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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
Big boxes of scorn heaped on Duluth Wal-Mart It may be one of the most routine experiences in American life: heading to Wal-Mart to buy groceries, some clothes or a bike. It’s so common that the world’s largest retailer expects to open a new U.S. store, on average, every other day this year. Most open with little fanfare. Yet in some places - such as Duluth - word that the giant is coming will shake the community like little else can.
-- Atlanta Journal-Constitution		 December 03
Wal-Mart is Mexican, too The Wal-Mart, which opened in 2002, is a looming presence. If you arrive here by cruise ship, as I did, the vast, stadium-size Wal-Mart and accompanying Sam’s Club is the first thing you see when you dock and the last thing you see when you leave. Far more so than the cathedral or city hall, it is the focal point from which directions are given, even by the locals; what you are looking for is either near the Wal-Mart, behind the Wal-Mart or beyond the Wal-Mart. The destination boards on many city buses say, simply, “Wal-Mart.”
-- Orange County Register (Calif.)		 December 03
A Wal-Mart Christmas Toy Story: Shopper Jailed For Removing Dangerous Baby Toy Every year a Massachusetts-based non-profit corporation called W.A.T.C.H. (World Against toys Causing Harm) publishes during the Christmas shopping season, its annual “10 Worst Toys” list. On the 2007 “10 Worst Toys” List is a product called “The Dora Explorer Lamp,” made in China. It looks more like a plastic cartoon character than a lamp. It retails for just under $13 in the baby department at Wal-Mart, and comes with the following manufacturer’s warning in small print: “This is an electric lamp, not a toy! To avoid risk of fire, burns, personal injury and electric shock, it should not be played with or placed where small children can reach it. HAZARD: Potential for Electric Shock and Burn Injuries!”
-- Huffington Post		 December 03
Coughlin aide guilty of fraud A U. S. District Court jury took three hours Friday to convict former Wal-Mart administrative assistant Patsy Stephens of stealing money from the company for then-Vice Chairman Tom Coughlin. The jury of seven women and five men returned a verdict about 1: 30 p.m. Friday after three days of testimony on the federal indictment that charged Stephens with eight counts of wire fraud. 
-- Arkansas Democrat-Gazette		 December 03
Dress for Excess: The Cost of Our Clothing Addiction Wanted or not, clothes are a more attractive deal than ever. The apparel retail industry’s current philosophy is best captured in a new slogan that Wal-Mart Stores rolled out for this fall’s shopping season: “Save Money. Live Better.”
-- AlterNet		 December 03
Brands Hedge Their Bets on China China was considered the land of opportunity because of cheap labor, skilled workers, quality goods and the ability to accommodate shorter lead times..However, the tide appears to be shifting as China’s emerging market and consumer base becomes more sophisticated, affluent and fashion savvy
-- Women's Wear Daily		 December 03
Tesco makes US discount chain foray Tesco is breaking with tradition by moving into the hard-discount market in an effort to build a substantial US convenience chain that could hit 1,000 stores with the next five years. It has never tried this type of format in any of its 13 overseas operations but is betting £250m ($514m) a year “and its reputation” that the Lidl-style stores will work.
-- Financial Times		 December 03
Tesco starts small in U.S. to win big Tesco’s new U.S. venture Fresh & Easy has unveiled ambitious expansion plans including wanting shoppers in the urban centres it targets never to be more than a mile from one of its stores. Three weeks after launching near Los Angeles, Fresh & Easy’s Chief Executive Tim Mason told reporters on a road trip to some of the discount chain’s first 15 stores that the number of outlets would swell to around 200 by February 2009.
-- Reuters		 December 03
Tesco declares price war on US store rivals TESCO is to heavily discount products in its new grocery business in the United States as it looks to build up a 1000-store chain to take on Wal-Mart’s dominance of the market. The UK supermarket giant wants to roll out its Fresh & Easy concept quickly in order to make the low-margin business model work.
