Municipal Art Society Asks: Why Do We Hate WalMart and Love Trader Joe’s?

Perhaps because Wal*Mart abuses its workers, suppliers, and is an envioronmental disaster.

I encourge anyone who thinks that Wal*Mart is “good” to spend five minutes to learn the facts about its horrendous business practices.

http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/facts/

Trader Joes pays its associates a living wage, works fairly with suppliers, and provides unique value to the market in that 80% of what they sell is their own brand. TJs also encourages re-use and recycling. And TJ’s is inexpensive.

This is why many people “like” TJs and do not like Wal*Mart.

BTW, TJs has some of the least expensive groceries around. Much cheaper than the surrounding competition, but of excellent quality. Those who say that TJs is for “rich” people should look at the register tape after a shopping trip to TJs. They are a welcome addition to the nabe, in terms of their business practices, quality and pricing.

Publius, I totally agree with you on all you say. But when i go there I don’t look at the cash register tape, i look at the clientele. They aren’t exactly a place where people can go with foodstamps to save money buying bulk for a hungry family. If you look where they locate their stores, they are most always in relatively affluent areas. I’d call it bargains for the birkenstock set. This is not meant to be negative…just an observation of reality.

Say what you will, but Wal-Mart happens to be at the forefront of environmental initiatives right now.

While not a big fan of Wal-Mart, I find it hard to argue against a company that permits lower-income people to afford the sort of items that the middle/upper class takes for granted. We should have flat screen TVs because we make a lot of money, but let’s keep them out of the hands of the poor?

If you’re against Wal-Mart’s practices, how do you propose to offer lower-income folks the same prices that Wal-Mart does now?

Walmart really isn’t that bad…Been in plenty of them from VA to TX. Everything is affordable, etc, as has been mentioned above. Even their stores which carry groceries are usually well-stocked and at good prices. Stop compaining about them, buy some of their shares, and vote.

Brooklynite, thanks for informing me, I didn’t know that TJ’s accepted food stamps. That is good to hear. I am not a fan of Walmart, but I have to say that one needs to be delusional to think that TJ’s is anything but BAD for mom and pop stores nearby, not to mention local chains like Key Foods. Sure competition is healthy, which is why I am not against TJ’s, but you can’t deny it is going to hurt all the other neighborhood grocery stores. Especially small grocers on court street who were formerly the source of organic foods for the neighborhood. Which brings us back to the main question: Aren’t TJs and WalMart morally equivalent in terms of the health of the neighborhood stores? I say they are. And the only reason people might disagree with me is because they personally like TJ’s products and want to shop there because it is a store for them rather than “those people” who shop at WalMart. It is all about perception of the brand, not about commercial reality.

If I want some good extra virgin olive oil, fresh mozarella, or some organic fruits and veggies, and i lived in cobble hill, I might have gone to a local Italian food store. But now I might go to TJ’s for their house brand. This is the sort of thing that makes TJ’s a threat to local boutique businesses in a way that WalMart isn’t.
Let me give you all a parable to this situation: I went to school in Ann Arbor, Michigan. When Starbucks opened, there were actual vehement protests against it. Why? People viewed Starbucks as an evil corporation that would kill local coffee shops (most actually chains themselves). Well, what do you think happened a few years later when Ben and Jerry’s opened a shop *right* next door to the local ice cream shop? Same vocal anti-corprate protests? Nope! Nothing. No protests. Why? because those “activist” people viewed Ben and Jerry’s as a “benevolent” company that couldn’t be guilty of any wrong doing, even as they were engaging in an overtly hostile move towards a beloved local business. This is the reason why I think many “anti-corporate” types are just as brainwashed as the people they criticize for patronizing the “wrong” businesses. If you are against corporate expansionism and hegemony, you have to recognize it in all its forms.

