Cassie Robinson, staff
10/31/07, 4:09 p.m.

     Though I applaud Stroud in her postive vision and aspirations for the town of Weaverville, it is has been demonstrated across the world time and time again that Walmarts DO shut down the very thing that people love about small towns- locally owned small businesses, decent traffic patterns, and money going further and passing through more hands within their community before leaving to outside markets.
     There is little evidence of small town successes of Walmarts in small communities. As a champion of the West Asheville struggle to block the Walmart they proposed in our community several years ago, I am a firm believer that international corporations with horrible track records relating to environmental issues, social and economic justice issues, and interacting with local governments are NOT good for small communities. Throwing 500 dollars a year towards the United Way is not enough, in my book, for promoting and supporting communities. The wages paid by Walmart and the way they feed off of cities or counties tax base without adding much to the local economy is quite evident.
     Perhaps Weaverville, North Carolina, could close the Walmart down soon after it opens by refusing to shop there and pay a few cents more for their purchases at Roses or other smaller and exisiting operations.
     Many discredit those who oppose Walmart and other multinational corporations who set up shops in our hometowns as people who want to cause trouble or romanticize idyllic places at best. We were called Luddites for fighting Walmart in West Asheville, and were told that it was inevitable. However, there is no Walmart standing West Asheville today, and Walmart withdrew their plans for the store proposed there.
     I would also encourage students and members of our community to actually think about the impact on the world they make by shopping at Walmart, whether it's in the poor working conditions in China that make the goods or the livelihoods of independent businesses operated by our community, and make wise choices about shopping there.
     I encourage folks to watch how long the Roses, the hardware store, the other smaller speciality shops will last in Weaverville. Though I applaud Stroud in her hopes that town "does not have to be swallowed by 'bigness,'" it is almost inevitable that it will be. It has happened over and over and over across the country in many places that have had the same hopes as Stroud.