6.12. SR 10-18-1999 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Chapter 10 Page 20 of 25 . Oklahoma, and now appears to be targeting urban and rural areas in other states. The new Wal- Mart approach for areas close to saturation, as well as others, is to revamp the older stores as supercenters," Muller said. "These combine the general merchandise store with a full-line grocery store, using the checkout counters. "11 Muller continued, "The experience ofWal-Mart has been that these superstores have increased per-square-foot general merchandise sales. With its superstores Wal-Mart sales could easily double, even in states where current stores are close to saturation. In a few years, given that current trends will continue, one corporate entity may have a substantial share of all retail trade in the United States."32 The author recommends that the current Committees on Small Business in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate continue to hold hearings on the applicability of such regulatory statutes as the Sherman, Clayton, Federal Trade Commission and Robinson-Patman Acts upon these mega-retail discount chains and their effect on the weakening condition of small retailers in the United States, due in part to the ever increasing power of the chains to procure the lowest of prices from manufacturers and suppliers. . While predatory pricing might have to be viewed differently in the federal area compared to state litigation, neverrhe~ess the increasing power of the chains requires federal review in terms of applicable statutes and regulations designated to protect small business and to provide free market opportunities. Further, the opportunities of the large chains to secure "corporate welfare" in terms of financial a.ssistance tor building their huge stores should be re-examined by Congress, since many of the grants are basically part of federal funding. An End to "Com-orate Welfare" - Recommendations to Congress for Federal Legislation tQ 'Combat and Restrict "Big Box" Abu~~~ The following recommendations set forth in Chapter VIII, hopefully would restrict "Big Box" abuses by mega-retail discount chains, developers and redevelopment authorities operating under existing state redevelopment laws by taking away state and local tax giveaways and providing a vehicle for Congressional Hearings. The idea is to attach strings to federal monies given states and localities: for example, such strings are often attached to highway monies. This would make sense here because these "Big Box" stores create additional burdens on federal highways as they are often built in areas accessible only by tederal highway. The legislation would say that highway money would be reduced to any state which allowed these stores to go up in any of the following circumstances: (1) Ifthe development received state or local tax incentives; . (2) If it was within x miles of a federal highway; (3) If the developer/retailer did not pay the government for the full social costs of building such a store (not just for repairing highways more often, but also cleanup of air pollution) (a study to http://www.shilsreport.orglchapIO.html 10/6/99