Calais is a very small town in Maine. It is right at the border between Canada and the U.S. This town is like the white country because I did not see a single minority here even the biggest minority like the Spanish. I was the only minority there.

In that town, the only place that entertains the local people is Wal-Mart. I think the Wal-Mart itself might be bigger than the whole downtown in Calais.

Wal-Mart is a small shop killer. Everywhere they go, they wipe out small shops because those small shops cannot compete with Wal-Mart’s scale and price, in particular, in the small town where people have cars, no traffic and people tend to do shopping in a big lot than just a small lot but frequent. I believe Wal-Mart has a lesser impact on the bigger city. For instance Boston where the population is bigger, there are more shops and people tend to buy stuff by convenience than price. Also, most of Wal-Marts locate out of the city for a cost reason so people are reluctant to make a trip just to grab a thing or two.

Like other small town, I saw small shops in Calais shut down. I am not sure if it is because of Wal-Mart or the local economy itself. However, I do believe the Wal-Mart effect must play a role to certain degrees. It happens everywhere.

It is arguable that Wal-Mart makes ordinary people’s life better by providing cheap products because by providing cheap products, they squeeze small players out of the market. As a result, it affects the local economy as a whole. Some people are out of jobs and small business shut down. Even though Wal-Mart creates jobs as well, it is very notorious that the jobs they create are the minimum wage job with no benefit.

The Wal-Mart effect is real and scary. Many small communities are against them. Small businesses call it a monopoly. However, it is hard for the government to take a legal action against them because as one of the principles, monopoly is supposed to make consumers pay higher price but Wal-Mart does otherwise.

It is a dilemma. As a consumer, I see the benefits of Wal-Mart but at the cost of those small stores. In the long run, Wal-Mart effect might have a huge implication on the economy, in particular, the local one.

Tae Athikomvittaya