Wal-Mart Watch Daily Clips - May 21st

MAJOR MEETING IN VIRGINIA TONIGHT TO DEBATE FATE OF THE WILDERNESS WAL-MART

• Public gets say on Wal-Mart near Va battlefield [Daily Press (Va.)]
  Hundreds of historians have had their say on Wal-Mart's plans to build a Supercenter near a Civil War battlefield in Virginia.

• Tonight! Orange County will hear your thoughts on Wal-Mart [Free Lance-Star (Va.)]
  Tonight, the Orange County Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on the proposed Wilderness Wal-Mart.
  

VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF HISTORIC RESOURCES SAYS WAL-MART WOULD HAVE 'SERIOUS ADVERSE EFFECT' ON WILDERNESS BATTLEFIELD

• State criticizes Wal-Mart report [Free Lance-Star (Va.)]
  Virginia officials want "to set the record straight" about a proposed Wal-Mart's impact on the Wilderness battlefield.
  

• Should we preserve all of Virginia? [Free Lance-Star (Va.)]
  Should we preserve all of Virginia?
  

IT'S IMPORTANT: WILDERNESS BATTLEFIELD NEWS MENTIONED ALONGSIDE NEWS OF AFGHANISTAN, GUANTANAMO BAY

• Looking ahead [USA Today]
  In Virginia, the Orange County Planning Commission holds a public hearing on a proposed Wal-Mart store that has drawn criticism because it would be built near a Civil War battlefield.
  

WAL-MART MOVES ARKANSAS REVOLUTIONARY WAR HOUSE 80 FEET BUT WON'T MOVE FOR WILDERNESS BATTLEFIELD

• Wal-Mart pays to move historic house 80 feet [Arkansas Democrat-Gazette]
  The Singletary House in Streetsboro, near Akron, was lifted onto a truck bed and taken Tuesday to a spot where a new foundation is being completed. Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. paid nearly three quarters of the $145,000 cost of moving the white, wood-frame home away from the planned location of a new Wal-Mart and other stores.
  

GREEN DAY REFUSES TO ACCEPT WAL-MART CENSORSHIP, PULLS OUT OF DEAL

• Green Day lashes out at Wal-Mart policy [Associated Press]
  Green Day has the most popular CD in the country, but you won't be able to find it at your local Wal-Mart.
  

• Green Day rule U.S. and international pop charts [Reuters]
  The band's previous album, 2004's "American Idiot," which also debuted at No. 1, sold 267,000 copies during its first six days. Both "Breakdown" and "Idiot" were hampered by not being stocked in Wal-Mart stores, as the big-box giant declines to stock albums that carry parental advisory stickers. (Neither album was available in an edited version.)
  

WAL-MART IN LEGAL BATTLE WITH SEVERAL STATES FOR OFFERING $9 BIRTH CONTROL PILL BELOW COST

• Thank you anti-trust laws, for making birth control expensive [Examiner (D.C.)]
  Enter Wal-Mart, an unlikely good guy amid the folly of the government and the extremism of the people.  Wal-Mart, with Target following its lead, decided to offer one-month supplies of generic birth control at a measly $9 a month.  Those of you accustomed to normal birth control prices know that this is incredible and fantastic.  
  

WAL-MART 'CASH AND CARRY' DEBUT IN INDIA NEXT WEEK A FIRST STEP TOWARD SETTING UP FULL RETAIL OUTLETS?

• Wal-Mart secures foothold in India [Financial Times]
  US retail group Wal-Mart is poised to make its debut in India next week, opening its first joint-venture wholesale store in a country where modern retail has so far made little headway against traditional traders and small independent shopkeepers.
  

• Amritsar, India Wal-Mart’s Passage To India [Battlemart Blog]
  The saturation of small town America has led the Wal-Mart corporation to chase profits in frontier markets like China, Central and South America, and now, India.
  

