https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/12/walmart-prices-poverty-economy/681122/
Walmart’s many defenders argue that the company is a boon to poor and middle-class families, who save thousands of dollars every year shopping there.
Two new research papers challenge that view. Using creative new methods, they find that the costs Walmart imposes in the form of not only lower earnings but also higher unemployment in the wider community outweigh the savings it provides for shoppers.
I am shocked, shocked I tell ya.
Anybody remember when Walmart, like 10+ years ago did A/B testing of their stores by pretty much opening a Walmart next to a Walmart across the street from a Walmart before closing all but one of the locations and leaving behind these huge empty buildings sitting unused for years?
A lot of that was also because local jurisdictions would give Walmart a tax break for X years for new stores, while old stores were sunsetting on their tax break. So they close the "old" one and open new
I think we have that for pubs in my city, resulting in a constant shuffle of "new" pubs run by the same people and renovations