-- Scotsman (U.K.)		 December 03
Catch of the day: Sustainable fish It won’t be alone. A handful of small eco-friendly seafood companies have sprouted in recent years and retailers are pressuring large producers to get on the sustainable bandwagon. Wal-Mart, the No. 1 retailer, said last year that it would, within five years, purchase wild-caught seafood only from fisheries deemed sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council. The non-profit is considered the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval for sustainable fisheries, says Sutton. 
-- USA Today		 December 03
Wal-Mart Protesters Picket Mexico City Store to Demand Union Protesters picketed a Wal-Mart store in Mexico City to show support for employees who are trying to form a union at the company, the nation’s largest employer. The protesters, who included labor activists and union members from other industries, urged shoppers to boycott Wal- Mart for the day. Wal-Mart de Mexico SAB, two-thirds owned by Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc., has about 160,000 workers in the country. 
-- Bloomberg News		 December 03
75,000 plaintiffs notified of Wal-Mart lawsuit Letters were set be mailed Friday telling 75,000 current or former Wal-Mart workers in Washington that they are plaintiffs in a statewide class action against the retail giant. The mailing is the latest development in the suit, which was filed nearly six years ago in King County Superior Court.
-- Seattle Post-Intelligencer		 December 03
Wal-Mart sues incapacitated employee—Tell them what you think! The legality of the move aside, it’s appalling on a moral level. WalMartWatch has more information available, and also collecting donations to aid the family. That site sums it up well: This holiday season, Wal-Mart rolled out a new slogan: “Save money. Live better.” But who lives better with Wal-Mart’s low prices? Clearly, it isn’t Wal-Mart employees like Deborah Shank. 
-- BloggingStocks		 December 03
Wal-Mart Takes Image Hit From Shank Case Wal-Mart won a lawsuit against a former employee, injured in an accident that left her brain damaged, divorced and penniless, for reimbursement from her medical care. But public relations experts say the cost to the company’s image may outweigh the $470,000 it received for repayment from Debbie Shank’s care...Union-funded Wal-Mart Watch on Tuesday sent out a letter to e-mail subscribers soliciting donations to the family, and has not only raised nearly $5,000, which the organization will match, it has been overwhelmed with e-mail responses to the case.
-- The Morning News of Northwest Arkansas		 December 03
Appeals court blocks Wal-Mart super store in Stockton Plans to build a Wal-Mart “superstore” on the north side of Stockton near Interstate 5 have been blocked by the Third District Court of Appeal. In a 2-1 decision, it has upheld a San Joaquin County Superior Court ruling that the city of Stockton failed to follow state law in approving the development on a portion of Spanos Park West, being built by A.G. Spanos Constriction Co.
-- Central Valley Business Times (Calif.)		 November 30
Credit squeeze hits music industry Richard Greenfield, an analyst at Pali Research, has predicted that Warner and other music companies could come under further pressure if major retailers such as Wal-Mart opt to cut back the amount of floor space they devote to compact discs.
-- Financial Times		 November 30
Big boxes will hold fewer CDs According to a number of trade industry reports, “big box” stores will be cutting back on CD display space by the start of 2008. Best Buy, Wal-Mart and Target, which account for the majority of retail CD sales, are planning on “significant cuts” in devoted floor and shelf space.
-- Herald & Review (Ill.)		 November 30
Wal-Mart sets record with HRC ratings plunge The world’s largest retailer set a record this month but not one its managers are likely to be proud of. Wal-Mart has the ignominious distinction of having the biggest drop ever from one year to the next on Human Rights Campaign’s annual “Buying for Equality” guide, which ranks companies and identifies their most popular brands. The companies are rated on a scale of zero to 100 with 100 being perfect.
-- The Washington Blade		 November 30
Dell eyes smaller China cities, talks to Asia retailers Dell on Thursday reported lower-than-expected quarterly profit margins and warned that rising costs could depress future results, sending its shares down 10 percent. 
-- Reuters		 November 30
Dell: Confounded by Costs Disappointment with Dell isn’t over yet. The world’s second-largest computer manufacturer posted fiscal third-quarter sales results that exceeded Wall Street expectations, but its profit performance and outlook for coming quarters left investors dismayed.
