We've Got a Winner

The winning slogan in the Campaign for America’s Future contest is: "Wal-Mart: Killing Local Businesses One Main Street at a Time." For every $5,000 raised, this slogan can be published for one month on a billboard less than one mile from Wal-Mart’s Bentonville, Ark., World Headquarters.

"Wal-Mart: Killing Local Businesses One Main Street at a Time" isn’t just a slogan, it’s a reality. Within the first five years of Wal-Mart’s arrival in nearly 1,800 US counties, an average of 4 small businesses, 1 mid-sized store and 1 large store go out of business. [1] Rather than generating substantial new business, Wal-Mart takes 84% of its business from existing stores, closing down stores on Main Streets across America. [2]

It’s time to stand up for Main Street and for the hardworking entrepreneurs that make the American economy work for working families. And, it’s time to stand against Wal-Mart, the model “low road” corporation in the global economy -- a company that pockets millions in public subsidies, while providing poverty wages to workers, buying sweatshop products from China and driving countless small businesses into bankruptcy.

The loss of these local merchants has multiple effects upon our communities. Local businesses return more to communities than big-box retailers. The Business Alliance for Local Living Economies compiled a number of studies that show for every $100 spent at a local independent company approximately $45 goes to the community. On the other hand, if you spend $100 at a corporate chain like Starbucks, only $13 goes to the community.

They also did a study on charitable giving and determined, "small firms give an average of more than two and a half times the amount per employee than do medium or large firms (small firms give $789 per employee, medium sized firms $172, and large firms $334)."

We live in a big-box nation, but our daily lives revolve around friends and family in our local communities. When we shop at a big-box retailer like Wal-Mart, we hurt our neighbors employed there, especially when we remain silent about the conditions they work in. They deserve better wages and benefits. We also hurt our neighbor-merchants who depend on us for their livelihoods when we take our business elsewhere.

So what’s the solution? We need to watch out for each other and speak up. When our neighbor benefits from better wages, our community benefits. When we buy local and small businesses prosper, our community benefits. We may live in big-box America, but for the most part we live in small towns, and small town people - and all Americans for that matter - look out for each other.