Hi I had attached the first file in which you there are some articles link and you have to cite according to instructions and in another pdf (demonstration essay - a vote for walmart pdf ) just read

A Vote for Wal -Mart

According to one critic, Wal -Mart is waging a “War on Main Street.” Anti -Wal -Mart

activists think they should “Ban the Bargains.” A pro -Wal -Mart writer asks “Who’s Really

the Villain?” Obviously, the ever -expanding Wal -Mart brings some people’s emotions to

a boiling point. This seems strange. After all, Wal -Mart doesn’t seem one of those hot -

button issues like abortion or capital punishment. But for man, this is not just about

discount department stor es; it’s about conflicting values: the values of small -town North

America versus the values of “mindless consumerism” (Ortega 107) . I don’t consider

myself a mindless consumerist, but I happen to like Wal -Marts. Opponents of the giant

discount chains have made powerful arguments against them and it’s too bad that these

megastores are helping to make a way of life extinct but opponents should realize that

stores like Wal -Mart are so successful because most people prefer bargains and

convenience to tradition and small -town charms.

Wal -Mart’s growth has been spectacular. Launched in 1962, by 1997 Wal -Mart

had over 2900 stores, including 502 “Supercenters” (“Wal -Mart Stores”). Al Norman,

one of Wal -Mart’s most vocal critics, reported that in 1994 Wal -Mart had o ver $67 billion

in sales (“Eight Ways” 108). Fo ur years later, Wal -Mart’s annual sales climbed to almost

$118 billion (“Wal -Mart Stores”). Wal -Mart also own’s Sam’s Club, another discount

chain, which opened in early 1983 (chart: “Wal -Mart Takes Off” 115), and now numbers

483 stores (“Wal -Mart Stores”).

To its critics Wal -Mart seems to represent everything wrong with the modern

North American society. Sarah Anderson, an economist and the daughter of a small -

town retailer, argues that Wal -Mart encourages ur ban sprawl, drains money from local

economies, kills downtowns and local jobs, and destroys the quality of small -town life

(111). Others blame Wal -Mart for the “homogenization of community identity ” (Ortega

107). One local resident complains, “Everything’s starting to look the same, everybody

buys all the same things --- a lot of small -town character is being lost.” She adds,

“Visually, [Wal -Marts] are atrocious” (qtd. In Ortega 108).

Activist Al Norman has helped organize local communities to fight the spre ad of

Wal -Mart. His website, “Sprawl -Busters,” proudly lists 248 communities that have

succeeded in beating back a big -box store’s advance on their town (“Victorious Secret”).

(He also lists the communities that have rejected other large discounters like H ome

Depot, Costco, and Kmart.) Norman argues that “Wal -Mart’s gains are largely captured

from other merchants” (“Eight Ways” 109). His rallying cry is that communities are “not

ready to die for a cheap pair of underwear” (qtd. In Anderson 111).

But rhetor ic like this is overkill. Norman might as well blame computer makers for

the death of the typewriters or automakers for the death of horse0and -buggy rigs. Horses and buggies may be more picturesque and romantic than cars, but most North

Americans drive car s these days because they’re a lot faster and more convenient. If

customers choose to buy underwear at Wal -Mart instead of the mom -and -pop store

downtown, that’s because it’s easier to get to Wal -Mart --- and to park there --- and

because cheapness is a qualit y that matters to them.

I agree that Wal -Marts are unattractive and charmless. They just don’t have the

warmth or individuality of some small shops you find in downtown areas especially if

they’re been in business for generations. But like most people, I’ m willing to sacrifice

warmth and individuality if I can get just what I want at a price I can afford. As Jo -Ann

Johnston points out, mom -and -pop stores have brought on a lot of their own problems

by not being sufficiently responsive to what their customer s need. She notes, “several of

the town’s shoppers complained during the Wal -Mart battle that area merchants could

use competitions because of their poor selection, high prices, limited hours, and

lackluster service: (113). Johnston points out that if cust omers can’t find what they want

at the price they want at local stores, it’s not surprising that they go to Wal -Mart.

As even opponents of Wal -Mart admit, North American downtowns were in

trouble long before Wal -Mart arrived on the scene. Changes in the e conomy and in the

North American lifestyle have contributed to the end of a traditional way of life. In other

words, stores such as Wal -Mart are the symptom rather than a cause of the changes in

Main Street. Blaming Wal -Mart “overlooks a much deeper proble m facing small -town

America,” writes Jo -Ann Johnston: “the need to change a way of doing business while

maintaining, or improving, a deeply valued way of life” (112). As Sarah Anderson

admits, “Small towns cannot return to the past, when families did all t heir shopping and

socializing in their hometown. Rural life is changing and there’s no use denying it” (111).

In “Eight Ways to Stop the Store,” Norman provides tips for community activists

on how to fight Wal -Mart. I agree that if most people don’t want Wal -Mart in their

community, they should campaign against it and keep it out. I even think that the

community might be a more pleasant place to live without the huge discount chains. But

I also believe that residents of these communities should be aware of the price they will

pay, both financially and in convenience, for maintaining their traditional way of doing

business. Even without Wal -Mart, local downtowns will have trouble holding on to their

customers. A better plan than keeping the bug discounters o ut would be for local

retailers to adapt to the changing times and to the competition. Some store owners have

found ways of offering their customers what Wal -Mart can’t provide: personalized

services, such as home delivery or special orders, along with mer chandise not available

in certain chain stores (Johnston 113 -114).

Wal -Mart did not become the huge success it is by forcing its products on an

unwilling public. People should shop there because they want to. They want to save money and they want to find what they’re looking for. Who can blame them? Wal -Mart

may not be pretty, but it’s also not “the villain.”