First I will have to tell you that Tehachapi was forever changed a little before your posted birth date. That was when the first of many waves of growth in the area started. Before that everyone knew everyone. As a kid you could never get away with picking your nose without your parents learning of your bad habits. But then you had no choice but to go down the hill to shop for just about everything. That was the last time the town was truly a samll quite town.

Now you speak of the low wages that Wal-Mart paids it working staff and $1.00 a week sweatshop workers in some thrid world country. Well first I have to ask you how much does the local mom and pop pay their one or two employees? How much does K-Mart paid their staff? In most cases it is the exact same amount that Wal-mark by law must pay their employees. True, Wal-Mart doesn't pay medical benefit either, but neither does K-mart or the mom or pops. As for the sweatshop workers goes, true. But hte next time you go shopping you better start checking for the made in America tags otherwise you more than likely are buy a sweatshop product. Now that doesn't account for the fact that in some countries the exchange rate need to be considered also. Now the quote you stated that Sam Walton is credit with, I don't know if he did or didn't say it, but after reading about him I doubt it. I would really check out your source for that quote.

Your last paragraph could actually be use to argue the merits of McDonalds, Subway, etc.. In many cases the work force of any of this minimum wage jobs a also second incomes for extra household earnings, a college student way to pay for school, or something that work experience. True many are people that are unskilled and have a hard time making ends meet, but from having had my wife work at both K-Mart and Wal-Marts over the years, the two are really no different.

rm6 - While I can truly empathize with your feelings of frustration that the U.S. free market economy and the growing obsession with consumerism is sucking the soul from many small towns and communities, I have to say that I will shop at Wal-Mart if it means getting the best price and saving time and money in the process.

Your reference to the statistics left out that nearly 70 percent said basically, 'that it they built it, they will shop' at a Tehachapi Wal-Mart - and those figures were from a 2004 study, prior to the most recent influx of new residents who may be a little more inclined to favor convenience over a costly drive to the nearest shopping mecca.         

As for low wages, I have done some informal polling in the area about local wages, and "competetive" is not even in the realm  of possibilities for those who employ more than a dozen, unless they are union.  I looked up on the Wal-Mart website and they claim "our average, full-time wage is $10.51 per hour and we offer affordable health plans that cost as little as
$11 per month in some areas."  I don't know if this is factual, but it sounds pretty competetitive when you consider the dearth of even minimum wage jobs available in Tehachapi for unskilled workers - namely those who do want to pay for the college education or supplement their retirement. 

I am also not a fan of unions, as I believe they bully employees into supporting their political agendas and they tend to make it pretty difficult to get proper union representation should you have a labor dispute. Can you say "whistleblower?" Because faster than you can say it, I can guarantee some supervisor will find some justification for the formal reprimand that will soon be added to your personnel file along with the remaining write-ups necessary to legally show you the door and ensure you can't collect unemployment benefits to boot. K-Mart is non-union also. Do you think that just because one of Charlie's Angels has a clothing line there those garments aren't made by some suffering soul in some third world country?       
 
I for one, look forward to being able to shop locally, have my town benefit from the sales tax revenues that will surely flow.  And as I leave with my purchased goods, I will certain feel good about saying "thank you" to the young person who truly needs that Wal-Mart job so he or she can afford to go to college and get out of that economic trap you mentioned.   

Has everyone overlooked the headline??????????????  This will be a Wal-Mart Superstore.  Meaning it will have a grocery store also. I wouldn't worry about K-Mart as much as Save-Mart.  I do not and will not shop at the home of CHEAP CHINESE CRAP!  Why oh why couldn't we ave gotten a Target?!?

What happened to to the business that Sam Walton built.  Made in AMERICA used to be the Wal-Mart pride. Now Wal-Mart is just another big fat corporation that doesn't give a hoot about anything but making a buck on CHEAP CHINESE CRAP! 

When Wal-mart opens, you will see K-mart close as well as many smaller stores. We will have many empty buildings in town to look at. Please say NO to Wal-mart. Keep what little part of Tehachapi we still have.

I'm having a really hard time with this decision. I've dealt with all the recent strip malls and have admittedly frequented Starbucks often. That's about as far as it goes. I think I've been to Coldstone once to Don Perico's once and that ends there. One thing I beg of the council....NO MORE MEXICAN RESTAURANTS! It's a joke around here.

