Wal-Mart

Walmart talks big about climate action, but its land-use strategy is anything but climate-friendly: It builds massive new stores on virgin land in sprawling areas, then abandons them in favor of still newer, still bigger stores, says Stacy Mitchell.

When governments use public money to woo national chains, economic growth and job creation aren't worth the cost, says Stacy Mitchell of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Independent retailers also suffer.

Wal-Mart has started a major public relations effort to try to get the public behind plans to open several of its big box retail stores in New York City.

Wal-Mart announced a new "urban strategy" to move into cities that have traditionally been hostile to the big box retailer. Smaller format stores will concentrate on selling groceries, which account for about half the company's sales already.

Wal-Mart is succeeding in convincing Chicago politicians that it will create sustainable "employment and revenue for the city." The predominantly suburban-based supercenter chain is trying to move into denser urban areas.

Typically thought of as a war to protect small businesses in communities from being swallowed up by a giant, the local opposition to Wal-Mart stores is often funded secretly by other major grocery chains.

A proposed Wal-Mart retail center near a Civil War battlefield in Virginia has preservationists up in arms.

Plans to build a Wal-Mart and parking lot near a historic Civil War battlefield has spurred a bi-partisan protest from Virginia's top officials.

The arrival of a town's new Wal-Mart is notorious for being detrimental to the community. But when it comes to social capital, obesity, leisure time, and social and political values, Wal-Mart might not be so bad after all, according to one study.

A new and widely publicized study claims that there is no evidence that Wal-Mart has had a negative impact on the small business sector. A close inspection of the study by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance argues that the report is flawed.

Some Canadian communities are seeing their local economies thriving despite -- or is it because of? -- the presence of Wal-Mart.

Flowing Data used zip codes and other data to create an animated map showing the growth of WalMart from the first store in Arkansas in 1962 until today, when the map is covered with stores.

In an effort to reduce shipping costs, Wal-Mart is cutting its food miles and passing the savings on to customer by selling locally grown produce.