 Ed Garren flanked by two WeHo pals, Mama and Sonia Hong of Irv’s Burgers fame. Courtesy Ed Garren. |
It was almost 10 PM on a Saturday night, and my friend said, "Let's go in." So, we parked his car and strolled in. The place was packed with people. In addition to folks who looked like they belonged in the neighborhood, there were quite a few folks who looked like they did not. My friend went on to explain that he's been buying candles and scented soap at Wal-Mart for years. It is his secret obsession, one that he rarely tells anyone about, because it is so "Un PC" to shop at Wal-Mart and in his social circles, it is taboo to shop there. I laughed because he is one of many friends who have made similar confessions over the last few years, all "PC West Side" folks, all of whom live quite upscale. For all of them, it is a big secret, one which brings them some shame, but they confess that the items they go to Wal-Mart for are not sold anywhere else, or are "three prices" elsewhere.
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I discovered the "Wal-Mart Astoria" from friends who park their RVs overnight in Wal-Mart parking lots. I have two family members who work for Wal-Mart, my ex sister in law in North Carolina, and a second cousin in Georgia. Long before "The High Cost of Low Prices" was released, I knew it was a "tight ship" of a place to work.
Recently, it has become fashionable to condemn Wal-Mart for it's alleged labor abuses, but now that I'm out here in the rest of America, I believe that Wal-Mart is just a symptom of the larger problem. We don't make much in America anymore. Our country, once the powerhouse of production, has been reduced to third world status in the manufacturing scheme of things. The few factories left in this country are few and far between.
And often the same people who condemn Wal-Mart, are the ones who buy foreign. As Jeff Prang pointed out in an open letter a while back, most "Politically Correct" West Siders in LA drive import cars.
The husband of the cousin who works for Wal-Mart in Georgia works at the Ford parts depot in Atlanta. He feels lucky because the assembly plant next to it is being closed because of lack of business. His mother in law, my first cousin, worked for Coats & Clark thread company in Toccoa Georgia for 30 years. Last year, they closed their last American thread mill, moving it to Mexico. She took early retirement, but as she said, "most of the people I worked with got put out in the cold".
So, where do all the people who've been put out in the cold shop? Wal-Mart, where else? To these people, Wal-Mart provides a vital service. The can stretch their minimum wage dollars a bit farther. It means their children eat a bit better, dress a bit warmer, and they can even afford an occasional luxury, like new tires for the car, or bicycles for the kids at Christmas. One store alone can put up as many as sixteen semi- trailers full of lay-a-way toys for Christmas. The employees at Wal-Mart, though "exploited", provide a service to the rest of their communities. Their loss is the community member's gain.
 Ed’s family in Mobile, shopping. By Ed Garren. |
I went with my family here in Mobile who are working folks. Husband Richard is a law enforcement officer; sister Lisa is an RN. Mother Krista has four children, one of whom just had brain surgery. Their house was flooded by Katrina and has been unlivable since. They are repairing it themselves, and most of their household goods, bedding, toys, clothes and food, all got ruined in the flood that Katrina sent. Some of these items have been replaced, mostly with new stuff bought at Wal-Mart. They shop at Wal-Mart because it is close, cheap and has everything (beauty salon, nails, photos, vision center, pharmacy, groceries, clothes, recreation, garden center, electronics) under one roof. A $75 Linksys wireless router is $49 at Wal-Mart. We bought a lot of food for $80. With seven people to feed, clothe and entertain, every dollar counts.
And, from the looks of many of the employees, Wal-Mart hires people that aren't very competitive in the workplace for better employment. Wal-Mart employs the handicapped, toothless, grossly overweight, elderly, pregnant single teenage mothers, folks who couldn't even get work at MacDonald's.
Now before you decide this is deplorable, think about what the city of West Hollywood is doing with housing. The city is sacrificing existing low income residents for the supposed benefit of others. While the cry "We need more housing" goes up from city hall, how much of this planned housing actually available to low income WORKING people? While the city plans to add even more stories, cars, congestion, and people to our streets, destroy the existing small businesses on the East Side, and ruin the character of the city forever, it says this is all for the good of the city because it will create more housing. But one doubts that any of it will be affordable to existing residents, or existing businesses, most of which are family owned.
At least at Wal-Mart, one actually does get value for ones dollar. Like it or not, Wal-Mart is an American institution, and it exists because most people have fewer economic opportunities in post-industrial America. Think about that the next time you purchase a foreign car or major appliance. How "Politically Correct" is it to buy foreign products, when it puts Americans out of work?
Ed Garren can be reached, even in the Red America’s wilds, at