-- BusinessWeek		 November 30
Goldman Sues Web Site Over Simpson Book The lawsuit seeks to recover profits from the “illegal publication” and suggests The Pirate Bay receive advertising money from such American companies as Wal-Mart, Target, Jamster and The Wall Street Journal.
-- Washington Post		 November 30
US Sen Dodd’s Plan Would Limit Commercial Ownership Of Banks U.S. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., Thursday circulated a draft of legislation that would narrowly limit the types of commercial companies that could own federally insured banks.
-- Wall Street Journal		 November 30
Beijing’s Subsidy Move May Ease Trade Tensions Beijing’s agreement to end trade-distorting subsidies to Chinese manufacturers will eliminate government supports across a spectrum of goods from wood products to computers to steel that have given their Chinese makers an unfair advantage over foreign competitors across the globe. 
-- Wall Street Journal		 November 30
Holiday sales: Sneak peek at winners and losers Discount delight: Analysts said that Wal-Mart, Target, Costco and other discount stores emerged as early winners because cash-strapped consumers traded down on gift purchases.
-- CNN Money		 November 30
ConsumerMan: Buy Toys Without Worry ‘Tis the season for toy giving. This year, however, is like no other. The fear of buying tainted toys is creating enormous anxiety for parents. “It’s reasonable for parents to be concerned about what they’re bringing home for their kids,” says toy expert Stephanie Oppenheim. “This is not a normal toy season.”
-- MSNBC via NBC6 (Fla.)		 November 30
Tainted-toy recalls leave parents picky Forget the latest, hottest toys. This holiday season, the perfect gift on many Charlotte-area parents’ lists is anything not tainted with lead. Responding to a wave of recent recalls of toys with excessive lead, some local shoppers are trying to play it safe by choosing U.S.-made, wooden or fabric playthings. Others are hitting speciality toy stores, hoping higher prices will ensure higher quality. “I won’t buy it now if it’s made in China,” says Rebecca Brown of Charlotte, mom of a 5-, 3- and 1-year-old. “They don’t have their quality control down.”
-- The Charlotte Observer (N.C.)		 November 30
Report: Unregulated imports threaten consumer safety “Americans have come to depend on the CPSC and other regulatory authorities to ensure the safety and quality of the products they buy and the food they eat,” write the report’s authors, Robert L. Borosage, Eric Lotke, Christopher Rasmussen and Alex Carter. But due to lack of funding under both GOP and Democratic administrations since 1980, the agency can’t do its job, they added. Investigative reporter Marla Felcher made the same point to a meeting of Wal-Mart Watch activists at SEIU headquarters on Oct. 30.
-- Workday Minnesota		 November 30
Wal-Mart: Attorney retained in case lawsuit is filed The town is retaining Daniel E. Seaman’s law firm in the event a lawsuit is filed over approvals for a Wal-Mart supercenter. Board members voted unanimously at the end of a pre-Thanksgiving work session last week to retain Seaman Jones Hogan & Brooks, the firm in which town attorney Seaman is a member. The retainer is “in anticipation of litigation with regards to Wal-Mart,” Town Clerk Nancy Brooks said. (correction: the above story was inappropriately labeled a “Maine” site fight yesterday)
-- Lockport Journal (N.Y.)		 November 29
Supermarket’s third bid for ‘Tesco town’ store set to fail A third attempt to build an Asda superstore in Inverness looks set to fail with planners recommending the latest application be refused. 
-- Scotsman (UK)		 November 29
Duluth board rejects Wal-Mart’s appeal to build It looked like it would be a quick night of work for Duluth’s Zoning Board of Appeals on Wednesday. There was only one item on the agenda, an appeal from Wal-Mart that had been postponed from October. The retailer had applied for a building permit in August and had been turned down by the city’s former planning director, Shelley Stiebling, who cited Duluth’s recently adopted six-month moratorium on large-scale buildings. Wal-Mart wanted the board to overturn Stiebling’s ruling.
