3c hapter - Index of
3c hapter - Index of
3c hapter - Index of
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54 Locavesting<br />
Since 2006, Walmart has topped its list <strong>of</strong> companies with workers<br />
dependent upon health- care programs run by the state. In<br />
2008, 5,021 Walmart workers were enrolled in such programs<br />
in Massachusetts alone. The situation is much the same in states<br />
across the country. 16<br />
Researchers at Loyola University tracked 306 retail businesses<br />
within a four- mile radius <strong>of</strong> a Walmart that opened on the west<br />
side <strong>of</strong> Chicago in 2006. By 2008, 82 had gone out <strong>of</strong> business,<br />
with the hardest- hit retailers being the closest to Walmart. The<br />
equivalent <strong>of</strong> 300 full- time jobs were lost. What’s more, after analyzing<br />
taxable sales for nine months before and nine months after<br />
Walmart opened, the researchers found that sales receipts in the<br />
surrounding area had declined. 17<br />
Meanwhile, those empty downtown storefronts can lead to the<br />
decline <strong>of</strong> a once- bustling commercial district, lowering a town’s<br />
property taxes and diminishing what was once its most valuable real<br />
estate. And because chains have tax strategies available to them that<br />
the independents do not (like combined reporting, which allows<br />
them report a loss even if the store is pr<strong>of</strong>i table in that particular<br />
state), the overall effect can be a lowering <strong>of</strong> a region’s tax collections.<br />
Add to that the considerable costs <strong>of</strong> maintaining infrastructure<br />
such as roads, lights, and security that come with a big- box<br />
presence, and the expected windfall quickly disappears.<br />
But by now, the town is totally dependent on the big-box as a<br />
revenue source, which can be a problem when, invariably, the shiny<br />
supercenter starts feeling a little old and outdated. The retailer<br />
starts looking around for greener pastures, sparking another round<br />
<strong>of</strong> frantic concessions by town <strong>of</strong>fi cials to keep the store, and pitting<br />
one locality against another.<br />
That’s the local damage. But what about the impact on the<br />
overall economy?<br />
As the big-boxes have grown, so has their clout, to the point<br />
where they are reorganizing large swaths <strong>of</strong> the economy around<br />
themselves. Suppliers must play by their rules—or be shut out.<br />
Costs are increasingly pushed onto suppliers, who may even<br />
be assessed a fee if their products fail to generate suffi cient<br />
pr<strong>of</strong>i ts. 18