What's up with WalMart?


(Thanks Stop Heights WalMart in Houston!)

Traffic Impact

  • An average size Walmart Supercenter will generate nearly 10,000 car trips per day. (1)(2)
  • A Walmart Supercenter often has between seven and nine tractor-trailer deliveries daily, as well as one or two smaller trucks delivering products from vendors. (3)

Crime Statistics

  • In 2004, there were a reported 148, 331 police calls across 514 Walmart stores analyzed.
    That equates to an average of 269 calls per store. (4)
    • In Texas, there were 21,741 police incidents reported at 69 stores studied. (4)
    • The Houston store located at 2727 Dunvale reported 1,123 police incidents, placing it in the Top 10 stores nationwide.(4)
  • Between 2003 – 2006, there were:
    • 16 alleged murders committed at Walmart stores and parking lots, including 2 alleged
    • murders in the Houston area (Katy and Spring).(4)
    • 16 alleged rapes and sexual assaults at Walmart stores and parking lots, including 1 in the Houston area.(4)
    • 11 alleged sex crimes against children at Walmart stores and parking lots, including 1 in the Houston area.(4)
  • Nationally, Walmart stores cost taxpayers an estimated $77 million annually in increased police costs.(4)

Tax Information

  • There have been at least 29 subsidy deals in Texas benefitting Walmart worth a total of about $90.8 million.(5)
    • The Baytown and New Braunfels developments alone were granted $39 million in tax subsidies.(6)
  • Since the mid-1980s, Walmart has obtained at least $1.2 billion in reported subsidies nationwide.(5)
  • By its own admission, Walmart disclosed that they did not pay $2.85 billion in taxes for fiscal year 2009, which they would likely have to pay if audited.(6)(7)

Job Statistics

  • Walmart store openings reduce retail employment in a county by 2.7%.(8)
  • Walmart’s entry into a metro area eliminates similar jobs that pay about 18% more than Walmart.(9)
  • The presence of big box stores, such as Walmart, causes “a substantial reduction in net employment growth at smaller retailers, which is mostly accounted for by an increase in job destruction from store exit.”(10)
  • An average of two local supermarkets are forced out of business by every Walmart Supercenter.(10)
Footnotes:
(1) The average Supercenter store size of 186,000 square feet, cited in Walmart Stores, Inc. Form 10-K for the year ended January 31, 2009.
(2) Institute of Transportation Engineers Trip Generation Rates, 8th Edition, for Free Standing Discount Superstores (ITE Code 813). http://www.mikeontraffic.com/2009/08/trip-generation-8th-edition-spreadsheet.html
(3) “Sonora Walmart Expansion Project: Draft Environmental Impact Report,” prepared for the City of Sonora Department of Community Development by Michael Brandman Associates, December, 17 2009.
(4) “Crime and Walmart – Is Walmart Safe: An Analysis of Official Police Incidents at Walmart Stores” prepared by wakeupwalmart.com, Washington, D.C. May 1, 2006. http://www.losspreventionmagazine.com/customers/104120817472470/filemanager/Crime_Wal_Mart.pdf
(5) “How Wal-Mart Has Used Public Money in Your State “ http://www.walmartsubsidywatch.org
(6) Mattera, Philip, Anna Purinton, Jeff McCourt, Doug Hoffer, Stephanie Greenwood, and Alyssa Talanker. “Shopping for Subsidies: How Walmart Uses Public Money to Finance its Never-Ending Growth.” Good Jobs First. May 2004. http://www.goodjobsfirst.org/pdf/wmtstudy.pdf
(7) Walmart Stores Inc. Form 10-K for fiscal year ended January 31, 2010. Consolidated Financial Statements, Note 8, pg. 36.
(8) Neumark, David, Junfu Zhang, and Stephen Ciccarella, January 2007. “The Effects of Walmart on Local Labor Markets.” Institute for the Study of Labor Discussion Paper #2545, University of Bonn.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=958704.
(9) Dube, Arindrajit and Steve Wertheim, October 2005. “Walmart and Job Quality—What Do We Know, and Should We Care?” Prepared for Presentation at Center for American Progress. Available online at
http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/retail/walmart_jobquality.pdf.
(10) Haltiwanger, John, Ron Jarmin, and C.J. Krizan. “Mom-and-Pop Meet Big-Box: Complements or Substitutes?” U.S. Bureau of the Census, September 2009. http://www.ces.census.gov/index.php/ces/cespapers?detail_key=101883