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Chicago alderman pleads for a Wal-Mart -07.01.09 | [Chicago Tribune]

Wal-Mart Backs Drive to Make Companies Pay for Health Coverage -07.01.09 | [Wall Street Journal]

Key hearing set on Wal-Mart near Va battlefield -07.01.09 | [WMDT-TV (Va.)]

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Wal-Mart in the News

Every day, our researchers scour newspapers big and small and the Internet to find out where Wal-Mart is making headlines.

TITLE DATE
Chicago alderman pleads for a Wal-Mart In the latest bid to bring a second Wal-Mart store to the city, Ald. Howard Brookins (21st) made a public plea to fellow aldermen to vote to allow the world’s largest retailer to build a Supercenter on the South Side.
-- [Chicago Tribune]		 July 01
Wal-Mart Backs Drive to Make Companies Pay for Health Coverage In a major break with most other large companies, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Tuesday told the White House that it supports requiring employers to provide health insurance to workers, a centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s effort to provide near-universal coverage to Americans. The support of Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest private employer, could give momentum to one of the most-contentious aspects of legislation taking shape in Congress to fix the health system. To help pay for covering the 46 million uninsured, lawmakers have proposed mandating that all but small employers provide insurance for workers or help pay for it
-- [Wall Street Journal]		 July 01
Key hearing set on Wal-Mart near Va battlefield A July 27 public hearing is scheduled in Orange County on a Wal-Mart Supercenter proposed near the Wilderness Civil War battlefield. The hearing scheduled by supervisors Tuesday night is the final step before the Board of Supervisors takes up the proposal.
-- [WMDT-TV (Va.)]		 July 01
I hate Wal-mart Let’s face it I’m a Target girl. I LOVE Target - love the way the stores are set up, love the prices, love the shopping experience - carts are clean, parking lot is litter free, etc. I can spend hours just browsing in Target. Coming from someone who doesn’t like to shop this says a lot. I disagree with Walmart’s business philsophies and how they treat their employees. I hate the way their stores are set up, very KMartesque, they just bother me. But sometimes when Target doesn’t have what I need I have to go to Walmart and I hate it.
-- [San Diego Weekly Reader (Calif.)]		 July 01
8th & Walton Expanding to Chile, Canada A Bentonville firm that only is two years old is ready to spread into new countries to teach small- and mid-sized suppliers how to do business with Wal-Mart. 8th & Walton, a supplier education and consulting firm, opened a Mexico office in December and will open an office in the financial district of Santiago, Chile, on Wednesday, said Matt Fifer, 8th & Walton managing partner.
-- [Morning News of NW Arkansas (Arkansas)]		 July 01
Behind the Rebranding Campaign of Wal-Mart’s Scarlet Woman Julie Roehm is cornered. The lanky blonde, who’s partial to skinny white jeans and ivory Ray-Bans, is stuck inside a brick McCastle in one of Bentonville’s gated communities, wedged into the northwest corner of Arkansas between a cattle ranch and a snaking country road. Roehm bought her manse three-and-a-half years ago, 2 miles away from her new boss at the time, Wal-Mart’s then-CEO Lee Scott.
-- [Fast Company]		 June 30
Obama’s bid to boost exports from Pakistan hits snag US President Barack Obama’s plan to increase exports from Pakistan and Afghanistan to the US has been ensnared in a debate over labour rules between Democrats and companies such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc, Bloomberg reported on Monday. A law passed by the US House of Representatives limits the products and imposes work conditions that would negate potential benefits, according to the US Chamber of Commerce.
-- [Daily Times (Pakistan)]		 June 30
St. Paul, MN. Wal-Mart Charged With Unfair Labor Practices, Threatening Workers Every Wal-Mart manager is warned by the company not to “Threaten, Interrogate Promise, Spy” on their workers. Wal-Mart calls this their TIPS on unionization. But union officials say that Wal-Mart routinely uses threats and intimidation to scare workers away from voting in a union.
-- [Battlemart Blog]		 June 30
Walmart moves Quebec account to JWT In an effort to reduce marketing costs, Walmart has moved its Quebec creative and media buying business to JWT, which has handled the retail giant’s English Canadian business since last year. Walmart’s creative and media buying for Quebec was previously handled by Allard Johnson, work that will now be done from JWT’s Montreal office. JWT won the English account from Publicis, which had the account since 1999, after an agency review last year.
-- [Marketing Magazine (Canada)]		 June 30
Updating the Advice on How to Battle Wal-Mart When my tenure at Supermarket News began in the early-to-mid-1990s, retailers were anxiously devising plans to compete with the growing threat from Wal-Mart Supercenters. Strategies under development ranged from staying in the ballpark on price to emphasizing perishables and product variety. These plans largely worked, and many are still in use today.
