Eureka Mayor Frank Jager: “There’s a lot of controversy over big box retailers. But this Wal-Mart — our Wal-Mart — I think is going to be different. It’s going to be something that’s involved in the community and really help us out.”
Andrew Goff has all the highlights of the opening ceremony. The doors open tomorrow, as a new economic dawn accompanies the new political order in Humboldt County.
Apparently they will eventually sell diet Squirt.
Is it appropriate that the high school ROTC provide security for a private company? Even if it is merely ceremonial?
Lastly, I really find the first comment in the NCJ blog thread offensive, even if he or she is on the side of the angels. I think other Wal-Mart opponents should chime in their objections as well.
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June 12, 2012 at 3:28 pm
deansmith@yahoo.com
Your Wal-Mart, not mine. I don’t buy mexican chinese crap.
June 12, 2012 at 3:46 pm
Anonymous
Sounds like Frank believes in Benevolent Corporations. Pay no attention to the deserted south wing of that mall…
June 12, 2012 at 4:21 pm
Eric Kirk
What Frank believes in is his constituency’s approval. Wal-Mart will probably do quite well, and spread out into those deserted areas of the mall. I won’t be going there, and I’ll probably avoid the mall altogether whenever I can. But I’m probably in the minority.
June 12, 2012 at 4:23 pm
Anonymous
I am sure NJROTC was not for security per say.
June 12, 2012 at 4:27 pm
Eric Kirk
Maybe it was for security per say, but probably not per se.
June 12, 2012 at 5:04 pm
Joel Mielke
I cannot imagine what Mayor Jager is talking about. Why would our WalMart be “different”?
June 12, 2012 at 5:19 pm
Anonymous
see Joel has no imagination
June 12, 2012 at 6:00 pm
Bolithio
I buy Mexican Chinese crap, just not from Walmart.
June 12, 2012 at 6:10 pm
Joel Mielke
Eric, Andrew heard the complaints and deleted the first comment.
June 12, 2012 at 6:20 pm
HUUFC
Good grief, don’t like it, don’t shop there.
June 12, 2012 at 6:48 pm
713
what is the difference between the crap you buy at target, kmart, or walmart? somebody please explain this to me.
June 12, 2012 at 8:33 pm
Anonymous
Quick, buy your Chinese stuff at the big hammer!
June 12, 2012 at 8:39 pm
Eric Kirk
Good grief, don’t like it, don’t shop there.
Don’t plan to. In fact, I don’t plan to return to the mall at all now that Wal-Mart is opening. Most of the stores with character have left.
June 12, 2012 at 9:45 pm
Anonymous
“Is it appropriate that the high school ROTC provide security for a private company? Even if it is merely ceremonial?”
Might as well. Providing security for private companies is what our military is about all over the world. The private multi-national resource extractors need protection from those pesky locals.
June 13, 2012 at 6:31 am
moviedad
Whatever dis-empowers the citizenry is king in the New American Century.
There won’t be any new “local” stores opening up whose products fall into the same categories as those supplied by WalMart.
It will be a slow, steady process, but local stores will be gone and only the giants will be left to battle it out for the remaining consumers.
What bothers me about it all is that these systems are weakening the country. If all of our goods have to come around the world, we’ll eat up the resources in transportation. It’s common knowledge that local, regional supplies of food and manufactured goods make local economies stronger and less vulnerable to global catastrophes. To the upper-corporate-classes anything that goes against the homogenization of the American people into one big non-questioning mass of unthinking Serfs; is anti-American.
As usual when it comes to propaganda, the opposite is true. Walmart doesn’t serve the poor; it serves the rich.
June 13, 2012 at 7:29 am
Anonymous
U$A, where it’s cheaper to buy a banana covered with chemicals produced in heavy industry that’s been shipped to you from 5,000 miles away, than to buy a banana grown with organic fertalizers in your own state. Insanity.
June 13, 2012 at 7:33 am
Dave Kirby
You righteous anti Wal Mart folks. How many of you elitists shop on line? How many jobs does Amazon provide here in Humboldt? I don’t recall Wal Mart having to have EMTs standing by in the parking lot of their warehouse because the temperature in their literal “sweat shop” was so hot employees were passing out as Amazon did. Eric would you please enlighten us as to which stores in the mall had “character” and why they couldn’t keep the doors open. And you call yourselves progressive. I guess poor people aren’t smart enough to make their own decisions.