50 FAITH LEADERS IN WASHINGTON TO LOBBY CONGRESS ON EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE

• Faith Leaders Lobby Congress on Employee Free Choice [SEIU Blog]
  A new group of prominent interfaith leaders calling themselves "Faith Leaders for Workplace Fairness" publicly announced their support for the Employee Free Choice Act last week. The right to freedom of association is an important belief strongly rooted in religious teaching--and one of the main principles in the wider context of worker justice and the Employee Free Choice Act.
  

PROMINENT LABOR ORGANIZER CHALLENGES KARL ROVE TO DEBATE ON EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE

• Stewart Acuff: Karl Rove: Let's Debate Employee Free Choice [Huffington Post]
  By now we all know Karl Rove has chosen an interesting way to spend his time and pad his pockets in the wake of his disastrous time in the Whitehouse.
  

• Card check: A false solution [Politico]
  Some ideas that come before Congress are better than others. But once in a while, even I am surprised by what is considered in the nation’s capital. That is certainly true of the misnamed Employee Free Choice Act.
  

SPECTER WORKING WITH PELOSI TO PUSH FORWARD ON EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE

• Specter defends Speaker [The Hill]
  Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) is fully embracing his new party this week, working behind the scenes to bring back a union-organizing bill and publicly defending House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in the waterboarding controversy.
  

• Arlen Specter settles in as a Democrat [Politico]
  When Sen. Arlen Specter defected from the GOP, he insisted that he’d be neither a “loyal Democrat” nor an “automatic” vote for the policies of President Barack Obama.
  

SEN. HARKIN TO BRING EFCA TO SENATE FLOOR SOON?

• Harkin may force vote on card check [Iowa Independent (Iowa)]
  Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin told the National Journal Tuesday that if those who currently oppose the Employee Free Choice Act are not willing to work with him on a compromise, he will will try to force a vote on the original bill.
  

HERE'S AN EXAMPLE OF HOW 'WAL-MART' WAGES IN ALL INDUSTRIES ARE HURTING AMERICA

• Mayday for the middle class: $16K for a co-pilot? That's what's become of the American Dream [NY Daily News (N.Y.)]
  The horrific details of Continental Airlines Flight 3407 - the plane that crashed outside of Buffalo in February, killing 50 people - should be a wakeup call to America about the folly of treating employee salaries and workplace.
  

MORE ON N.C. COURT'S TAX RULING AGAINST WAL-MART

• N.C. Court Upholds Tax Ruling Against Wal-Mart [Women's Wear Daily]
  The North Carolina Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld a lower court ruling that the state could recalculate taxes owed by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to include its subsidiaries.
  

MORE ON WAL-MART $1 MILLION SETTLEMENT OF ARIZONA PRICING LAWSUIT

• Retailer to settle pricing lawsuit [Arkansas Democrat-Gazette]
  Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has agreed to settle for $1 million a lawsuit by the Arizona attorney general's office which charged that the retailer violated state law governing price accuracy in retail stores.
  

TARGET GETTING DEFENSIVE AHEAD OF DECISIVE PROXY VOTE?

• DJ Target Says RiskMetrics' Report On Co In Proxy Contest Flawed [Trading Markets via Dow Jones]
  Target Corp. on Thursday questioned RiskMetrics Group's support for change on the company's board, saying there are "flaws" in the proxy firm's report about Target in the ongoing proxy contest.
  

TARGET EARNINGS DOWN; SHAREHOLDER ACTIVIST ACKMAN TO TAKE ADVANTAGE?

• Target's Earnings Fall, but Stabilization Is Seen [Wall Street Journal]
  Target Corp.'s fiscal first-quarter earnings fell 13% on higher expenses in its credit-card business.
  

• Ackman sets his critical sights on Target [Financial Times]
  Bill Ackman, the activist investor, has made unfavourable comparisons between discount retailer Target and its larger rival Wal-Mart a central plank of his campaign to win board seats at the former.
  

• Target's sales slip further behind Wal-Mart [Financial Times]
  Target, the US discount retailer, yesterday underlined how far it has slipped behind its larger rival Wal-Mart in the recessionary economy, which has fuelled its fierce proxy battle over board seats with Bill Ackman, the activist investor.
  

