other Retailers in Pima County

Vestar promised Oro Valley unique shops at the Oro Valley Marketplace, and Wal*Mart is far from unique. In fact, Wal*Mart already outnumbers other retailers in Pima County. There are at least 11 Wal*Marts plus one Sam's Club (owned by Wal*Mart); with at least one more Supercenter now approved, the total number of Wal*Mart-owned stores in Pima County will soon be 13. Its nearest competitor, Target, has 8 stores, followed by 2 Costcos and one K-Mart. Wal*Mart already dominates Pima County's retail landscape. Its proposal to add another Supercenter in Oro Valley stands to skew the balance even further. As Wal*Mart continues to put competitors out of business and the range of choices shrink, what is the ultimate benefit to the Oro Valley consumer?

Wal*Mart, the Largest Company on the Planet, Won't Take the Lead on Corporate Responsibility

Wal*Mart is now the largest corporation in the world, with $244.5 billion in sales in 2003. It generates twice as much in total net profits each quarter as the entire rest of the retail sector combined—including Target, Sears, Safeway, J.C. Penney, K-Mart, Old Navy and every other store you can name. Now the largest grocer in the US, Wal*Mart occupies the top spot on the Fortune 500 list and posts annual profits over $7 BILLION. Yet this enormously rich corporation refuses to pay its own way, depending on taxpayers to pick up the tab for its poverty-wage employees. It leads the industry in labor law violations and discriminatory employment practices. It relies on foreign suppliers to undercut American manufacturing jobs, without regard for human rights, environmental regulations, or displaced US workers. Its ruthless business practices are savaging our landscape and our economy. It's time for us, as consumers, to take a hard look at the high cost we all pay for Wal*Mart's low prices and demand change. Wal*Mart has no reason to act responsibly until we do. (Sources: Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce; Business Week.