Liza Featherstone (who wrote this book that you should all read) has been interviewing folks at Costco with Wal-Mart in mind. As someone interested in industrial relations, I thought this was interesting: In an interview, Costco CFO Richard Galanti told me that by offering higher pay, Costco can hire “better-quality employees.” To Galanti, workers are […]

A change in fortunes for Responsible Growth for Northcross is not the victory the group wanted — preventing a Wal-Mart from being built — but an announcement this week that Wal-Mart would build a 99,000 square foot store is good news. The citizens originally faced a proposed 225,000 square foot behemoth. From The Austin Chronicle: […]

If you have young children like I do, the only movies you get to see in the movieplex are cartoons. Therefore, I was already kind of psyched to see Pixar’s WALL-E. I mean it has to be better than “Horton Hears a Who,” right? Little did I know. This is from the MSNBC review: As […]

From a Tampa, Florida area newspaper: The temporary Wal-Mart Hiring Center had more than 2,000 jobseekers hoping to fill its 350 open positions in time for the new Supercenter’s opening in August, according to one of the new Supercenter’s co-managers. I loathe the idea of now having to tread through yet more blog posts telling […]

How do you really feel about Wal-Mart? Here’s your chance to express your true feelings — pro and con — about the world’s largest retailer. Write whatever you like in the comments section and engage your fellow readers in the conversation. Jeff Hess: Have Coffee Will Write.

Wal-Mart took their credit cards when they lived beyond their means, and can now employ them all as greeters in their old age.

By popular demand (me) Walmart Watch has created a nice list of books about Walmart. You can view the list here. An interesting internet phenomena is that book links now take you to a book store (in this case Powell’s) rather than to the publisher’s web site. Apparently in the realm of books the publisher’s […]

The Financial Times notes that Wal-Mart has formally confirmed the locations of the first four Marketside boutique grocery stores around Phoenix, Arizona. The words on the website promise great things. But then flacks always do. Can you imagine Wal-Mart proclaiming of one of its supercenters: Our associates are passionate about food — and about delivering […]

Readers of my other blog — Have Coffee Will Write — know that one of my greatest blog assets is my dad who regularly fills my email inbox with laugh and thought provoking bits of Internet wisdom. This morning I found this Wal-Joke waiting for me. A manager at Wal-Mart had the task of hiring […]

Florida to Buy Sugar Maker in Bid to Restore Everglades In a deal that environmental groups said would be the largest ecological restoration in the country’s history, a plan for the state to buy the nation’s largest producer of cane sugar was announced Tuesday by the governor and officials of U.S. Sugar Corporation. … Environmental […]

Because I spent most of the ’90s editing environmental magazines, I’m more encouraging when corporations attempt to improve their bottom line by cutting costs associated with procurement, distribution, energy consumption and waste management. Each tiny step is a plus because total commitment just won’t happen. What’s total commitment? The absolutely best action any totally committed […]

From the NY Times Home Depot’s program, which will accept any maker’s bulbs, will bring relatively convenient recycling within reach of most households. Mr. Jarvis estimated that 75 percent of the nation’s homes are within 10 miles of a Home Depot. “We’re trying to do the right thing,” he said. “Some of the things that […]

The Washington Post yesterday looked at how the Wal-Mart Effect has played out in suburban Landover Hills, Maryland, a suburb of Washinton D.C. The news there is good with local retailers reporting little or no change in their business. The Post asks: When Wal-Mart Moves In, Neighborhood Businesses Suffer. Right? Reporter Ylan Q. Mui does […]