Wal-Mart Creates Opportunity Zones

By Rachelle Bowden in News on Apr 5, 2006 11:52AM

Yesterday, Wal-Mart announced a plan to build more than 50 stores in struggling neighborhoods all around the country. The name for this initiative? "The Wal-Mart Jobs and Opportunity Zone." Does that even make sense? Wal-Mart plans to build these new stores in places with high crime and unemployment rates and on land that's either environmentally contaminated, in vacant structures, or in malls in need of revitalization. They say that these Zones could create up to 25,000 jobs, mostly for minorities, and could bring in more than $100 million in state and local tax revenue for the communities they're built in.

The model for this plan will be Chicago's first Wal-Mart store on the West Side that's opening this summer. Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott says that their goal is that in 5 years Wal-Mart won't be the only thing in the area. That Wal-Mart will have created "an economic enterprise that, in fact, would attract other businesses." Shoot... and here we kept hearing how Wal-Mart is going to be driving all the other businesses away! But hey, looky here... Wal-Mart, in response to that, says that each Zone will "engage a host of local businesses and organizations" to help "capitalize on the benefits of having a Wal-Mart store in their community, like customer flow and rising incomes." Hmm. Well. We guess they told us.

Other Opportunity Zones will be announced later this year.

Btw, the photo doesn't have much to do with this post, but we can't resist Jon Stewart! Who can?