Following a successful showing locally three weeks ago attended by some 350 people and a well-attended screening last week at Grand Valley State University (GVSU), “Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price,” continues to put pressure on the company. Activists and thousands of people not involved in activism, viewed the film during November’s “Higher Expectations” week of activity against Wal-Mart. The week of events included film showings, protests outside of Wal-Marts, editorials in newspapers, sermons in churches, and a host of other events all inspired by the film.

Despite the success of the film and the number of actions it spurred in the first few weeks of its release, it is still not clear how activists are to proceed in challenging Wal-Mart. Groups such as Wal-Mart Watch will continue to monitor the company and will and local municipalities will no doubt continue to oppose the construction of new Wal-Marts. With hundreds of new stores being planned in 2006, many cities will no doubt try to stop the construction of a new Wal-Mart, as citizens did in Charlevoix, Michigan in 2004. However, it is important to remember that the problem is not just with Wal-Mart, but rather the entire industry, as Wal-Mart is simply the most profitable of companies like Target, Lowe’s, Home Improvement, and Best Buy, all of which have engage in tactics similar to Wal-Mart’s. For that reason, a movement that challenges the Wal-Mart model, not just Wal-Mart, is needed. It is suggested that in order to truly stop the Wal-Mart model, activists need to work on limiting the amount of market share companies attain, expanding the power of communities over development, supporting new tax packages giving incentives to locally own small businesses instead of corporate chains, and working towards living wages and health care for all workers.