June 13, 2012 at 7:34 am
Anonymous
Fire frank jager.
June 13, 2012 at 7:36 am
Anonymous
Dave, other retailers and people’s shopping habits are totally beside the point. Your argument has nothing to do wiht walmart, just as walmart has nothing to do with serving “poor people”.
June 13, 2012 at 8:09 am
Anonymous
Dave, I am anti Wal-Mart. I am not an elitist. I consider Estelle and yourself to be elitists. You sell land to pot growers. Elite. Estelle is HumCPR. Elite.
“Walmart doesn’t serve the poor; it serves the rich.”
June 13, 2012 at 8:25 am
Joel Mielke
WalMart offers an efficiency that is certainly less environmentally damaging than the tradition lots-of-small-shops model.
And it’s a good question, Eric: which stores in the mall had “character”?
On the other hand, those tasteful consumers in Redway and Eureka who put all of those lovely, inflatable, illuminated, sweat-shop-made Xmas “decorations” out for display every year will simply buy more crap because now it’s cheaper.
June 13, 2012 at 8:43 am
Eric Kirk
Dave, they can make their own decisions. And I can make mine. My decision is to put information out about how destructive Wal-Mart has been to local economies across the country.
The stores which had character? The costume shop, I don’t remember the name, but they took a different theme seasonally. The clothing shop opposite Osh Kosh or whatever it’s called which used to actually sell American-made brands. The theater. The toy store. I think they went under because they didn’t have the usual names you find in malls across the country. Translate – they weren’t chains.
Borders went under because people don’t read books, but their demise is good for local book stores. I don’t know why Hometown Buffet went under, but I’m not mourning that loss.
Some links re Wal-Mart.
http://www.opposewalmart.com/links.html
June 13, 2012 at 9:40 am
Anonymous
yeah but eric we gotta keep in mind economic factors. you need to factor in more economics into your reasoning. What about the economics of wage slaves? That’s sarcasm. This is not: oh that you were as sensible about the environment, to which there are no takebacks, and to which you are a participant.
Could you please answer me this? What do you think a typical person who will be alive 300 years from now will think of YOU, given the amount of information available on the internet about YOU? You are a decision maker surrounding natural resource consumption and opens space management (and development). The results of yoru decisions make waves.
June 13, 2012 at 12:30 pm
HUUFC
Just got back from Wal-Mart, it’s a typical Wal-Mart, great what they have done with the old Gotshalks, hundreds of people were there, very busy.
It is store #5629 all of you that hate it had better spend your energy somewhere else.
Borders went under because it was a poorly run corporation, I would check out the product there and buy it on Amazon or E-Bay that probally didn’t help them either.
June 13, 2012 at 7:00 pm
WalMart Stupidity
So is the appropriate corollary by Mr. Jager that it is a good idea to send jobs overseas. My prediction. In three to four years we will see the closing of Eureka Natural Foods or the Eureka Co-op. Rays will be gone soon. Kmart will say goodbye. Wonder if Pierson’s will make it. Certainly not if Home Depot (or similar) comes in. But no worries, all those people can just fill in at minimum wage, part time, at WalMart… great idea Frank.
June 13, 2012 at 7:12 pm
salmon girl
hee hee hee the new walmart has a humboldt facebook page where you can leave comments like “Walmart shitty wages and crap made by child slavery”
June 13, 2012 at 7:14 pm
salmon girl
http://www.facebook.com/Walmart120
June 13, 2012 at 7:45 pm
Anonymous
Gross
June 14, 2012 at 5:30 am
moviedad
For me the biggest negative about Walmart is the homogenization or our “culture”. Seriously, Every town looks exactly the same. With the takeover of local business by the most common corps, you can’t tell Peoria, Illinois, from Santa Barbara, CA.
You could say there’s no such thing as American culture, but there used to be differences in towns. Not anymore. This is what bothers me as a person living in this time. We’re being turned into the Anti-American’s version of America.
(Yes, “Out-Sourcers” are Anti-Americans.)
