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Poway Walmart News

Customers decide who stays

I am strongly supportive of Wal-Mart selling groceries in their Poway store. Independent studies have shown that when a Wal-Mart Supercenter comes into an area, groceries prices decline, on average, by 17 percent. For my large family (and all their teenaged friends), this will save me about $150 a month. That's $1,800 a year that we can spend at other businesses as we will now have "extra" money. Or I may use it to pay off my mortgage sooner, or invest it.

Remember, Wal-Mart can't drive anyone out of business. Only consumers can, by choosing freely where they want to shop. Again, consumers make this choice, not big, bad Wal-Mart. If Wal-Mart builds a Supercenter and the citizens of Poway are against it, they won't shop there. Period. And if nobody buys groceries there, Wal-Mart will shut down their grocery business and go back to being a "regular" Wal-Mart.

Let consumers "vote with their feet" and allow for competition among our groceries stores. Ironically, even those who don't shop at Wal-Mart will benefit as their "store of choice" will have to lower their prices as well to be competitive. This is good for all consumers. And if the unionized stores can't compete and consumers choose to go elsewhere, the same thing occurred when, hypothetically speaking, "Bob's Butcher Shop" and "Bonnie's Bakery" were driven out of business here in Poway when Albertsons and Stater Brothers came to town.