Wal-Mart for NYC Yay or Nay?

I think you people are taking this Wal-Mart thing a bit too far. Every time my girlfriend and I go to East Meadow on Long Island, the first place we go to is Wal-Mart. In fact, there are three stores in that area and each one is always jammed. Wal-Mart just saw their profits rise in the last quarter, despite economic troubles. No store is perfect. If I failed to go to a store because of propaganda, which is often false, about that store, I wouldn't go to any store. K-Mart has a shaky past, yet the store is often jammed. Many of the grocery stores in Manhattan have a storied past, but that doesn't stop people from shopping at the store. Who cares what the store's owner does behind the scenes as long as he doesn't destroy or hurt animals. If I knew he did that, I would abandon the store. But they don't.

I guess if you knew a certain writer was once a cocaine addict or alcoholic, you would probably not hire that writer again, because of his past. If that is the case, I feel sorry for you. I don't read crap in the papers. I investigate on my own. I don't pay attention to stuff on TV unless it is backed by truth. Show me valid, convincing proof that Wal-Mart runs the store in a bad way, and maybe I'll consider it. I have checked into Wal-Mart's past. I have looked into the company. I had to because I am an investor. I have their stock. And yes, they used to hire people to work in sweat shops and pay them almost nothing to make certain items. But they have since changed their policies and way of making their items.

You bet I would welcome them in Manhattan. If I can save a few dollars I would. It is about saving money guys.

And plus, they do put many people to work. And, based on what I was told, clerks make about $15 an hour at the store. That's not too bad.

@hhusted You care about whether a store hurts animals, but not whether it pays its human employees living wages? And television news is not to be trusted, but sites created by opinionated users such as thereisnosuchthingasglobalwarmingcuzisayso.com are valid? What are you talking about?!?!?! Let me guess: you recently traveled to China to personally scope out the manufacturing conditions at Wal-mart sites. There, you learned the native languages in order to personally question the workers. They said they were cool with being poor, which made you feel better about assisting them in staying poor in order to save a few bucks when you spend your money at Wal-Mart. Does your solipsism know no bounds, man?

To go on a lighter note from the points Neversleeps has brought up, hhusted, a lot of people don't like Wal-Mart because it represents the death of the family-owned store that New York is one of the few major cities to retain. Also, everything in Wal-Mart is depressing, cheap and ugly and that's why other people don't like it.

@Everyone just came across an article that highlights the charm of small mom and pop stores in NYC and the difficulties they are facing.

http://www.dnainfo.com/20110208/manhattan/italian-butcher-latest-string-of-closings-on-amsterdam