June 14, 2012 at 6:26 am
Bolithio
Ill never understand why people want to use social media to look at products and retailers.
June 14, 2012 at 6:32 am
Bolithio
@ 7pm “But no worries, all those people can just fill in at minimum wage, part time, at WalMart….”
This is pretty much a bunk argument. I know people who work at the CO-OP and Eureka Nat’ies. None of them are full time and barley above min wage. Id wager big that most business, from Adel’s to Target keep full time employment to the minimum extent possible, pay at or close to min wage, no over-time, no benefits, ect…
Im not supporting Walmart here, or Boo’ing the other businesses, Im just saying thats pretty much the way it is.
June 14, 2012 at 6:51 am
Dave Kirby
8:09…Ive been out of real estate for years. Got tired of dealing with twenty something year old jerks with more money than god and the manners of pigs. They as many of the denizens of these blogs have never done an honest days work in their lives. They certainly don’t need to shop at Wal-Mart.
June 14, 2012 at 7:34 am
Anonymous
“Im not supporting Walmart here, or Boo’ing the other businesses,”
…except that you just essentially supported walmart by booing other businesses. Flexing your knowledge of the obvoius accomplishes what in this case? Walmart is at the forefront of multinational child slave labor and abhorant industry practices. It’s beside any point to remind people that locally run businesses pay minimum wage as well. That’s not the point, and compared to walmart…well….there is no comparison, and that’s the point. “but…but…”
June 14, 2012 at 7:40 am
Anonymous
“With the takeover of local business by the most common corps, you can’t tell Peoria, Illinois, from Santa Barbara, CA.”
internatioally as well. I know a few musicians who tour in europe every year (seperate travelers). Their routine takes them from 3-5 countries per visit over the course of anywhere from a few weeks to a couple months, and they’ve been doing it since finishing college in the late 90′s. They unanimously describe the same thing, homogenization of first world cultures. The streets of european countries aren’t just looking more and more like eachother, but more and more like the united states (and therefore vice versa). Russia not nearly as much, but italy, spain, france, the uk are becoming gentrified izones along with the rest of the “connected” world.
June 14, 2012 at 8:21 am
Anonymous
>>Every town looks exactly the same. With the takeover of local business by the most common corps, you can’t tell Peoria, Illinois, from Santa Barbara, CA.<<
This is the road we are now driving down with the new board of supes.
It's a sad day in Humboldt County.
June 14, 2012 at 11:28 am
Jane
@Bolithio. Reading both arguments, I understand why one would think that on the surface. But I disagree that it is a crap argument. WalMart is one of the most well capitalized businesses in the world. Yes, world. They were, and probably still are near, the largest employer in the world. They pay their stockholders a whopping profit to remain well capitalized. That profit comes from ensuring that their products are always the lowest priced and a big part of that is ensuring workers are paid paltry wages so the profits can be passed up the food chain. The Co-op is a local store where both the management and the employees spend their dollars mostly here locally. They buy many local goods as well. Those dollars stay in our community and increase everybody’s well-being here. But the Co-op has to stay competitive with the leaders in the industry and hence is forced to some degree to follow leaders in the industry practices. WalMart is a world-wide leader. Many businesses emulate it. It has the political power to change and to do better yet it consistently chooses to undermine workers rights and wages so that all those people standing in line at the opening can buy cheap underwear made in India and say things like, “Yay, WalMart is in town.” Then they will vote out people who support Unions and living wages because it is unfair to business or even better… complain to their friends that government is outsourcing jobs.
June 14, 2012 at 12:59 pm
suzy blah blah
For me the biggest negative about Walmart is the homogenization of our “culture”.
-don’t think negative, movieDad, think perfect harmony
June 14, 2012 at 5:27 pm
Anonymous
>>My prediction. In three to four years we will see the closing of Eureka Natural Foods or the Eureka Co-op. Rays will be gone soon. Kmart will say goodbye. <<
Winco will probably be the first to go. Our employee owned market. Safeway probably. Target. Kohl's. Eventually Sears. Probably too some pharmacy's. Petco.
I don't think most people who shop Eureka Nat. or the Co-op will go to Wal-Mart. I shop at both these stores, have never been in a Wal-Mart, and never plan to.
