Wal-Mart shelves plans for an L.A.-area store

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has shelved
plans to open a store in the Los Angeles area community of
Northridge in the face of a costly and lengthy environmental
impact study, a city councilman said on Tuesday.

The Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer had already
secured the proper zoning requirements for its proposed site in
Northridge, located in the San Fernando Valley north of Los
Angeles. It also has two other stores nearby.

Wal-Mart’s spokesman in Southern California did not respond
to telephone calls by Reuters seeking comment, but Los Angeles
City Councilman Greig Smith said in a statement the
environmental impact study led to Wal-Mart’s decision to quit
the site.

“Initially, they agreed to conduct the full EIR and then
they simply decided that because there were no guarantees at
the end of the lengthy and costly process, to pull the plug,”
Smith said.

Because Wal-Mart already operates two stores nearby, the
plan to add a third had faced opposition over concerns about
increased traffic in the area.

The world’s largest retailer is in the midst of a public
image counter-offensive against critics who claim the company
pays poverty-level wages, destroys smaller businesses and
undermines unions.

Labor, environmental groups and others also charge that the
company offers poor health-care benefits, mistreats employees
and encroaches on green space with its big-box stores. The
company says it creates jobs and provides low prices for
consumers.

Wal-Mart plans to open up to 600 stores this year in the
U.S., including up to 280 super-centers, massive stores that
also sell groceries.

The company was listed as one of the factors in a lengthy
grocery strike in southern California that ended in 2004.
Grocery chains had argued they needed to cut costs, including
health care benefits, to better compete with Wal-Mart, which
relies on nonunion workers.