Compiled by the DiversityInc staff
© 2006 DiversityInc.com®
April 05, 2006
Wal-Mart Stores, the United States' top retailer, is looking to expand into urban markets with a new plan.
Having been criticized for its business practices and labor disputes, Wal-Mart has been sharply criticized for hurting small local businesses. In an effort to establish itself as a positive entity in the urban areas it plans to reach, Wal-Mart (No. 29 on The DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity list) is planning to offer development grants to companies within the zones and providing them free advertising in newspapers and on Wal-Mart's in-store radio network.
The Bentonville, Ark., retail giant also will offer seminars to businesses owned by women and women of color on how to become Wal-Mart suppliers and how to survive alongside the retailer, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Wal-Mart hopes these programs will help it proceed with its plan to build 50 new locations over the next two years in neighborhoods with high unemployment or crime rates, on previously contaminated sites or in vacant shopping centers in need of revival.
Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott unveiled the "Wal-Mart Jobs and Opportunity Zone" (subscription required) plan in Chicago yesterday and said, "We see we can be better for communities than we have been in the past."
Posted By: Candice Johnson
Wednesday, April 5th 2006 at 11:44PM
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