June 14, 2012 at 5:28 pm
Anonymous
It will have an effect on Costco too.
June 15, 2012 at 5:40 am
moviedad
Just say no to coke, and homogenization of culture.
June 15, 2012 at 8:29 am
Anonymous
The movie “Coca-Cola Kid” is a good movie to watch if you want to see a really good take on the homogenization of culture.
June 15, 2012 at 10:58 am
ICU812
Eric, you had stated in another thread
~Well, right now there is NO economic consideration in most environmental law. And it’s not just about “profit.” It’s about people being able to feed their children. Call me crazy, but while I’m happy to protect a salamander from needless habitat intrusion, if it’s a choice between a child going hungry and a salamander, I’m personally going to put the child’s interests first. Call me a socialist~
If that is the case, way don’t you come to the defense of Wal-Mart?
http://walmartwatch.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/2/files/pdf/environmental_fact_sheet.pdf
June 15, 2012 at 11:02 am
Stephen
Moviedad, what’s your income compared to mine? You don’t have to say but is it quite a bit more? And if you really want to stop the homogenization of cultures you aren’t addressing the right people. It’s the technicians who are creating the homogenization, not those who hire them who only want to make a buck or 3 billion. Technology is the driving force behind globalization. A bank in Bankok wants to be “in the now” as their customers watching videos of Westerners see them using ATMs so of course they have to have ATM machines and techs who can install and fix them. A Bolivian plumber is called in to install new plumbing in a government office where employees at the top have been traveling overseas and see how bathrooms are made in Europe or America and you get a showerhead that conserves water for example, latest thing. The paving contractors in Iran buy tractors made in Europe and there the tractor technology moves forward with the car technology, so Iranian contractors produce roads are like Western roads, again enough people have gone to where the latest technologies are happening and come back and expect the same.
Jail or kill the Techies! Stop Globalization. That should the slogan of our neo-Luddites who have and don’t want the have-nots to have what they enjoy. Only only one real way to change the globalization process and that’s to get ahead of the learning curve and produce community self-sufficiency equipment so communities really can get off the grid.
But I should also mention here as a student anthropology, globalization is temporary. It’s exactly like species evolution. Eohippus the small horse lives in the forest and eats shrubs and low grasses found there. But sees at the forest edge millions of acres of grasslands. Somewhere along the line Eohippus changes form, grows larger, gets hoofs, all needed to go long distances across the prairies and steppes. After millions of years you get these horses looking like zebras and Pezss…that Polish horse and then mustang types, all evolving to fit their particular environments. And that same process goes on in human society where a generalized culture becomes mult-faceted in differing communities. New York produced the Bronx accent and Texas produced the Texan accent and California produced the, the, the, our humble, laid back talking. In essence, not to worry! Globalization fears are another false FEAR spreading that is completely unnecessary if you can see far enough down the road.
June 15, 2012 at 12:23 pm
Anonymous
Don’t wanna go where there’s no Coca- Cola.
McDonald’s, one taste world wide.
Homogenization. Estelle.
June 16, 2012 at 12:55 pm
Joel Mielke
“It is store #5629 all of you that hate it had better spend your energy somewhere else.”
Thanks for the advice, HUUFC, but I’d rather hate locally.
June 16, 2012 at 2:37 pm
Eric Kirk
Eric, you had stated in another thread
~Well, right now there is NO economic consideration in most environmental law. And it’s not just about “profit.” It’s about people being able to feed their children. Call me crazy, but while I’m happy to protect a salamander from needless habitat intrusion, if it’s a choice between a child going hungry and a salamander, I’m personally going to put the child’s interests first. Call me a socialist~
If that is the case, way don’t you come to the defense of Wal-Mart?
Because WalMart is killing the salamander and starving the kid.
June 16, 2012 at 7:32 pm
Eric Kirk
More photos of opening day.
http://www.northcoastjournal.com/blogthing/2012/06/13/eureka-walmart-opening-day-WITH-DANCING-MASCOTS/
June 16, 2012 at 7:36 pm
Anonymous
Gross.
June 17, 2012 at 5:04 pm
Anonymous
Losers ! If you don’t like WalMart don’t shop there ! Don’t get so wound up and wierd about it.