'New England groceries hear Wal-Mart's footsteps' -... -
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Published on: 11/17/2002
Last Visited: 11/17/2002
Wal-Mart has no choice but to expand in the densely populated and wealthy Northeast, said Kathleen Seiders, a Babson College professor who follows the grocery industry.
"They have to be everywhere," she said."If you look at this as a $230 billion company, in order to maintain their stock price, they have to grow.When you start to look at what 8 percent growth on $230 billion is, that's enormous."
Still, New England is not naturally fertile ground for Wal-Mart's model.
Land and labor are expensive, and support is strong for unions, which Wal-Mart doesn't allow.
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"Yankees are oblivious to Wal-Mart's effect on the rest of the world," said Seiders, the Babson professor.
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