Now back to Wal-mart.  I just can't seem to warm up to the idea of one being here. I also think it will run K-mart out of business. I am not a big fan of Wal-mart and I rarely shop there. I have to admit I find it amazing that there are enough people here to actually work in the store. Isn't K-mart and the like always looking for people? I go to some of the fast food places here and always see the same faces. I swear there are like only four people working at one. lol It's insane! Anyways, It's coming, it sucks and there is nothing we can do about it.  

jer72, look here http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pag... and read under Nelson Lichtenstein.

I know that most of WalMart's practices are used in other large stores like Kmart, but they don't have the terrible reputation that WalMart does of gutting towns of not only their smaller businesses, but of their (in my opinion) feeling of originality. I'm also aware that the mom and pop stores don't pay that much and don't give benefits, but (1) they really can't afford to and WalMart can but doesn't and (2) those small stores don't gut (or hold a monopoly on) the local economy.

It just seems to me that WalMart is different from Kmart and Target, the atmosphere is different, and the effect on the community seems different (maybe not, but I just don't like WalMart). A Target seems to be a much better choice. I'm against WalMart because of the feeling it will give this town. I know that change is inevitable, but this seems to be about the worst thing that could come to town.

As for you sushisoo, I totally understand the want for convenience...everything in one place at a low low price, it saves time and money...what could be better? If that's all you're interested in then, by all means, open your arms wide and welcome the WalMart Supercenter to Tehachapi. However, I hope that's not what it has come to for the majority of Tehachapi residents, I hope they are still interested in preserving what is left of the small town charm. I don't think the majority of the residents in the area moved here or live here to see Tehachapi become just another generic American town, I think they are here because of the wide open spaces and the other amenities that separate Tehachapi from the large city hustle and bustle that is encroaching from the northwest (Bakes) and the south (Lancaster and LA).

Wal-Mart destroys more jobs than it creates. A new Wal-Mart destroys jobs by putting local merchants out of business. The jobs Wal-Mart creates are fewer, lower-paying and mostly part-time.  Wal-mart will create, what 100 jobs? What about the employees of K-Mart, Save-Mart ect.???? I guess they can go to work at Wal-mart. Will Wal-Mart be able to hire them all? What will happen to the K-mart building, the Save-Mart building and all the smaller stores?  Can you say, boarded up!!This is to high of a lost for a cheep pair of underwear!!!!!!!!!!!  Wal-mart gives away money to the communities they are in to hind what they do to those communities in other ways.

I think is funny how many people believe that Wal-Mart is going to kill all other stores. I have lived in a number of towns, big and small that have Wal-Marts in them. Guess what? The small towns didn't lose their mom and pops. They only way K-Mart and Sacve-Mart are going to died is if their management does not change to refelct the new competition. When Home Depot came in everyone was afraid that Ace, True Value, and Home for Less would go under, there still here. The funniest part of that is my understanding that Ace gets it wood from.... Home Depot.

RM6,

Like you said, I would have rather saw a Target than Wal-Mart. Target carries better product at a slightly high price.

Jer - It's not just a matter of convenience, although as a busy working mom with small kids, time is also money. Gas is money. Time spent going to several stores looking for items not sold or re-stocked, is money.

Just to put things straight, I do care about preserving what remains of the "small town charm" of Tehachapi, something I have watched dwindle over the past 20+ years. I could never live in the SoCal web of stripmalls and freeways.

I hope the revenue Wal-Mart brings to this town will help the city complete our downtown renovation and make this a unique and inviting place to visit and live. I participated in the charrette plan and actually attend local meetings and I think it would be helpful if more residents also did so, instead of just complaining and unfairly maligning our city leaders.

Will some of the tired old retailers downtown go out of business as a result of Wal-Mart? Sorry to say it, but the answer is yes, definitely. No disrespect, but some of them desperately need to update what they offer and make it interesting to the general population. I don't know about you, but when I visit some place I  seldom buy craft supplies and used nick-nacks. 

Personally, I think Save Mart will suffer less than Albertson's since they do go out of their way to offer personal service and familiar faces that are well known participants in this community.

For a time, I lived in a very small and isolated area that first opened a KMart, then a Costco and finally a WalMart, all in a matter of two years. At first KMart faltered a bit, but as WalMart became the usual crowded and disorganized department store hustle, the two began to compete and it was good for shoppers. Costco seemed to even things out across the board. I wish our society weren't so consumer oriented, but I guess I contribute to the cycle, because when I need something, I'm guilty of the "need it now" mentality as much as the next gal.  