-- [Super Market News.com]		 June 30
Waco, TX. Wal-Mart Pulls Misleading Ads---Again The driving mission of the Wal-Mart corporation is to make money by saving its customers money. “At Wal-Mart,” the company says, “everything we do flows from our purpose of saving people money so they can live better.”
-- [Battlemart Blog]		 June 29
Obama’s Bid to Boost Exports From Pakistan Hits Snag Over Labor President Barack Obama’s bid to strengthen democracy in Pakistan and Afghanistan by boosting their exports is ensnared in a debate over labor rules between Democrats and companies such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. “It’s not going to help Pakistan,” said Sarah Thorn, director of international trade in Washington for Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer. “It’s the wrong places, wrong products and it has pretty onerous” labor rules.
-- [Bloomberg]		 June 29
UCSB Prof’s Book Scrutinizes Wal-Mart In his new book, The Retail Revolution: How Wal-Mart Created a Brave New World of Business, UCSB history professor Nelson Lichtenstein analyzes the structure of the corporate giant and how it came to be the ultimate merchandising company.
-- [Santa Barbara Independent (Calif.)]		 June 29
Meijer founder recalls Wal-Mart bid If Sam Walton had his way, Meijer Inc. wouldn’t be celebrating its 75th anniversary. Fred Meijer avoided going face-to-face with his rival when Wal-Mart’s founder came calling in the 1970s.``He called me three times in two weeks,’’ Fred Meijer recalled last week as he spoke about the milestone anniversary that is being celebrated at his stores this weekend. “I could have gotten down there. But we didn’t want to sell out.’’
-- [Mlive.com]		 June 29
Unilever, Walmart, P&G Buck the Short-Term Trend It’s been said over and over: There’s no time like recession, when competitors are retreating, to ramp up innovation and marketing to grab share. So far, the competitors have done their part. U.S. trademark applications through mid-June were down 17% from a year ago; patent application growth stalled last year after more than a decade of high single-digit annual growth; and ad spending plunged 14% last quarter, according to TNS Media Research.
-- [Advertising Age]		 June 29
ROUND 1 TO WAL-MART A split Orange County Planning Commission last night endorsed a Wal-Mart retail center proposed in the Wilderness battlefield area. The 11-member advisory panel voted 5-4 to recommend that the Board of Supervisors approve a proposal by JDC Ventures of Vienna for the 51.6-acre commercial development.
-- [Free Lance-Star (Va.)]		 June 26
Wal-Mart accused of labor-law violations Wal-Mart is threatening to fire pro-union workers at its store in the Midway neighborhood of St. Paul, according to a complaint filed today with the National Labor Relations Board. The charges, filed by United Food and Commercial Workers Local 789, allege that starting on June 11 corporate representatives began telling employees that they could easily acquire a list of union backers and that those people would lose their jobs.
-- [The Minnesota Independent]		 June 26
ORANGE BUILDER OFFERS WAL-MART 75 ACRES WEST OF BATTLEFIELD He recently contacted both parties to invite Wal-Mart to locate on 75 acres along State Route 3 west of Lake of the Woods. Marcantoni owns the property with business partner Robert Dudley of Stafford County.
-- [Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star (Va.)]		 June 26
Delaware County Treasurer nabs delinquent dollars And so far, it’s paying off for taxpayers. Earlier this month, Dorer collected $585,000 in delinquent property taxes in connection with the Southside Walmart simply by calling the company’s corporate headquarters. “They absolutely agreed they hadn’t paid,” Dorer said. “They said they dropped the ball somewhere and didn’t have the statement. It was just an oversight on Walmart’s part.”
-- [The Star Press (Del.)]		 June 26
After Complaint, Wal-Mart Rolls Back An Ad Campaign Ever wonder if those shopping ads you see on TV or in the paper—the ones that claim you can save hundreds a month by buying from their stores—are actually telling the truth? (Of course you have.)
-- [Wall Street Journal] 		June 26
H-E-B beats Wal-Mart in court in ad case H-E-B took on a titan—Wal-Mart—and won. Wal-Mart Stores has pulled a national advertisement that says consumers can save $700 a year shopping at its stores after H-E-B challenged the ad and filed its objections with an industry group.
-- [San Antonio Express-News via Houston Chronicle (Texas)]		 June 25
Chicago receives $700,000 for green jobs effort Chicago’s green jobs initiative will receive a $700,000 grant from the Wal-Mart Foundation. The city’s Greencorps Chicago program was selected for the grant by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. The program provides environmental jobs for between 40 and 50 people that last at least nine months. The jobs focus on eco-restoration, community gardens, plant distribution, landscaping, electronics and hazardous waste recycling and weatherizing projects.
