Obama support boosts Walmart’s expansion plan

[somone]

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7f8d9aaa-24c5-11e0-a919-00144feab49a.html

Obama support boosts Walmart’s expansion plan
By Jonathan Birchall in New York

Walmart, the largest US retailer by sales, has scored a significant breakthrough in its multiyear campaign to remove political obstacles to further US growth, winning the public endorsement of first lady Michelle Obama for a new food nutrition and health initiative. The effort will see the retailer reformulating its Great Value private label foods to reduce sodium and sugar content, with targets that will increase pressure on other food manufacturers to follow suit.

But Walmart also included a commitment to building stores in “underserved communities”, a reference to an urban growth strategy that is facing political opposition from labour unions. While it operates more than 4,000 stores across the US, Walmart has virtually no presence in the major cities of the west coast and north east...

The unusual high-profile support from the White House for a single company initiative reflects Walmart’s scale and role as an industry standard setter – it accounts for roughly one of every three dollars spent on groceries in the US. But it also represents a significant boost for the retailer as it seeks to win local political support for new stores in Democrat-run cities including New York, Washington, Baltimore and Los Angeles, following a deal last summer to start opening stores in Chicago.

The retailer announced plans for the first four Walmart stores in Washington in December, but is facing protests from union-backed groups who argue that Walmart’s non-union, low-cost model undercuts the benefits offered by unionised competitors such as Safeway...

[katnapped]

1. "Let us in, New York!!!!"

"Teh president says so, so stop fighting the inevitable!!!!" :sarcasm:

[madrchsod]

2. great value is a great value because it contains salt,sugar and kelp

i worked at a plant that makes food additives/binders. salt,kelp,and guar gum were the most used fillers

[spanone]

3. the first lady supporting better nutrition is a good thing.

misleading headline

[katnapped]

5. How is it misleading?

Other sources are saying the same thing--president helping to remove political barriers that are preventing Walmart from opening more stores

[Sonoman]

4. I went into a WalMart for the first time, last week.

Driving from Montgomery, AL, to Atlanta after that big ice/snow storm.

We bought 50# of cat litter, just in case we needed it for traction for our rented Camry (which is now classified as a 'Full Size' rental car).

What a miserable place. I hope to never see the inside of one of those 'stores', ever again.

I gave ten dollars to this hapless dude who was panhandling near the entrance of the store. I figured a guy could not get to a more miserable place than begging at the entrance of a store whose customers are either poor or insanely cheap.

Sonoman