Business News.
New York, NY – Frustrated by a bruising, and so far unsuccessful battle to open its first discount store in New York City, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s chief executive said, ”I don’t care if we are ever here.”
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H. Lee Scott Jr., the chief executive of the nation’s largest retailer, said at a meeting with editors and reporters of The New York Times that trying to conduct business in the U.S.’s largest city was so expensive — and exasperating — that “I don’t think it’s worth the effort.”
He said Wal-Mart executives have lobbied for a store in New York, but he remains unconvinced. “It’s too hard to make money here,” he said.
Later, Wal-Mart spokesperson Mona Williams sought to amend Scott’s remarks, the Times said.
“Entering New York has been difficult, but not something we rule out,” she said in an interview with the Times. “Lee said he personally didn’t care if we built stores there or not. It might be more trouble than it’s worth, but that he would leave that up to the real estate group that makes these decisions.”
In recent years the retailer has made vigorous efforts to crack into urban markets and expand beyond its suburban base in much of the United States. [NYTimes]
The anti-business climate created by NY city and state governments is a real impediment to economic growth and well-being.
Several years ago I closed my NY office — eliminating five full-time jobs held by Yidden — because there were so many fees and taxes I had to pay that were unique to NY state and city. It felt like every envelope that arrived from the state was little more than a mob shakedown. We subsequently opened an office in the Midwest and saved thousands!
My business is very, very small — really just a family business. But New York doesn’t discriminate: it doesn’t matter if you’re Wal-Mart or a mom-and-pop operation — they impose a million obstacles to doing business.
The ultimate effect is that Yidden have a more difficult time making a parnossah, and goyim are increasingly divided into the very rich and the very poor, which is a recipe for disaster.