Thursday, August 18, 2005

Wal-Mart + Booze = ?

So apparently Wal-Mart has started selling booze in some locations. From the Center for American Progress:
Wal-Mart's corporate strategy relies heavily on portraying itself as a family-friendly place to shop. No CDs with offensive lyrics. No magazines with objectionable cover photos. No trampy, single-mother Barbie dolls. All that flies out the window, however, when faced with the promise of more money. The mega-store now, contrary to its family-friendly image, is stocking its shelves with booze. The company's favorite trick to boost profits: "planting a liquor store just over the border of a state or county with restrictive booze laws." It's also finding ways to skirt local laws about selling alcohol. In Florida, for example, "it has gotten around a law restricting the sale of liquor in grocery stores by walling off the liquor department and building a separate entrance in some of its new stores." For more on Wal-Mart's family-friendly policies, see this article on Wal-Mart selling guns to minors and convicted felons.
I'm not one to ever oppose anything that might make that sweet nectar booze cheaper, but the hypocrisy here is just too much. I'll be buying my scotch at the local liquor store, thank you.

Random Thought: Maybe if Wal-Mart starts driving local liquor stores out of business we'll start to see a real revolt against their BS. Drunks of the world unite!

Follow-up Random Thought: I'd love to work field trying to organize drunks.

3 Comments:

Blogger bda said...

sign me up as a drunk canvasser!

2:40 PM  
Blogger Jes said...

state laws are different I guess. Wal-Mart's been a booze peddler to the economically disadvantaged of Missouri for some time now. When I was broke and in college, it was Bartles and James and Natty Lite!

I never actually thought about the hypocrisy, but then again, that whole side of thought is riddled with it.

4:43 PM  
Blogger bda said...

Actually, come to think of it, I remember being very impressed by the booze selection at a Wal-Mart in East St. Louis. No offense to my friend there, but the Wal-Mart and OT Hodges were the only impressive things I remembered about East St Louis.

11:46 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home