LITTLE ROCK — WHEN somebody in Arkansas starts off a sentence with, “This ain’t no lie,” you know you have about a 50-50 chance of hearing a whopper, and maybe a 90-percent chance of hearing a fishing story. But folks, honest, this ain’t no lie:
When the big Wal-Mart-the super store type, with lawnmowers and hamburger buns for sale at the same place-was being built a few years back, we went into the small neighborhood Wal-Mart next door and looked up our favorite cashier. Hope you get a job at the big store across the way, we said, sheepishly. We’d hate to miss a friendly face like yours.
Our favorite cashier looked confused. Why would she leave her current job? Just because the big Wal-Mart was being built was no excuse for closing the little one next door. And to this very day, both Wal-Marts are still open, still thriving, still within a pitching wedge of each other’s parking lot. Heck, they’ve just remodeled the little one at great expense, which tells you there are no plans to close it down anytime soon. It’ll be there for many more years yet.
In Arkansas, the Wal-Marts are bumping against each other.
We read the investigative piece in last week’s Wall Street Journal about the secret efforts to fund opposition to Wal-Marts springing up across the plains, fruited and otherwise. First reaction: Those secret efforts aren’t so secret anymore, not when they’re printed on the front page of the nation’s biggest paper. Second reaction: Those secret efforts have been about as effective as the ones targeting kudzu in the South. Which is to say, not very.
Some outfit named the Saint Consulting Group calls its staff “Wal-Mart killers.” The story goes that rival supermarket chains hire this firm for those Wal-Mart killers, who practice what they call “black arts.” They secretly run anti-development campaigns against the Arkansas-based company while their real clients get to stay out of the halogen spotlight of public attention. Folks in the neighborhoods where Wal-Mart wants to build (and even the local press) start thinking that local homeowners and union workers compose the opposition to the new Wal-Mart. Which helps with public relations.
Take, for good example, the town of Mundelein, Illinois. The WSJ’s investigation shows that Supervalu, a national grocer based in Minnesota, hired Saint to work behind the scenes to oppose a new Wal-Mart there. Typically when fending off a Wal-Mart, a Saint employee will go to the targeted city, use an assumed name, start flooding local pols with phone calls, and conduct something along the lines of a political campaign against the proposed superstore. And, most important of all, his efforts are kept clandestine. No need to go into detail, like, say, a superstore down the road is funding the whole show ’cause it wants to continue charging a few more pennies for diapers than Wal-Mart might.
In another example, Giant Foods-owned by a company based in Amsterdam-hired Saint to conduct operations against a Wal-Mart in Pennsylvania, and Giant even funded legal action against Wal-Mart through Saint’s employees. Not that Giant meant for its efforts to become public knowledge. It was all on the q.t.
Note to those who’d fight big, bad Wal-Mart in small communities, and tell the locals that it’s really their fellow townspeople who are fighting the company, you know, to save farmland or keep traffic at bay: You all might want to change your name from Giant Foods to something else, especially now that the world knows about the dirty tricks, and maybe consider selling to a company on these shores. At the very least, don’t let word about your involvement be outed by mere journalists. That’s bad form, as the Brits say. Or as the Americans say, that’s just stupid.
LARGE, global corporations will indeed fight their battles, and nobody should be surprised at dirty tricks. But this story should give you pause, Knowledgeable Buyer, next time you see a protest against Wal-Mart. Ask yourself: Who’s really behind the demonstrators? Are these folks really local homeowners upset about property values? Or are they hired hands drawing their paychecks from a rival superstore chain?
There are people who’ve never been in a Wal-Mart before, and look upon it as a matter of pride. Not long ago, at a conference for editorial writers in Little Rock, a guest speaker from Wal-Mart asked for a show of hands from those who’d never been in a Wal-Mart. One lady’s hand shot up. She seemed proud to raise her hand. She wouldn’t support such a company, by jingo. And wanted the room to know it.
We note that said young lady wasn’t from Arkansas, but the East Coast. If she wants to pay five bucks for a gallon of milk, more power to her. Most Arkies would like $3.14 better.
One more note: As for those who call themselves Wal-Mart killers, we look around and it’s obvious:
They think too much of themselves.
They’re not that good.
Editorial, Pages 12 on 06/22/2010