-- [Chicago Tribune]		 June 25
Sask judge rules against union certification at Walmart in Weyburn A Saskatchewan judge has overturned the union certification of a Walmart in Weyburn. CKOM is reporting that Justice Peter Foley said in his ruling that workers should be allowed to vote on whether they want a union or not.
-- [Canadian Press via Google News]		 June 25
Wal-Mart’s Big Problem: Climate Change Much as I’m an admirer of Wal-Mart’s ambitious sustainability goals, and its efforts to achieve them, there’s a glaring problem with the company’s “progress” to date that can be seen in the chart below.
-- [Climate Biz]		 June 25
Walmart’s $4 Prescriptions Allegedly Sold By Banned Indian Company Walmart has perhaps once again taught us that cheap comes at a price, as details emerge about their $4 prescription program, which features a number of medications shipped from a banned company out of India.
-- [Chattahbox.com]		 June 25
Ranbaxy Fake Data Mess Reaches Walmart as Union Finds Protest Toehold The fallout from the FDA’s probe of Ranbaxy continues to spread, this time to Walmart. BNET noted in March that Ranbaxy, currently the most dysfunctional drug company on the planet, was caught faking data but the FDA was continuing to approve it drugs.
-- [Bnet]		 June 24
Over 25,000 Letters Sent To City Councils of New York, Chicago and Los Over the past several weeks, more than 25,000 letters have been sent to the city councils of New York, Chicago and LA - urging them to protect their constituents by blocking Wal-Mart store projects in their cities. Over 1,500 different state legislators have received letters as well, urging them to contact their members of Congress to express support for the Employee Free Choice Act and health care reform.
-- [Wal-Mart Watch Press Release]		 June 24
Compete Blog: Target vs. Wal-Mart: Online Conversion Battle Heats Up Last month, Wal-Mart attracted 32.1 million visitors to its website versus 27.2 million online visitors for Target. However, Target had a higher shopping cart interaction rate and conversion rate. Why do you think target.com is gaining a higher cart interaction and conversion rate than walmart.com?
-- [RetailWire]		 June 24
Wal-Mart aims to keep a new flock of customers The recession steered a new type of customer to Wal-Mart—deeper in the pockets and suddenly looking for bargains. Now the world’s largest retailer has to figure out how to keep that customer when the economy recovers.
-- [Associated Press]		 June 24
Sources: 3 PR shops to represent Wal-Mart Interpublic Group’s Golin Harris, WPP Group’s Cohn & Wolfe and Omnicom Group’s Porter Novelli reportedly have been added to Wal-Mart’s PR roster after a review. The shops will vie for work from the discount giant in five segments: food/grocery and health/nutrition; apparel and home; hard lines, entertainment and seasonal events; financial services; and online.
-- [Smart Brief.com]		 June 23
Wal-Mart Rapped on Ad Claim The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus made the recommendation Monday after H-E-B Grocery Co., a large, Texas-based supermarket chain, filed a complaint in December challenging several of Wal-Mart’s advertising campaigns.
-- [Wall Street Journal]		 June 23
Wal-Mart names new diversity executive Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has promoted one of its staff attorneys to chief diversity officer. Wal-Mart announced Monday that L. Mecole “Cole” Brown will oversee the company’s diversity strategy for its U.S. business. She replaces Charlyn Jarrells Porter, who held the post from 2004 until she announced her retirement in March.
-- [Associated Press]		 June 23
The Church of Wal-Mart Bethany Moreton’s To Serve God and Wal-Mart: The Making of Christian Free Enterprise views the company as product of its region, showing that its success has depended on a bizarre reconciliation of Northwest Arkansas’s uneasy cocktail of anti-corporate populism, racial homogeneity, evangelical Christianity, and free enterprise.
-- [Reuters]		 June 23
Walmart Wraps PR Review by Adding Three Shops to Roster After a lengthy agency review for its multimillion-dollar consumer-PR business, Walmart has selected Interpublic Group of Cos.’ Golin Harris, WPP’s Cohn & Wolfe and Omnicom Group’s Porter Novelli, according to industry sources. The three agencies will bid against one another for individual assignments in the retail giant’s effort to drive greater cost efficiencies.
-- [Advertising Age]		 June 22
Wintu memorial is healing medicine for Mother Earth and feather people Even a youthful vandal who was caught in the act of bending and breaking off portions of a bronze statue’s headdress couldn’t stop the healing of Mother Earth that took place Saturday, June 20, at the southeast corner of the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Anderson.
-- [Anderson Valley Post (Calif.)]		 June 22
Sales tax confusion at new Walmart A viewer concern prompted the KRCG Factfinder team to look into the sales tax rate at the new Walmart in Jefferson City. The viewer wanted to know if he was paying more sales tax at the new location than at the old Walmart on Missouri Blvd.