-- Atlanta Journal-Constitution		 November 29
Bakersfield City Council approves Wal-Mart Supercenters--again After reviewing voluminous documents and speaking with the experts, Bakersfield city councilman Harold Hansen said he’s convinced development should continue on two proposed Wal-Mart Supercenters.
-- 29 News (Calif.)		 November 29
Wal-Mart Supercenter gets final OK The City Council gave the green light to the Wal-Mart Supercenter at Mountain Avenue and Fifth Street in Ontario on Monday night. The unanimous 4-to-0 vote brought a conclusion to several months of hearings and more than three years of controversy surrounding the proposed project in northwest Ontario.
-- The Daily Bulletin (Calif.)		 November 29
Council to hear Wal-Mart zone request Dec. 11 The Corpus Christi Planning Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to approve a waiver for Wal-Mart officials to resubmit their plans for a Southside store that generated neighborhood opposition.
-- The Corpus Christi Caller-Times (Texas)		 November 29
Bredesen opposes Fisk’s sale of O’Keeffe collection for $30M Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen thinks Fisk University has entered into a bad deal by agreeing to sell half its ownership of an art collection donated by Georgia O’Keeffe for $30 million.
-- Associated Press via the Tennessean		 November 29
Wal-Mart `Conscientious Objectors’ Push Lawyer Hiring Wal-Mart, facing the largest sex-bias lawsuit in the U.S., has been criticized by institutional shareholders such as F&C Asset Management Plc and New York City pension funds arguing the retailer has violated U.S. labor laws and underpaid its workers...The diversity program, along with environmental ``sustainability efforts,’’ may persuade investors who have shunned the stock to change their minds. 
-- Bloomberg		 November 29
Wal-Mart promises neighbors it will quiet down Representatives from the Carson City Wal-Mart promised the store could keep quiet for three weeks until the city Planning Commission could re-evaluate neighbors’ complaints at its next meeting. Neighbors told commissioners during the meeting Wednesday that the noise from the store both early in the morning and late at night was getting better, but was still too much.
-- Nevada Appeal		 November 29
Shoppers file suit against Wal-Mart for 2005 ‘Black Friday’ pepper spray incident On “Black Friday” 2005, hundreds of shoppers flooded the Wal-Mart in Beaumont in the pre-dawn hours to take advantage of rock-bottom prices on laptop computers and other electronics. But the joyous shopping trip turned into a melee when a security officer shot pepper spray to try to subdue a crowd he claimed had become unruly. Now two years after the incident, two customers who say they were “assaulted” by the officer’s use of the irritant have filed a lawsuit against the store.
-- Southeast Texas Record		 November 29
Our View: ‘Tis the season to be … careful With more than 100 toy recalls in recent months, mostly due to lead-contaminated paints, shoppers are being forced to check their gift lists more than twice. That means reading labels, checking recall notices and, for many parents, avoiding toys from China, where most of the recalled toys were manufactured.
-- The Patriot Ledger (Mass.)		 November 29
Wal-Mart, Carrefour targeted in China blacklist of children’s products China has published a blacklist of 54 substandard children’s products sold in Beijing, including nine items that were on the shelves of international supermarket giants Wal-Mart and Carrefour. The blacklist included children’s glasses, toys, toothbrushes, cups, and baby carriages at Beijing department stores, wholesale markets, supermarkets and elsewhere, said the Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce.
-- CNN Money		 November 29
China lists substandard Wal-Mart, Carrefour goods China has published a blacklist of substandard toy jugs and children’s shoes sold at Wal-Mart stores and drawing pens from French retailer Carrefour in a quality sweep on children’s goods sold at Beijing supermarkets. China has been buffeted by food, drug and other product safety scares in past months. More than 20 million toys made there have been recalled worldwide over the past four months.
