Downtown Express, Aline Reynolds, October 12, 2011. Representatives from Walmart Free NYC also appeared at the committee meeting to rail against the opening of the national chain in Lower Manhattan and elsewhere around the city out of fear that the stores will jeopardize the existence of local mom-and-pop shops. In the coming months, the group is hoping to start a “shop local” campaign Downtown and elsewhere to assist the local businesses.
Queens Ledger, by Lisa A. Fraser, Oct 04, 2011. The poverty rate citywide has risen in the last year, reports the United States Census Bureau, with one in five New Yorkers now living below the poverty line. According to the Census, the one in five translates to a family of three earning less than $18,000 a year.
Times Ledger, By Joe Anuta, September 30, 2011. Data released by the U.S. Census Bureau last week painted a bleak economic picture of Queens, where one in seven residents lives below the federal poverty line and the percentage of residents who are struggling to meet basic needs is far higher.
Queens Courier, by Billy Rennison, September 27, 2011. A recent study estimated Walmart could open over 150 stores in New York City – 43 in Queens alone – if the retail giant is allowed to enter the New York City market.
The Huffington Post, by Al Norman, September 25, 2011. Unlike the top secret Manhattan Project in the 1940s, which produced the first atomic bomb, Wal-Mart has made no attempt to hide its ambition to carpet bomb all five boroughs of Manhattan with its stores. But a new study this week says that for the giant retailer to match the market share it has across America, Wal-Mart would have to open 159 stores in New York City -- and nearly 14,000 jobs would be lost at other merchants. This would be the retail equivalent of an atomic bomb dropped on the retail economy in Gotham.