Over the summer, media reports indicated Wal-Mart was planning to open a Walmart Neighborhood Market, a grocery store, in Somerville's Assembly Square.
Earlier in November, a coalition of groups in Somerville held a meeting and began to organize against the store's reported plans.
Of the votes received in the poll as of Wednesday morning, 53 percent (455 votes) were against Wal-Mart opening a grocery store in Somerville. About 41 percent (353 votes) were in favor of the retail-giant coming to town, and about 5 percent (45 votes) weren't sure.
The comments about Wal-Mart were mixed. One commenter said, "In an economy like this we should not turn this store away … Everyone wants to get good quality name brand food for a lower price."
Another respondent said, "Somerville needs an alternative to Wal-Mart. Fresh food, locally owned if not locally grown, staffed by local people, contributing to the local economy."
Some people didn't like the wording of the poll itself. One commenter said, "[Y]our 'Poll' is a perfect example of bias. By giving 'no' voters no choice [other] than 'over my dead body,' you characterize 'no' voters as fanatics. You're not kidding this is not a scientific poll!"
Carol
4:20 am on Friday, December 2, 2011
Same readers voting multiple times to get their opinion across. Wal-Mart Grocery coming to Somerville will serve the low to middle income shopper, and shoppers who want to save money the opportunity to do so. The location is perfect as well. These readers have the freedom to shop wherever they choose.
Ron Newman
9:51 pm on Saturday, December 3, 2011
How is the location 'perfect' ? It is not near any Somerville neighborhood at all, being on the other side of I-93 from the vast majority of residents.
Carol
11:00 pm on Saturday, December 3, 2011
If it was near "your" residential neighborhood you would probably complain it would cause too much traffic. Remember, you can still shop where ever you want!
mplo
3:04 pm on Saturday, June 9, 2012
From what I recall, there was some discussion about building a Wal*Mart in Assembly Square, which (rightly) met with a lot of resistance, which indicates that people oppose a Wal*Mart coming into Somerville...at all.
I personally wouldn't want to see any kind of Wal*Mart store(s) coming into Somerville for several reasons:
A) Their labor policies are really, really rotten.
B) Their merchandise is shoddily made, and the food horrendous. More to the point, every time that Wal*Mart has moved in and set up roots in an area, it has killed off the smaller, independent, family-owned businesses in the area. Other big-chain franchise stores have done that too, but Wal*Mart is the worst of the worst in that respect. Building a Wal*Mart Grocery Store in Winter Hill can only lead to disaster.
Having said the above, I strongly recommend renting the DVD of the documentary film "Wal*Mart: The High Cost of Low Pricing". This film provides an excellent insight as to the disastrous results that've taken place when Wal*Mart has set up roots in given areas. It's rather disturbing, but worth seeing.
If at all possible, one might want to try to also get hold of Bill Quinn's Book "How Wal*Mart is Destroying America, and What can be Done About it."