A Walmart Grows in Brooklyn? Not if We Can Help It

If you can make it in New York City you can make it anywhere — unless you're Walmart. When the superstore tried to open years ago in Queens and Staten Island, New Yorkers told the company "Fuggedaboutit!" (Yeah, I know... someone had to say it.) Now Walmart wants to open its first NYC-based store in East New York, an underserved Brooklyn neighborhood that could very much use some affordable grocery stores. It's a neighborhood that could use jobs, too. But would a Walmart really be a good deal for Brooklynites? Let's examine Walmart's supposed benefits.

Affordable food: Yup, the food at Walmart is cheap. No denying that. And Walmart is even supposedly making an effort to do more sustainable sourcing, too. It's easy for me — a middle-class person living within walking distance from the nation's oldest food cooperative — to say "Cheap food at what cost?" But let's get real, food fighters. Affordability is a hurdle we haven't surmounted.

However, Walmart is not the solution. The big box store is full of food from exploited farmers and mass-produced processed food. It also threatens small businesses and the local, sustainable food projects that do exist. East New York Farms — a group that runs farmers' markets, CSAs, and urban farms — offers an excellent alternative to big box stores. I have a lot of faith in food stamp/farmers market' programs. We'll need more solutions like these if we really want to ward off the likes of Walmart.

Jobs: You know the deal: no unions — ever — and low wages. Good luck getting a decent benefits package.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has been vocal in her opposition to opening New York City to Walmart, but the City Council still needs to hear from the public and gauge New Yorkers' support (or lack thereof) for the proposed store. A hearing was scheduled for December only to be postponed for January — then a snowstorm prompted the City Council to reschedule the hearing yet again, this time for 1:00 PM on February 3 at Emigrant Savings Bank (49-51 Chambers Street, Manhattan).

Guess who won't be there? Executives from Walmart. They claim the City Council is unfairly targeting them when other big-box stores like Target and Lowe's have waltzed right into NYC with little resistance. Quinn told the New York Times, “If you’re proud of who you are, if you’re proud of your product, if you think you’re the best thing since sliced bread, why wouldn’t you come and tout it? They’re not showing up because they don’t have the stuff they say they have. They don’t have the data to refute what myself and others are saying.”

Instead, Walmart is pouring its resources into a media campaign via radio, YouTube, a Web site, and direct mail — platforms where Walmart doesn't have to field difficult questions from a skeptical public. Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union President Stuart Appelbaum is calling the company's bluff. "Walmart can’t buy a fig leaf large enough to hide all the harm they would do to our communities and workers if they were to open here. New York is not for sale.”

If you are a New Yorker who can't make it to the hearing but still want your testimony recorded, please send your remarks to mhickey@council.nyc.gov. New Yorkers can also sign our petition asking the City Council to oppose building a Walmart in New York City.

Photo credit: Inoyamanaka79 via Wikimedia Commons