EDITOR, The Tribune.
Open letter to Mike Maura, Chairman of BCCEC
Dear Mike,
You have expressed grave fears that Bahamas might accept Walmart, who would shutter local businesses, shrink employment and later close down and walk out.
Let me point out what happened in one developing country. Walmart took interest in Mexico many years ago by setting up a venture with a local company that became the giant Wal-Mex.
Using Walmart’s commercial expertise, they created what now includes stores in some 630 locations throughout Mexico and five Central American countries, with some 237,000 employees and obviously serving millions of customers.
I have often seen lower-income Mexicans busily buying foodstuffs in bulk at their many bare-bones warehouses, and more affluent ones shopping at the up-market outlets.
Wal-Mex shares are listed on the Mexico Stock Exchange, where they trade actively to give Mexicans a stake in the economy. Clearly, Walmart does not intend to abandon Mexico.
It is the rare Bahamian retailer or wholesaler who has offered to share the wealth by selling shares to Bahamians.
Instead of excluding them, why not welcome Walmart to set up a joint venture operating both here and throughout the Caribbean? There would be plenty of customers and, if a few old-fashioned Bahamian enterprises fell by the wayside, that’s natural in an expanding economy.
Dick Coulson
Nassau
February 25, 2018
Comments
Porcupine 6 years, 1 month ago
A very disingenuous argument. Walmart is not a locally friendly store. They are merely a big business that extracts large taxpayer subsidies, exports their profits and pay their employees so little that many of them are forced to get public assistance. We have to get away from this "jobs at any cost" mentality. If the only concern is the stock price and a handful of low paying jobs, as the elite thinking always seem to cheer on, than go for it. I think there is a rising consciousness brewing in humanity that big isn't necessarily better. From the productivity on the farm to the way we do business. At some point we have to put people first. Something we have not done in our lifetime. Mr. Coulson is obviously working with a play book that will soon be called antiquated and shown to have done little to benefit the earth and its inhabitants. There is a downside to thinking only about money, and it is evident just about everywhere you look, except in the business pages.
Well_mudda_take_sic 6 years, 1 month ago
One only has to look at the role played by Walmart in the decimation of middle-class America to understand why the Walmart Family members and Red China manufacturers and suppliers have been laughing all the way to the bank. For the most part, Walmart is nothing but a monstrous and unconscionable retailer of inferior Red China made products at grossly inflated prices. Gone are the days when one would buy a reasonably priced appliance that would often last for at least a decade, often two or more. Today, if you buy a washing machine, refrigerator or any other appliance from Walmart, you would be lucky if it functions for more than a year or two at most. And nothing sold by Walmart is ever worth repairing. Most Americans are only now wakening up to the reality that the greedy Walmart enterprise sells inferior goods produced by nickeled-and-dimed Red China manufacturers. Walmart promised Americans affordable quality products, but has instead been selling them cheap garbage merchandise that has clogged up most American dump sites.
Socrates 6 years, 1 month ago
Bahamians are loyal patrons of Walmart each weekend, but if the opportunity arose to have one here, we don't want it? trouble understanding that. even a low paying job would be better than the current no-job environment. and if shares were offered, thats more than you can say about any of the current wholesalers... we bahamians are such hypocrites..
Sign in to comment
Or login with:
OpenID