<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<?bigger><HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1515" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>K-Mart was in trouble corporately and has had
trouble changing with the competition nationally and very badly
managed locally so it doesn't count. The same could be said for some of the
other businesses listed. The Ernst corp was in bankruptcy and couldn't make the
local store payment had nothing to do with Wal-Mart. Creighton's has been
heading down the road for some time because of the high prices and too many
people who can buy at that price go to the bigger cities because of selection
and price. At the Palouse Empire Mall it is mostly teeny bopper clothes so
most people I know go somewhere, anywhere else to get clothes. Some of the
businesses you listed just had trouble with the management at the Mall Moscow
had little to do with their leaving. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Some things I know Wal-Mart cannot do for me are
special order anything. I get the movies I want at Hastings and the books I want
at Bookpeople...they will special order so they get some of my business. I know
someone who likes Fiesta Ware and I get that at Tri-State because it is local
and Macy's is not. But, at my income level I shop mostly at Winco and Wal-mart
can't be helped at this point in my life. I am most assuredly not the only
person I know in this city with the need to shop there. I really would recommend
the book 'Who Moved My Cheese' to many on this site. Its a book about change and
being able to work with it not get blocked into a wall of the same old stuff and
loosing your business or city. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=joanopyr@earthlink.net href="mailto:joanopyr@earthlink.net">Joan
Opyr</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">Vision2020 Moscow</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, November 16, 2005 7:27
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Vision2020] Wal-Mart cause and
effect</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>Jeff Harkins, in his list of businesses that have opened in
Moscow since the arrival of Wal-Mart, makes the most common of logical errors,
i.e., post hoc, ergo propter hoc, meaning because of ABC, XYZ happened. I'll
give you another example of this logical fallacy: all of the businesses that
Jeff cites have opened since Melynda and I moved to Moscow. Therefore,
lesbians are good for business! If it weren't for sodomy, you straight folk
wouldn't now be shopping at Winco, Staples, or the fabulous expanded
Tri-State. Just for the record, Tri-State is *the* store of choice for lesbian
fashionistas! That's where we all get of our guns, knives, and prom attire.
<BR><BR>Here's a question: what Moscow businesses have closed since the
existing Wal-Mart opened? K-Mart. Tidyman's. Ken's Stationery. The Beanery.
Creighton's. The Main Street Deli. The Nobby. The Spudnik. Myklebust's.
Karen's Ice Cream. The Army Navy Store. The Emporium. The JC Penney's. Ernst
Hardware. The Chevron on the corner of Third and Jackson. Is Wal-Mart to blame
for all or any of these? I don't know. And who -- apart from Jeff Harkins --
is willing to make a post hoc, ergo propter hoc argument regarding these
closures? <BR><BR>I'd be willing to argue that Ernst is a direct casualty of
Wal-Mart, but I'd use another rationale for my analysis: proximity. The study
I forwarded to the list earlier suggests that proximity to a Wal-Mart has a
direct effect in terms of both benefit and detriment. Restaurants near
Wal-Marts often see an increase in business; hardware stores, on the other
hand, go tits up.<BR><BR>Jeff asserts that hard data should win this argument.
Well, there's an old saying among accountants: figures lie, and liars figure.
We don't need a Wal-Mart Supercenter period, but we sure as hell don't need
one across from the Moscow Cemetery. What a disgusting, tacky, trashy
prospect. <BR><BR>Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment<BR>www.joanopyr.com<?/bigger><?fontfamily><?param Helvetica><BR><?/fontfamily>
<P>
<HR>
<P></P>_____________________________________________________<BR> List
services made available by First Step Internet, <BR> serving the
communities of the Palouse since 1994.
<BR>
http://www.fsr.net
<BR>
mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com<BR>ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ<BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>