Growth is unfortunately, inevitable. I hope our leaders  will work to attract not just more retailers, but other industry and professional businesses so that local people can afford to both live and work locally, earning a decent living so they can actually have time to enjoy our unique mountain community's small town character.      

I, for one, can't wait for them to open the Wal Mart!  I live in Cal City and have to drive 45min to an hour to Lancaster or Ridgecrest to get to any sort of super center.  We dont even have so much as a real grocery store and have to drive to Mojave to get that!  I am lucky.  We are active duty military so we can shop on base, but the main store has high prices and low quality!  We routinely travel to Tehachapi to the Home Depot.  I have come through to Tehachapi Turf on a coupld of occasions and have enjoyed the area.

I think by having a Walmart Superstore there, more people will come to Tehachapi.  Thats can be like a double edged sword, people like me who come more often will likely stop and see some of your local vendors!  (Back East we call those "mom and pop stores") and get to know the locals.  On the other blade.. you will get a few of the folks that are not there for shopping... It will be your job as a community to learn how to figure out who is who and protect your neighbors and yourselves!  I think by just keeping your eyes open, this will be a great experience for Tehachapi!

I only wish they had put it in Cal City!!!!

Jer72, Home Depot hasn't even been here a year yet.  I think it is unfair to say that their presence hasn't effected the local hardware/lumber stores.  I am opposed to WalMart mainly because I don't want to see an empty, boarded up building where the KMart currently operates.  I have wavered back and forth about my feelings towards WalMart's business practices, and their presence in smaller towns.  I don't believe any large retail business in the United States today operates in a way that is fair and beneficial to customers, employees, townspeople, distributors, or manufacturers and their employees.  As has been stated, Target utilizes many of the same practices as WalMart, their clothes just happen to be a little more stylish and made in Vietnam instead of China.  We are all truly to blame for WalMart and their empire.  We all believe we deserve flat screen TV's, lots of soda, new clothes, videogames, dvd's, and shiny new toys.  WalMart is simply catering to what we all want and are spending our money on.  Unless 85% of the people in our country changed our priorities, and refused to spend every last dime of every paycheck, demanded and purchased quality goods (clothes, food, etc.) we can't really cuss WalMart.  We should cuss ourselves first and change our habits as individuals so that we hopefully make impacts on those around us because of the example set.

I get the feeling that most of the people that support Wal-Mart's entrance into the local economy do so because it will be easier and more convenient to get stuff, not because they think it's good for the area. You're right kdswi, we should be cussing ourselves for being too lazy and too *gasp* cheap (no offense to anyone) to keep Tehachapi from selling out to the largest corporation in America. I guess it's that ubiquitous "it's better for me" attitude.

At our local Walmart  Many of the people who work there do so because of the good insurance.  Some have husbands who are farmers or operate small businesses such as a repair or machine shop.  To these folks the very reasonable price of Walmart health insurance is a Godsend.  On lady told me the cheapest insurance they could get if she didn't work was about five times the price of WM. 

I am with kidswi on this. I feel this will be bad for Tehachapi. It's a lot to trade for an increase in tax dollars and cheep clothing. Really most of us live up here because of the small town life style. Why would we want to give that away. I to wish they would have built it in Cal City!

"They only way K-Mart and Sacve-Mart are going to died is if their management does not change to refelct the new competition."   Like letting go of employees, lower pay, selling cheaper merchandise. How else are they going to compete?

My big question for the day is......Why in the heck did you move to  a small town in the first place, if you want to turn it into  like the place you left? Congestion, too much traffic, ugly buildings, etc.

 I've been here 10 years and have never felt inconvenienced by having to go out of town (still never to W-M) to shop. I plan my trips wisely and take care of as many things as possible while I'm in Bakes or Lancaster, I always have, even before these ricockulous gas prices.

People moved here to get away from the same old everyday crap to a beautiful semi-secluded mountain town and now they gripe because they can't go to Wal-Mart....of all places....We didn't have a Wal-Mart when they moved here, so I guess from the amount of people that have moved here in the last 5 years, not having a Wal-Mart wasn't a deal breaker...They moved here anyway..And now people act as if having a Wal-Mart is their salvation for moving here.....I just don't get it.....maybe it's just me.