Offering frequent news and analysis from the majestic Evergreen State and beyond, The Cascadia Advocate is the Northwest Progressive Institute's unconventional perspective on world, national, and local politics.

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

Wal Mart forces local grocery chain to close stores

It's happened again: Wal*Mart is on the verge of slowly driving another local business out of business. The AP reports that "Brown & Cole Stores plans to sell eight of its 31 stores in Washington state, 'roadkill' from Wal-Mart's advance into the supermarket business, the head of the company says."

Wal*Mart is an evil, unwelcome company that acts much like the Bush Admnistration - it has an ironic double standard. Everyone knows Wal*Mart treats its workers horribly - except, apparently for Wal*Mart, which claims its treats its workers well.

Anyway - so Wal*Mart is forcing this locally owned chain to close up some of its stores. It's one of two big reasons for the store closures.
The company based in Bellingham is selling two stores in the Arlington area and one in Stanwood, all north of Everett, and one each in Burlington, Yakima, Pasco, Kennewick and Okanogan, practically all "heavily impacted by Wal-Mart," president Craig W. Cole said in a prepared statement.

"This is in large part due to two things," Cole said in a prepared statement, "health care costs and the deliberate saturation of the market by Wal-Mart."
Cole was also smart enough to note that Wal*Mart's business practices are hurting the American economy.
"The American worker and local businesses are becoming roadkill in Wal-Mart's march toward the worldwide domination of commerce," Cole said.
Unlike Wal*Mart, Brown & Cole's employees are mostly unionized, and Brown & Cole always tried to treat its employees well - much like Costco's current philosophy of how it treats its workers.
Founded in 1909, Brown & Cole provides health care coverage for 95 percent of its employees, who are largely covered by union contracts, Cole said.

"It used to be accepted that good companies took care of their employees," he said, accusing Wal-Mart of "inferior wages and benefits for its workers, outsourcing jobs to foreign producers and showing little regard for the environment."
To learn more about boycotting Wal*Mart, visit NPI's Boycott page.

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