Al Norman achieved national attention in October of 1993 when he successfully stopped Wal-Mart from locating in his hometown of Greenfield, Massachusetts. Since then he has appeared on 60 Minutes, and gained widespread media attention from the Wall Street Journal to Fortune magazine. Al is the editor of the monthly Sprawl-Busters Alert, and has traveled throughout the U.S. helping dozens of local coalitions. 60 Minutes called Al "the guru of the anti-Wal-Mart movement." His website is www.sprawl-busters.com.

Blog Entries by Al Norman

Wal-Mart Walking on Sunshine

Posted November 11, 2009 | 01:02 PM (EST)


As many as 70 elderly and disabled residents of Palm Springs, Florida, may soon be evicted to make way for another Wal-Mart superstore.

The hapless residents of Sunshine Village are watching as the sun goes down on their mobile home park. This homestead of predominately low-income older people has...

Read Post

Can Wal-Mart Think Smaller?

14 Comments | Posted October 22, 2009 | 08:38 AM (EST)


The words "small" and "Wal-Mart" don't fit well together.

Yet the dominant retailer on the globe has been telling Wall Street analysts for several years running that small is beautiful.

Last year this time, at an analyst's meeting, Tom Shoewe, Wal-Mart's Executive Vice President, summarized his company's strategy on new...

Read Post

Another Wal-Mart Shoplifter Is Killed

8 Comments | Posted September 8, 2009 | 07:36 AM (EST)


You steal, you die.

That's the international policy apparently at Wal-Mart stores, where reports indicate another alleged shoplifter has died at the hands of a gang of overzealous Wal-Mart workers -- this time in China.

According to the Associated Press report this week, Yu Xiachun, a 37-year-old woman, died 500...

Read Post

Save Money, Shop Fung-Mart: Where Wal-Mart Goes To Shop

2 Comments | Posted August 20, 2009 | 06:56 AM (EST)


While many American retailers are just one lackluster back-to-school season away from disaster, the malingering recession has been very good to some retail manufacturers -- especially in China.

American shoppers at Wal-Mart have made investors in Hong Kong very wealthy. By one estimate, in 2006 every Wal-Mart store in...

Read Post

Wal-Mart Picks Free Speech Fight with Union

18 Comments | Posted July 30, 2009 | 08:30 AM (EST)


Wal-Mart Files Injunction Against Circular Objects


This news story out of Canada belongs in the "circular" file.

Wal-Mart is trying to limit the use of circular and oval objects. Over the years, the giant retailer, in exercising its own brand of censorship, has forced recording artists to...

Read Post

Wal-Mart Pays $45 Million For "No Wrongdoing"

3 Comments | Posted July 23, 2009 | 08:59 AM (EST)


It was announced this week that Wal-Mart has agreed to shell out up to $35 million to a class of its employees in Washington State who sued the company for denying them rest breaks and meal breaks, and for forcing them to work off the clock, which is illegal. But...

Read Post

Wal-Mart Pulls Misleading Ads -- Again

48 Comments | Posted June 27, 2009 | 02:09 PM (EST)


Advertising Board Says Wal-Mart's Savings To Shoppers "Not Even Close"


The driving mission of the Wal-Mart corporation is to make money by saving its customers money. "At Wal-Mart," the company says, "everything we do flows from our purpose of saving people money so they can live better."

This...

Read Post

Send Those UAW Workers Over to Wal-Mart!

111 Comments | Posted June 10, 2009 | 08:04 AM (EST)


Wal-Mart Makes Empty Claim of 22,000 Jobs


Don't pity the laid off United Auto Workers in Michigan. They're not facing a bleak economic future at all. They can always find a good job waiting for them at Wal-Mart.

The giant retailer put out a press release late last...

Read Post

Wal-Mart Serves Free Ice Cream to an Obese Nation

14 Comments | Posted May 30, 2009 | 07:25 AM (EST)


Give Your Workers Better Health Insurance Instead!

It's free ice cream day at Wal-Mart today! What could be wrong with that?

Plenty.

Wal-Mart wants Americans to stop going to ice cream parlors or restaurants for ice cream. For the second year in a row, Wal-Mart is getting sweet headlines...

