Small Towns and Big Business: Challenging Wal-Mart Superstores »

Small Towns and Big Business comprehensively examines the phenomenon of local protests against Wal-Mart superstores. Using fieldwork and archival sources, Halebsky situates these protests in the context of economic restructuring and the expansion of retailing; explains how some local social movements were able to successfully fend off the world's largest retailer; and assesses the implications for efforts to limit corporate power, resist McDonaldization, and protect local quality of life.

Tables and Figures

1 Introduction: Communities, Corporations, and Local Social Movements 1

2 Big Retailers, Aggressive Retail Development, and the Roots of Local Protest 27

3 How Superstores Affect Small Towns 51

4 Gig Harbor, Washington, and Petoskey, Michigan: Do the People Want It? 71

5 West Bend, Wisconsin, and Ottawa, Ohio: A Superstore in the Neighborhood? 99

6 Ashland, Wisconsin, and Eureka, California: Economic Benefit for Whom? 129

7 Explaining Success 165

8 The Local State, Corporate Retailing, McDonaldization, and Local Anticorporate Activism 187

Appendix

Bibliography

Index