It's been a little while since we've heard anything about Wal-Mart's mission to further capitalize on the fruits of slave labor by opening a big box store in NYC, and now we know why: the much-maligned retailer has given up on opening its first local location in the Gateway II development in East New York. And once it realized that was futile, the company muted its heavy public relations push. "They’re all but packed it up and left," one consultant tells the Times. But don't be fooled! NYC remains a highly attractive, target-rich environment in Wal-Mart's ubiquitous eye$.
"New Yorkers want us here, and residents continue to go out of their way to shop our stores outside the city,” a Wal-Mart spokesman told the Times. Sadly, he's right—Wal-Mart says New Yorkers spent than $215 million in 2012 at Wal-Mart stores in the suburbs of NYC, and a NY Times survey found that 62 percent of city residents think Wal-Mart should be allowed to open within the city limits.
But the company has faced stiff opposition from labor rights groups and local politicians, many of whom are running for mayor. Both City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio have been outspoken critics of Wal-Mart. Quinn says, "As long as Wal-Mart’s behavior remains the same, they’re not welcome in New York City. New York isn’t changing. Wal-Mart has to change." Wal-Mart's most recent bad press stems from the company's shady relationship to the Bangladesh factory where at least 112 workers were killed in a horrific fire last November.
Just last year, Wal-Mart argued that it was important to open locations in low-income communities like East New York because residents there have less access to the groceries and affordable merchandise that Wal-Mart brings. In response, Bertha Lewis, a longtime activist who you may recall from the ACORN smear campaign, had this to say:
You see how despicable these people are. You’re going to try to polarize by class, right? Their strategy now is urban expansion, which is code word for black and brown neighborhoods, poor neighborhoods, places that they believe are not as powerful politically, that have high unemployment and poverty, so that they can come in and be a predatory retailer.
For years, a red line was drawn around these neighborhoods, and they didn’t have access to credit. It’s almost the same language now. It’s, ‘Aww, you don’t have access to fresh food,’ and, ‘aww, you don’t have access to affordable goods. Let Walmart help you. It’s a cynical race-based ploy. What they didn’t count on is that we’re not here for a Walmart plantation. There was full employment on plantations, but we’re not going to do that here.
Nevertheless, NYC remains solidly in Wal-Mart's crosshairs. An unidentified source familiar with the company's plans says Wal-Mart is "now interested in sites already zoned for retail to minimize conflict with public officials." And if there's one thing Wal-Mart excels at, it's, uh, "minimizing conflict" with officials!
