Read a Forbes article on an exhaustive economics study that concluded Walmart's impact on the economy has reduced the overall Consumer Price Index inflation rate by an average of 1% per year over the last 20 years.TexasCajun wrote:Having Walmart come to your town isn't necessarily a bad thing (unless you own the local hardware store or a clothing store) for your town. They have lots of stuff at reasonable prices. They aren't perfect & could do a lot of things better, but they're not some evil incarnation. The time to really be concerned about Walmart is if they decided to leave your town.
Even if you choose not to frequent Walmart, you still benefit directly from their influence in keeping overall prices down. After all, other businesses have to compete with Walmart too. For example, if you are one of those people who say, "I won't buy cheap Chinese junk", you are still benefiting on your American-made purchases when the American producer is under pressure to remain competitive on the price/quality/value continuum.