Read Post

Wal-Mart Fined Only $7,000 For Negligence in Black Friday Trampling Death

16 Comments | Posted May 26, 2009 | 10:28 PM (EST)


Worker's Death Draws $7,000 Fine

In a remarkable role reversal, Wal-Mart has managed to walk all over two agencies that were supposed to sanction the giant retailer for the tragic trampling death of one of its employees on Black Friday last November.

Six months after the death of a...

Read Post

Court Says No to $33 Million Tax Rebate for Wal-Mart

2 Comments | Posted May 19, 2009 | 10:34 PM (EST)


Phony Expense Plan Fails To Convince Judges

North Carolina's textiles industry has been economically undone by Wal-Mart's China First procurement policy. As if those employment losses weren't bad enough, the state has also been engaged in a multi-year legal battle to get the giant retailer to pay its fair share...

Read Post

Wal-Mart's 'Wetback' Problem

7 Comments | Posted May 13, 2009 | 08:11 AM (EST)


The Wal-Mart corporation has been carefully nurturing its image as a strong supporter of the Latino community in America, opening stores designed for Latino shoppers, and hosting economic summits for Latino businesses. So it was especially embarrassing for the corporation to find itself in the national headlines late last week...

Read Post

Wal-Mart Pays Back Ohio Taxpayers $1.7 Million In Welfare Deal

3 Comments | Posted May 2, 2009 | 12:20 PM (EST)


Company Reneged On Its Job Creation Subsidy

On March 29th, I posted the story of Wal-Mart's welfare deal in Ohio, which cost state taxpayers $1.8 million. Ohio development officials were blind-sided when a job tax credit subsidy involving a Wal-Mart optical lab imploded. The giant retailer shut down a lab...

Read Post

Wal-Mart's "Frightening" Narcotics Deal

Posted April 25, 2009 | 03:47 PM (EST)


Illegal Aliens Deliver Fear & Loathing To Wal-Mart Pharmacies

By Al Norman

One of the world's largest drug store chains is employing a very unusual---and provocative---method for sourcing its drugs.

This week mighty Wal-Mart found itself at the center of a street-level drug deal that raised...

Read Post

Wal-Mart Becomes Oregon's Welfare Queen

Posted April 10, 2009 | 08:38 AM (EST)


I received an email late last night from the Governor of Oregon.

I had written to Governor Ted Kulongoski asking him why the taxpayers of his state were subsidizing Wal-Mart with a $3.7 million tax break they didn't deserve. "Thank you for sharing your ideas and concerns," the Governor told...

Read Post

Wal-Mart's Optical Lab Shut-Down Strikes Nerve

Posted March 29, 2009 | 10:54 AM (EST)


"They shut us down with no warning," says Wal-Mart worker

Ohio development officials were blind-sided this week when a job subsidy deal involving a Wal-Mart-owned optical lab went dark.

Regulators in the Buckeye state revealed that they had their eye on one of Wal-Mart's 4 optical labs...

Read Post

The Politics of Bonuses & Free Choice

Posted March 22, 2009 | 08:45 AM (EST)


Wal-Mart Payouts Vs. Employee Free Choice

By Al Norman

This week, Wal-Mart President and CEO Mike Duke told the Arkansas Morning News, "We have a lot to be thankful for this year."

Compared to the rest of Wall Street, Wal-Mart's stock drop of 1.5% over the past year...

Read Post

Bank of America's Stimulus For Wal-Mart & Target

Posted March 14, 2009 | 06:32 PM (EST)


New "Add It Up" Plan Doesn't Add Up

By Al Norman

The head of the embattled Bank of America told members of the Boston College Chief Executive Officers Club this week that his company is now making money.

"Bank of America should generate more than $100 billion in revenue...

Read Post

Did Wal-Mart Dupe the L.A. Times?

Posted March 1, 2009 | 01:58 PM (EST)


Retailer Organizes "Customers" To Lobby For More Stores

Did Wal-Mart put one over on the L.A. Times?

On February 27th, the Los Angeles Times ran a 1,342 word story about a resident of the Florence-Firestone neighborhood near Watts, in Los Angeles, California, who is circulating a petition in support of...

Read Post

Wal-Mart's Love Valentine to Its Women Workers

Posted February 14, 2009 | 10:12 AM (EST)


"Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps."
--Hero, Much Ado About Nothing

Wal-Mart sent a snarling Valentine's card yesterday to 2 million of its past and present female employees.

For eight years, the retail giant has been trying to shoot arrows through a class action sex discrimination...

Read Post