-- [Connect Mid Missouri]		 June 22
Wal-Mart health clinic attempts gets sick, start to fail Wal-Mart does pretty much everything well, or at least according to plan. So the news it’s backing off the expansion of in-store medical clinics offers up a rare Wal-Mart failure.
-- [WalletPop.com]		 June 22
Health-care reform should focus on efficiency We learn a lot from our 41,000 Tennessee associates and the customers we serve every week here and around the country. It’s clear from everything they see and hear that this country’s health-care system needs comprehensive reform.
-- [Tennessean]		 June 22
Bloomberg: Wal-Mart Might List Stock in China Bloomberg News reports that Wal Mart Stores Inc. of Bentonville may be one of a dozen Western companies joining China’s stock exchanges.
-- [Arkansas Business (Ark.)]		 June 19
U.S. Agency Rules for Tire Producers in China Case U.S. tire companies are being harmed by products from China, a U.S. agency ruled, setting up a decision by President Barack Obama on whether to impose tariffs or quotas on America’s biggest source of imports.
-- [Bloomberg News]		 June 19
Lack of nearby grocery store takes years off life: study Living in a food desert—primarily the city’s African-American neighborhoods with no full-service grocery stores—can shorten your life. That’s a new conclusion drawn by food-desert researcher Mari Gallagher, who released a report Thursday showing that a full-service supermarket in the South Side Roseland community would allow that neighborhood, collectively, to gain about 15 years of life back from diabetes, 112 years of life from cardiovascual diseases, 13 years from liver disease and 58 years of life back from diet-related cancers.
-- [Chicago Sun-Times]		 June 19
LOHAS conference brings Fortune 500s The annual Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability Forum—which once targeted small, green-business entrepreneurs—has this year drawn the likes of Facebook, eBay and Walmart.
-- [Colorado Daily]		 June 19
Best Buy ad: Our people are better than Wal-Mart’s Now that Circuit City has enjoyed something of a last lap in physical retail, Best Buy seems to have decided to take on another large rifle in electronics retailing: Wal-Mart Stores. Wal-Mart has been upgrading its electronics offering and Best Buy clearly sees the Arkansas retailer as a potential source of pain and anguish.
-- [Cnet News]		 June 18
Wal-Mart Medical Clinics Stumble Two years ago, Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) announced plans to have retail medical clinics in 400 of its stores by 2010 and said it saw the potential for as many as 2,000. By February 2008, the retailer had 78 clinics. But now,--after failed venture-capital collaborations, a few faulty partnerships, and a reassessment of the business model--it has only 31.
-- [Business Week]		 June 18
Wal-Mart Recalls 16,000 Chinese-Made Air Compressors The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has issued a recall for 16,000 dangerous, Chinese-made air compressors that were imported by Campbell Hausfeld and sold exclusively at Wal-Mart.
-- [All Headline News]		 June 18
WAL-MART: Couldn’t store close for even a day? In a 1993 essay, Daniel Patrick Moynihan noted the shock that passed through the nation when four gangsters killed seven other gangsters in a Chicago garage on Feb. 14, 1929 - an event that contributed to ending Prohibition and became part of our folklore. He contrasted the public reaction to that event with modern times in which many American cities experience the equivalent of that St. Valentine’s Day Massacre every weekend, with comparatively no notice taken by the public.
-- [The News Tribune (Wash.)]		 June 18
Why Chinese Consumers Won’t Replace Walmart Moms The hottest debate over the world economy these days is not on the fate of America, it’s on the fate of China. Will it be the worst victim, or the most successful survivor, of the global crisis of 2009?
-- [Newsweek]		 June 18
New Wal-Mart Brings Hundreds Of Jobs To Charlotte WAL-MART PR TEAM WORKING HARD TO PITCH STORIES ON ‘NEW JOBS’...100 IN NORTH CAROLINA A new Wal-Mart is opening in Charlotte, and it’s bringing new jobs. Monday Eyewitness News got a first look at the business, before anyone else. The new 24-hour Wal-Mart sits on North Tryon Street, a couple of miles from the old location, in the university area.
-- [WSOC-TV (N.C.)]		 June 16
Quebec, Canada. Is Wal-Mart Afraid Of Canadian Unions? “I have always believed strongly that we don’t need unions at Wal-Mart,” Sam Walton wrote. According to one Canadian investment bank, the grocery industry in Quebec is the nearest thing you’ll find to the Garden of Eden---yet for Wal-Mart---there’s a union worm in the apple.
-- [Battlemart Blog]		 June 16
Marketside getting Walmart’s name added to its own Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) is stepping out from behind the scenes and putting its name on the small convenience-size grocery stores, called Marketside, it began operating last year. The Phoenix-area stores are now being called Marketside by Walmart.
-- [Reuters]		 June 16

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