Wal-Marts Effects on Communities

Wal-Mart can be found in most cities around the United States and they employ roughly 1.4 million U.S. citizens. They provide Americans with everyday low prices and better deals that other local department stores cannot match. There is no doubt that Wal-Mart has the cheapest prices on most of their products. But this actually hurts Americans more than it helps! The anti-Wal-Mart campaign will reach its 20th birthday next year thanks to some very bad publicity and business practices held by the world’s largest supercenter. Communities everywhere are standing up to the giant, claiming that Wal-Mart is bankrupting their stores and providing less than adequate wages and benefits to their employees. Wal-Mart has on many occasions gone on the record as saying that they have nothing to do with the bankruptcy of local businesses. Despite this, communities are even more outraged by Wal-Mart’s apparent lack of care toward local businesses and the American way of life.
            Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, was born March 29, 1918 in Kingfisher, Oklahoma (Vedder). As a young adolescent Sam was an Eagle Scout and high school football quarterback, showing his commitment to leadership and hard work. This continued as he got older, graduating from the University of Missouri with a degree in economics. After college Sam enrolled into the United States Army, where he served as an Army captain during World War II. When Sam Walton returned home from the military he took a loan from his father to start up his first retail store with his younger brother, James (A+E Networks). While it was named “Walton’s 5-10”, this store is known as the “Forerunner” for the future Wal-Mart stores it inspired (William Fischer).
The first Wal-Mart store opened in 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas. A disagreement in how the general stores should be run and which direction they should go in was the reason Sam branched off from his brother and created the first Wal-Mart store.   Sam wanted a place...