I think that trader joe’s does not compete with with mom and pop stores as much as places like walmart does. TJ has their own brand of things and they specialize in prepared foods which in my opinion you don’t see much of in places like key food etc. I still have to go to key food for things as well. TJ isn’t super store like walmart that sells EVERYTHING from TVs to tylenol to toys to jewelry. All of the little ‘grocery stores” in the neighborhood are mostly for convenience, not your everyday shopping, unless you want to pay $4 for a half gallon of milk.

Yea trader joe’s is a corppration but so is key food, met food, etc (which tons of people are not happy with their service there). In my opinion trader joe’s is a nice addition b/c it is providing us with options that we didn’t have before. Plus it has a lot of fair trade food which people are interested in buying. I’ll still go to sahadi’s for my hummus, esposito for my meat, etc.

I think that TJ doesn’t upset people b/c it is a smaller market. When people think of walmart they think of it as taking over the world. Walmart was able to get Tide to make a “hand washing” detergent b/c the chinese were not buying the regular detergent as it is more popular in china to hand wash yoru clothes. Talk about having some pull.

my2cents… I also went to UofM (small world) and was there for when Caribou Coffee closed on state st and the starbucks began popping up all over the place. It was pretty sad. Still don’t understand why people want to pay that much more for their coffee. Maybe it was a “name brand” thing. However I was happy when Ben & jerry’s came to campus. Not because I’m a fan, but because I hated stucchi’s ice cream and washtenaw dairy (amazing) was far from campus.

The first poster hit the nail on the head. TJ’s is for rich people and WaMa is for not so rich people. The MAS is so completely full of shit, only the most shit-filled could possibly think they do anything remotely useful.

why does MAS get all this credit? They do nothing. They are truly full of shit. The Landmarks Preservation Commission saved Grand Central, actually the US Supreme Court saved Grand Central. The MAS filled a train full of society snobs, was that all that useful? Oh sure, the City lawyers who argued the case were just window-dressing for Jackie O. Please!

I love Jackie, but the MAS has been trotting out her image as their official mascot for what? forty years? It is a tired act. Can you really understand any position that the MAS has stood for in the past twenty years? Have your read their “opinion” on Atlantiic Yards? It is Gobbley-goop. Almost hillarious if you read it out loud. Worthy of a double-talk comedian. You need a decoder ring to understand it.
it is Skull and Bones meets Laurel and hardy. Plus, unlike other organizations, they do not give one cent in charitable assistance. they are 100% self-serving. Have they ever given five dollars to a struggling art group or home owner? I do not think so. All they have is snob-appeal and that is a pretty thin resume in my humble opinion. Who needs them?

to my2cents,,,when did putting Key Food out of biz become a BAD thing? They are the most expensive place to shop for miles (and they sell mostly garbage and are rude). While i agree that its important to support mom n pop, when did just being in biz for a long time make a store a great store. sometimes, there’s no where else to shop, sometimes it’s charging too much, sometimes its underpaying workers. and many times they are run by jerks (yes, some nyers love their morning retail abuse along with their crappy coffee). Are there stores who will go out because TDs moved in? Of course, but it’s because they were too expensive to begin with and did not offer enough of an enjoyable shopping experience to combat that. so if that guy has to close his bodega, yes i feel bad for his family, but how many families will live better because they can shop at TDs?…where they can pay LESS and, actually enjoy varied dining options, instead of the generic mac n cheese from key food?
btw, if u step inside TDs during the week, u will see that its a total mix of people from every culture and every socio-economic background. :)
walmart is a completely diff animal, AND the toughest argument to pick a side on. whether walmart is your only option for employment or your only option for food and merchandise, it is giving u a chance at a better life to those who dont have a choice…which is great. then, it has terrible labor practices and puts the others out of biz. its really a 50-50 issue.

I also went to U of M and no one I know would go to Ben & Jerry’s over Stucchi’s.

By the way, what is “TD’s”? It’s Trader Joes, not Trader Djoes. Am I missing something?

This is Brookln heights. Snob central. “Where even the rich live badly”. What a weird little neighborhood, no?