[TripletDaddy]

I think both are true.

The economic impact of walmart will vary depending on the existing economic climate before the wal-mart arrived. My swag is that Wal-mart helps backwoods small town places that do not have many other commercial alternatives, and it may hurt communities that are already well developed, densely populated. However, those densely populated areas need jobs....and wal mart provides those jobs.

A wal-mart built out in the middle of some random town in Oklahoma, sitting off a major highway would likely be an economic boon.....locals don't have to drive 20 miles to get certain goods, teens have a place to work, people have greater access to products they would otherwise not have.

I know that folks in parts of LA fight the arrival of new wal-marts because they allegedly kill the blocks and blocks of mom and pops that already serve the local community.