Hercules thinks outside the big-box - City changes image by using eminent domain to thwart Wal-Mart

Contra Costa Times ^ | 5/28/6 | Tom Lochner

[GeronL]

There are economic reasons for all that. I just don't hink cities and states should be offering special deals to companies and especially sports teams

[FlingWingFlyer]

Then a competitor will beat them.

Exactly!!! I just didn't want to get started into Business 101 and "The Free Market For Dummies" with another poster. I thought maybe he'd figure it out for himself.

[Jotmo]

When WM achieves the sort of market dominance they are striving for, watch what happens to those "low prices"!

Yea, them Walmart "Shopping Enforcement Officers" visiting you too?

Sucks, doesn't it?

[durasell]

There are economic reasons for all that. I just don't hink cities and states should be offering special deals to companies and especially sports teams



The "special deals" have economic reasons as well. Right now NY and CA are competing for the the 21st century high tech business. Note all of the recent Bloomberg speeches putting down Middle America in regard to Intelligent Design, etc. I suspect that's what that is all about -- attracting companies to the city and state.

[GeronL]

When it comes to government and economics I think there should be a wall of separation

[GeronL]

I think they should set one policy for all businesses. If they give $4 million in subsidies to Outdoors Unlimited then they need to give it to all the companies

[statered]

dumb, dumb, dumb. Wally sells the same crap you gt aywhere else.

[durasell]

I think they should set one policy for all businesses. If they give $4 million in subsidies to Outdoors Unlimited then they need to give it to all the companies



They kinda do. Eventually all companies come back to lean on local gubmints. The new company sets the benchmark and then one by one the others start lining up looking to see what kind of deal they can get.

[Richard-SIA]

Not true.

Quality products ARE available, but you have to look for them.

They are usually most easily found in small specialty shops, not Big-Box stores where volume is all they care about, and anything on sale is probably a discontinued model.

[El Gato]

When WM achieves the sort of market dominance they are striving for, watch what happens to those "low prices"!

Don't look now, but they already have in most areas. Where I live, there are 3 SuperWalMarts. They have only a single Target and a rather run down K-Mart (one of very few left in Texas, and talk about Junk..) as competition, other than a slew of even cheaper Dollar General, Family Dollar, Dollar Tree type stores as completion. In groceries they do have 4 HEBs stores as competiton. I really don't like the either the WalMarts or all but one of the HEBs for groceries (the farthest away one of course).

They do have two other Major competitors. The PX and the Commissary. :) As I understand it, the PX doesn't really compete on the low end stuff, but I'm not eligible to shop there, so I can't say for certain.

[El Gato]

Jap cars, camera's and appliances were cheap once too, then they got enough market share to ramp up their prices and compete head on with U.S. products.

They no longer compete on price, they compete on quality. And win. They produce the more popular models in the United States.

[GeronL]

Small business gets nothing but higher taxes to pay for the city to bring in the 'next big thing'. Down here in Dallas we have a Mayor who has visions of public spending turning the city into utopia

[durasell]

Small business gets nothing but higher taxes to pay for the city to bring in the 'next big thing'.


That's true. Unfair, but true.

[GeronL]

I have changed my political opinions a bit. I went from being 'conservative' to economic liberationist. Quite a leap. So you can imagine what I think of just about anything government does.

[durasell]

The advantage that a small business has is being nimble. They can move much more quickly than large businesses and expend far less money. The key to this is imagination and seeking out opportunities.

Anyway, I'm off to work myself. Take care.

[stuck_in_new_orleans]

Hercules once had a reputation as a city that never saw a development it didn't like. But as Wal-Mart has learned in the past few months, times have changed.

Today, this city of about 24,000 residents stands as a national symbol of small-town audacity

uhhhh...yeah....a town of 24,000 is a real trend setter

[Nova]

"I went from being 'conservative' to economic liberationist"

So please do explain to us mere "conservitives."

[GeronL]

No interference whatsoever in the economy. Government shouldn't have a monopoly on anything including fire departments and libraries. User fees would pay for literally everything.

I want government 99% smaller.

[Nova]

Thanks. It sounds a bit too conservative to me. But I'd have to think on it a bit.

[GeronL]

Think about it. In SF they had a study, a committee and then a debate on how to clean up a 4 block area.

How much bureaucracy does it take to clean up private property?

None, the owner just goes out and does it... after the wife nags him long enough