• Target's profit declines, but tops estimates [MarketWatch]
  Target Corp. said Wednesday that its first-quarter profit fell a much less-than-expected 13% after the company controlled expenses, inventory and reduced clearance discounts to offset declines in discretionary spending.
  

• Target Needs Ackman, Donald on Board, Adviser Says [Bloomberg News]
  Target Corp.’s shareholders should elect William Ackman and former Starbucks Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jim Donald to the board and allow the number of directors to rise to 13, a proxy-research firm said.
  

MORE ON WAL-MART'S PLANS TO SELL APPLE PRODUCTS IN STORES

• Walmart to create Apple sections in retail stores [macnn]
  Walmart is incorporating Apple sections into its stores as part of a major revamping program, notes Barclays Capital analyst Ben Reitzes.
  

RETAILERS RELYING ON BASIC GOODS TO DRIVE SALES

• Basic Items Emerge as Retailers’ Best Bet [New York Times]
  Sales were driven by Target’s food and commodity categories. To lure consumers who tend to think rock-bottom prices can be found only at Wal-Mart, Target is testing a “low price promise” in some stores, enabling a customer to request a price adjustment if the same item is found for less at a local competitor.
  

ON THE DIFFICULTIES RETAILERS FACE ENTERING URBAN AREAS...

• Panel: Urban Retail Sees Unique Challenges [GlobeSt.com]
  Building retail stores in urban locations provides a unique set of challenges, but also high volumes and a motivated workforce, according to speakers at a session on urban market strength at ICSC’s RECon meeting, which concluded here today.
  

TESCO STILL STRUGGLING TO BREAK INTO U.S. GROCERY MARKET

• Tesco's Fresh & Easy evolving in tough U.S. market [Reuters via Guardian (U.K.)]
  British grocer Tesco  is making major changes in its Fresh & Easy stores as analysts worry that the 1 1/2-year-old U.S. chain is still searching for a successful niche.
  

MORE ON e-PLAY KIOSKS INSIDE WAL-MART STORES

• Walmart to roll out video game trade-in kiosks [USA Today]
  Walmart is bringing e-Play kiosks to 77 of its stores that allow users to trade in used video games, says a representative for the retailer.

To keep updated on Wal-Mart Site Fights across the country, visit the Battlemart blog at http://walmartwatch.com/battlemart/blog

MASSACHUSETTS SITE FIGHT: WAL-MART MAKES DESIGN CONCESSIONS AT SWANSEA PLANNING BOARD MEETING

• Planning Board meets on Wal-Mart proposal [The Herald News (Mass.)]
  In a Wednesday night meeting that is their last with the Planning Board before a June 1 yes or no vote on a proposed supercenter in the Swansea Mall parking lot, Wal-Mart representatives concentrated on a design change they feel will eliminate concerns about increased tractor-trailer truck traffic to and from the proposed store.
  

OHIO SITE FIGHT: MACEDONIA SUPERCENTER PLANS UNDER FINAL APPEAL

• Super Walmart plans face final appeal [Nordonia Hills Sun (Ohio)]
  An appeal scheduled to be heard Tuesday at the Ohio Board of Building Standards is the last step to be taken before work begins to expand the existing Walmart store at Macedonia Commons into a Super Walmart, city Building Commissioner Mike Hlad said Friday.
  

RHODE ISLAND SITE FIGHT: AL NORMAN TELLS NORTH SMITHFIELD RESIDENTS 'TAX REVENUE' OF BIG BOX DEVELOPMENT WILL FALL SHORT

• Expert: Promised Dowling Village dollars don't add up  [Valley Breeze (R.I.)]
  Residents can expect little to nothing in a return on their tax dollars from a completed Dowling Village, an expert for the development's opposition crowd testified last week.

For more news on Wal-Mart as well as commentary, opinions and multimedia, visit our blog at http://walmartwatch.com/blog

Posted by Chris C on Thursday, May 21, 2009

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