-- Reuters		 November 29
Letters to the Editor: Rights, Wrongs and Fairness of Subrogation in Serious Injury Cases Wal-Mart has the legal high ground in this matter as it has successfully pursued its claim to a federal appellate court. In so doing, however, it has also claimed the moral low ground. Wal-Mart argues that it has a fiduciary responsibility to its medical plan and shareholders, but this is mere obfuscation. Companies rarely resort to recovery from such tragedies, precisely because it is unseemly. The fact that Wal-Mart feels unrestrained and unrepentant in its pursuit for company justice is a shocking indictment of our culture and of this company.
-- Wall Street Journal		 November 29
David Nassar: Helping the Shanks: Wal-Mart’s Health Care Leaves One Family Desperate As Wal-Mart publicly touts its new health care plan and pays big dollars for holiday public relations campaigns in attempts to bolster its bad reputation, this story once again exposes the company’s poor business practices and total disregard for the health and welfare of its employees.
-- Huffington Post		 November 29
Injured Wal-Mart Employee Case Sparks Outrage, Donation Fund The case of a former Wal-Mart Stores Inc. employee left brain damaged and wheelchair-bound after a collision with a semi-trailer truck, then forced to return the damages awarded for her future medical care back to Wal-Mart, has stirred national outrage over a case seen as an insurance nightmare where Wal-Mart is the bogeyman...Wal-Mart Watch took action, establishing on Tuesday a donation fund for the family through its Web site, amid ongoing debates of legal and moral questions raised by the case. 
-- Springdale Morning News (Ark.)		 November 29
Wal-Mart faces new obstacles Duluth’s Zoning Board of Appeals meets Wednesday night to consider yet another item regarding the proposed Wal-Mart on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard.
-- Atlanta Journal-Constitution		 November 28
Wal-Mart Puts Stoughton Supercenter Plans On Hold Plans for Stoughton’s Wal-Mart Supercenter have been put on hold. Wal-Mart company officials sent a letter to city leaders on Monday, notifying them of the decision. The plan commission was supposed to consider a conditional land use permit for the company. Instead they were read the letter which stated, “As we seek to make the best businesses decisions for the long-term growth and success of our company, we are indeed reviewing all supercenter projects.”
-- Channel 300 (Wisc.)		 November 28
Wal-Mart appeals denial of store Wal-Mart will ask a Cowlitz County judge to find that Clark County’s commissioners took “arbitrary” and “illegal” action when they blocked plans for a proposed store in Salmon Creek. Commissioners trumped up problems with the site under pressure from unhappy constituents, the nation’s top retailer argues.
-- The Columbian (Wash.)		 November 28
WAL-MART: Attorney retained in case lawsuit is filed The town is retaining Daniel E. Seaman’s law firm in the event a lawsuit is filed over approvals for a Wal-Mart supercenter. Board members voted unanimously at the end of a pre-Thanksgiving work session last week to retain Seaman Jones Hogan & Brooks, the firm in which town attorney Seaman is a member. The retainer is “in anticipation of litigation with regards to Wal-Mart,” Town Clerk Nancy Brooks said.
-- Lockport Journal (Maine)		 November 28
Wal-Mart reviews area plan A corporate review of proposed Wal-Mart supercenters has hit Dane County. The Bentonville, Ark., discount retailer has asked the city of Stoughton to postpone a vote on a conditional-use permit for a 155,000-square-foot store at Highway 51 and Highway B on the city’s north side. 
-- Wisconsin State Journal		 November 28
Wal-Mart plans get nod from Ontario council, but for many residents, the store remains a hard sell Wal-Mart representatives said Tuesday they hope to break ground as soon as possible on the Supercenter at Mountain Avenue and Fifth Street. That could be as soon as three months from now, unless residents take their case against the store to Superior Court, which is a distinct possibility, city officials said.
-- The Daily Bulletin (Calif.)		 November 28
A high price to pay for low-cost shopping If you believe their TV ads, Wal-Mart is as American as apple pie. Lower costs mean a better life, as their tagline contends, right? But, here in Mill Creek, we’re taking a hard look at the high costs of absorbing another “low-price” Wal-Mart.
-- Seattle Times		 November 28

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