Why Does Walmart Hate Atlanta? (houses, live, zoning)

[Nanosolar]

Seriously, it's pretty clear the political and business leadership of this city is trying to make it more transit and walkable friendly. Then you get Walmart trying to muscle its way into Atlanta and build these huge warehouses and huge empty parking lots.... This evil must be stopped.

[JoeTarheel]

Originally Posted by Nanosolar

Seriously, it's pretty clear the political and business leadership of this city is trying to make it more transit and walkable friendly. Then you get Walmart trying to muscle its way into Atlanta and build these huge warehouses and huge empty parking lots.... This evil must be stopped.

Walmart (or most any other retailer) doesn't care about transit or walkability unless forced to care about it. They are out to make money - period. It's really the city's (or the residents') responsibility to set it up so that these retailers HAVE to consider a more urban concept.

[Ant131531]

Agreed.

[gtcorndog]

Originally Posted by Nanosolar

Seriously, it's pretty clear the political and business leadership of this city is trying to make it more transit and walkable friendly. Then you get Walmart trying to muscle its way into Atlanta and build these huge warehouses and huge empty parking lots.... This evil must be stopped.

Yes. Evil, evil parking lots. I hear they represent a huge threat to this country. Pure evil.

[cittic10]

I don't understand why anyone shops there. The place is such a zoo and you have to do so much walking and it's not any cheaper than competing stores.
I avoid the place like the plaque.
I've watched walmart level so many forests since I've lived in the metro atlanta. It's sad.

It's pretty pathetic when tourists come to the US from overseas and they ask "where can I go see a walmart" so they can see how Americans "Live Better®"

[atlantagreg30127]

If you need to shop at a discount style store, at least do Target. They limit how closely they build stores to one another better than Walmart does and don't usually over-saturate a region, carry higher quality items, typically have better employees, and they give a percentage of their profits to local causes as well. Not (quite) the predators Walmart is known to be.

[Brian]

I don't think Walmart really hates Atlanta. Walmart's Eastern headquarters is located in Atlanta.

[tikigod311]

I try to avoid the Walmart hate wagon. I have always strongly preferred their bullseyed competitor, but I never liked the elitist hate that the so called "tolerant" spout.

But I really don't like their strong-arming or the back room deals with our city leaders* to get developments approved that do not follow zoning that is designed to make our city better.

You are losing a quasi-defender Walmart. I hope they are stopped.


*total assumption

[ATLTJL]

I'm kind of the opposite of you, tikigod.

I spend many years defending Wal-Mart to all the people who seemed to hate them for no real valid reason. I viewed Wal-Mart as a victim of size, figuring if the roles were reversed and Target was as big as Wal-Mart, people would hate them just as much.

I shopped at Wal-Mart for one reason and one reason alone: it's cheap. I also like the fact that most OTP Wal-Marts are 24 hour, so they are always open when I need them. I try to support any store that stays open 24 hours because I believe in the concept and I have worked crazy weird hours in my life and often I have found myself needing things at 2am.

Over time when I started making a bit more money, I realized that even though Wal-Mart is really cheap, I go there much less frequently. I started putting a value on my time, and Wal-Mart usually just isn't worth the hassle. Finding things can be a disaster and they never have enough registers open. Standing behind someone trying to figure out what WIC will pay for and what it won't at the register makes me want to pull my hair out, so I usually don't go at all. I still really appreciate that Wal-Mart stays open 24 hours, though.

I also understand how Wal-Mart is important for people who are really watching every penny and are willing to put up with some hassle to save that money.

Nowadays I don't think Wal-Mart is horrible or evil. I just think it's trashy, and I avoid it when I can, but even now I'll find myself at a Wal-Mart every couple of months or so.

[tikigod311]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

I'm kind of the opposite of you, tikigod.

I spend many years defending Wal-Mart to all the people who seemed to hate them for no real valid reason. I viewed Wal-Mart as a victim of size, figuring if the roles were reversed and Target was as big as Wal-Mart, people would hate them just as much.

I shopped at Wal-Mart for one reason and one reason alone: it's cheap. I also like the fact that most OTP Wal-Marts are 24 hour, so they are always open when I need them. I try to support any store that stays open 24 hours because I believe in the concept and I have worked crazy weird hours in my life and often I have found myself needing things at 2am.

Over time when I started making a bit more money, I realized that even though Wal-Mart is really cheap, I go there much less frequently. I started putting a value on my time, and Wal-Mart usually just isn't worth the hassle. Finding things can be a disaster and they never have enough registers open. Standing behind someone trying to figure out what WIC will pay for and what it won't at the register makes me want to pull my hair out, so I usually don't go at all. I still really appreciate that Wal-Mart stays open 24 hours, though.

I also understand how Wal-Mart is important for people who are really watching every penny and are willing to put up with some hassle to save that money.

Nowadays I don't think Wal-Mart is horrible or evil. I just think it's trashy, and I avoid it when I can, but even now I'll find myself at a Wal-Mart every couple of months or so.

Nah, I pretty much agree with everything you are saying. I agree, in many cases they are target of criticism and hate just because of their size / success.

My dislike for the company comes from their total disrespect for our local zoning laws. That's it.