Wal-Mart Super Center In Hilo

[ericlp]

I think we shouldn't argue about these things.... It's not anyones fault here and your not gonna get anything changed here by venting about what a land holder is doing with it's land.

If you feel it's unfair ... Talk to the person that can change it for you.

Good Luck!

Let's keep things positive and post ON the TOPIC... Sheeesh... Or do we need to have another locked thread? Sigh...

I for one am kind of happy for super wall mart and maybe a sams club.... Even tho I don't shop there. I think even if they put in a new safeway it would do good the stores are too crowded ... Walmart sees this and will continue to expand if the market is there.

[haoleboy]

Haole Girl, when you get to know me better, you'll find I'm ignorant on a WIDE variety of subjects. Please don't limit my ignorance to OHHA nd DHHL. I can't even spell those things.

BTW, we're not related, are we?

Aloha
Richwhiteboy

"The pleasures of ignorance are as great, in their way, as the pleasures of knowledge." ~Aldous Huxley

[macuu222]

I believe a wal-mart superstore is a good thing. It will increase competition among foodstore chains, increase variety and ultimately reduce our prices. When your living from paycheck to paycheck like I am....saving money to put food on the table is the only thing that matters...

[Francesca]

My concern is the increase in traffic. I live not far from Prince Kuhio center area and it already takes quite a while for me to get from my house to the shopping areas. I can still go the "back" way to Home Depot and avoid traffic, but if there is a Super Walmart on the land that is vacant now, then it will be just that much harder to get around. Friday, we were driving down Puainako and a pedestrian was going faster than we were. The traffic congestion will just get worse.

Super Walmart, or not, I will continue to grocery shop at KTA. I like the local produce and products such as Mountain Apple brand. I like the people I shop with and the atmosphere in general. The prices are reasonable for what I buy: veges, fruit, ahi, milk, juice. I do go to Love's bread outlet because when they have my favorite whole wheat bread, it's only $2.19 instead of as much as $4.79.

I think it would be nice for people in Puna if there were a large grocery store or Super Walmart there, so they wouldn't have to drive all the way to Hilo and it would be nice for those of us living in Hilo because it would cut down on the traffic in the one shopping area from the Walmart Center to Safeway and Price Kuhio centers.

The other reason I don't like another big box store coming here is that it changes the unique small town atmosphere to the cookie cutter city atmosphere. I've driven across country quite a few times and you see town after town with the same stores with little difference. So, it seems like you aren't visiting anything new just same old cookie cutter towns. On occasion you do find a place that is different and it's so nice. I just hate to see Hilo or any place on the East side turn into just another cookie cutter town with all the same big box stores. It's already too much for that reason.



Edited by - francesca on 03/11/2007 11:55:31

[aprild]

Tahunatic is right about the extensive implications of Wal-Mart and the way they do business on a community. But there are even larger issues that make Wal-Mart a threat on a much larger, world scale. There is a really good documentary about the effect that they are having on America's manufacturers. They force companies to relocate to China in order to meet Wal-Mart's demands for prices they will pay to the manufacturers of goods. They are the first company to set prices for their vendors rather than vice versa. Of course, all this contributes hugely to the trade deficit. It is changing the face of America and the middle class is hard hit. Factory work used to be a good living for a person with a high school education--thanks to Unions. Now those jobs are done by Chinese workers who are paid a pittance and/or children in China and other countries. The Chinese government also subsidizes these industries. There is no way an American company can compete with wages that are so incredibly low. I think I read somewhere that some of these workers are paid 20 cents and hour and made to work 12 hour days.

Our whole way of life is being altered by Wal-Mart. One important thing to remember is that America is great because of the huge middle class (and free, public education). Now the middle class is being assaulted and we are morphing into the rich and the poor. I'm spending three months in Mexico right now--near Puerto Vallarta. I see every day what a country looks like with predominantly poor and rich. It sucks.

Please educate yourself about Wal-Mart. Your Safeway has union workers, I would bet. I know that one of the best jobs in Fort Bragg, CA, is working for Safeway, now that the mill has closed. Also, read up on Costco--they are a much better run company with a history of being better employers, better working conditions and higher pay.

I would much rather shop at Costco, personally.

Oh, the name of the documentary was "Is Wal-Mart Good for America." On PBS. They are not benign.

april

[Genxor]

If I am reading your response correctly , WALMART is contributing in making the poor poorer and the rich richer ?

WALMART with union employees ? WALMART would then have to raise prices, thus WALMART would not be in business.

While Costco is a nice store, you are not catering to the same clientele.

Francesca I understand your traffic concern since you are in the area . But the building has only begun in Hilo / Puna.

Planning , and plenty of it , is needed.

The current council, in my opinion, seems lost and confused.

Greg

[aprild]

Dear Greg,

I think that you are making quite a few assumptions about what I wrote instead of just reading what I wrote.

I never said Wal Mart should have a Union -- although that would be good for their employees. Costco does not have a Union, to my knowledge. I only mentioned Safeway as probably being Union. I was responding to someone who said that Safeway paid what the big box stores do--they don't, they pay better.

You didn't speak to the fact that the cheap goods we buy (and Wal Mart is NOT always cheapest!) are made possible on the back of human suffering. This is distasteful to me. It is also reprehensible to me that the America that I love and the democracy that I cherish is being inalterably changed due to the greed of a few. We will all pay to make the Waltons the richest people in, is it, the world. I think that sucks.

It was a Roosevelt, Franklin, I think, who said that capitalism without restraints was the biggest threat to democracy.

WalMart's impact on the America that we know and love is much deeper and far-reaching than simply being non-union and low-paying. As for Costco serving a different class... Perhaps. But on Maui, I see a wide spectrum of shoppers in Costco. I usually buy food there. I can't speak about BI as I've never shopped in the Costco there.

Watch the documentary and then we can discuss it.

Very sincerely yours,



april

[Kapohocat]

I just got two things to write -

1) the actual price of the lease to Wal Mart currently is almost nothing.

2) Cash N Carry has Diet pepsi (our drink of choice) for only 11 cents more than Wal Mart last week. It would take me about 2 gals of gas for one trip to Walmart - so about 60 2-liter Diet Pepsi's to make up the difference!

-Cat

[Hotzcatz]

Personally, I abhor Walmart and will not shop there. I will not even walk into their store. No matter what the price is, trash is still trash.

[haoleboy]

I also got two things to write.

You can't beat their deal on dog food and bird seed.

Personally, I abhor PBS documentaries and will not watch them. I will not even watch them with the mute button on. No matter what the price is, trash is still trash.

The HaoleQueen says that Wal Mart has a great selection of socks.

Aloha
Richwhiteboy

“Wal-mart... do they like make walls there?”-
Paris Hilton