"not a friend to anyone - try having your checkbook stolen and having a check written to them by someone else...I have! They are a bunch of cut throat mobsters if you ask me...I was harrassed plenty by them for nothing....but, hopefully have gotten everything under control...but, it wasn't the employees fault for not asking for proper identification!?! Although prices on some items are worthwhile...I find the company very arrogant in its practices...from employees...who get nothing but part time, no benefits, etc...treated worse than dirt. To a lot of their products...especially garden products...they know nothing about what they carry nor do they care...most things look as though you've taken a blow torch to them...and, yes, they are putting the small businesses out of business....listen to Alan Jackson's "The Little Man"...it tells the story of a lot of small to medium sized towns who've nearly disappeared due to these non-competitive giants."


"I have had a wonderful relationship with our local Wal-Mart. I coordinate a christmas program for underprivileged children and in the last 6 years they have given me over $7000 in cash and untold amounts of merchandise free. yes, they do hurt the small retailers and I hate that. But bottom line is, we the consumers, are the ones who made them the winners in the battle. If folks didn't shop at their stores, they would go out of business. So, I guess they're both, a friend and a foe. Smart thinking folks always make sure that they know their opponents weaknesses. If you don't like something they're doing, use your mouth and make sure the whole community knows about it!"


"I'm our Chamber of Commerce president, & although Wal-Mart comes across as a good guy, with "Business Leader of the Year" awards (where the Chamber got $500 in honor of our nominee) & small scholarships to local high schools, etc.,..I know that one of our local butchers has seen a 30% drop in sales since the Walmart Super Center (complete grocery store in there too) went in a year ago, another butcher gave up & closed, our Office Supply place is hanging on by a thread, our Sporting Goods shop will probably close before the year's out. They undercut their competition until it folds, then revert to their regular pricing."


"Wal-mart is a FOE! They arrived in my town, only after a huge ballot initative in which they spent over $250,000 to convince 7000 people to vote for them. I was on our planning commission then, and we tried to get them to design a decent store...not one of the ugly ones with products stored in the parking lots for sale. We did pretty well but we kept running across the corporate "we won't do that for you". When they opened they immediately hung huge banners even tho they knew it was against our sign policy. They even hung banners on the trunks of the tiny trees they had planted along the street - for Pepsi and Storm soda. Really really tacky. They gave a small amt of money to our Boys and Girls Club - just enough to "look good". Their trick is to run sales on one item to get people in and then raise the prices later as some of you have said. The first sale they ran was for sodas = something like $1.59 for a 12 pack! Yes they sell guns - we didn't have a gun dealer in town before so we are upset."