Everywhere it goes, Wal-Mart’s yellow smiley-face brings a mixture of anticipation, fear and controversy with it – and the Wal-Mart Supercenter under construction on South Main Street is no exception.

Students and educators on campus have opinions on the mega-retailer, spanning a spectrum of respect and disgust that goes on without end.

But while some may be wary of the effects Wal-Mart’s low-low prices could have on the local economy, most area businesses are fearless.

The Pharm – a discount grocer and pharmacy chain – has held its own in Toledo and Napoleon when Supercenters moved in because they’ve bettered Wal-Mart’s “rumored poor customer service,” according to Michael Dolt, store director of The Pharm on North Main Street.

Serving a customer base that’s roughly a 50/50 split between residents and college students, The Pharm also offers convenient “purchase accounts,” which segments of BGSU like the Athletic Department and Residence Life have enrolled in.

Organizations or departments can sign up for an account offering the convenience of loading up on items at the store, later paying one bulk bill to The Pharm’s corporate office, Dolt said.

But criticisms of Wal-Mart’s customer service don’t hold much water when buyers keep coming back time and again, according to Philip Serghini, community affairs manager for Wal-Mart in Ohio.

“We have excellent customer service, and we’ll let the 130 million customers per week speak for that issue,” Serghini said.

After applying for a permit from the city in January 2005, Wal-Mart’s contractor – The Pike Company of Rochester, N.Y. – began clearing out a wooded area directly south of the current Wal-Mart store on South Main Street this August.

This is where the Supercenter – which often includes a grocery, pharmacy, hair salon and auto center – will be built.

With a foundation laid and the first cement block placed on Oct. 10, construction should be complete by April 2006, according to Mike Robach, project superintendent.

Twenty-one Supercenters have opened throughout Ohio so far in 2005, and neighboring small businesses are saying mostly good things.

Right off the I-75 highway exit in Wapakoneta lies a Wal-Mart Supercenter, built in April 2005, with smaller businesses surrounding it.

The Cloud Nine Cafe is one of those smaller businesses, and the sandwich shop’s customer base has only grown since the Supercenter moved into town, according to Sara Beth Wilcox, owner.

“I think it’s definitely helped bringing people in off the interstate,” Wilcox said.

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CAMPUS REACTION

Throughout the week, roughly 600 college campuses around the nation will hold screenings of a new documentary that aims to pierce through what many see as Wal-Mart’s “community first” facade.

“Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price,” will be shown 21 times this week on Ohio campuses – with showings here at BGSU this past Monday, and tonight at 8 p.m. in 308 Union by student groups Pandora’s Box and the Organization for Women’s Issues.

With Wal-Mart currently entwined in one of the largest class-action lawsuits ever against women, Instructor Chadwick Roberts brought the controversial mega-store into his introduction to women’s studies course with a 2004 book, “Selling Women Short: The landmark battle for workers’ rights at Wal-Mart.”

“Wal-Mart customers are women, and those involved in this lawsuit are women,” Roberts said. “Women in my class have talked about Wal-Mart in their business classes, but they’ve told me they’ve never seen this part of the story.”

Jeff Stark, a sophomore and business major, knew about the arguments against Wal-Mart before Roberts’ class – that female employees weren’t given the same salary and promotional opportunities as men – but this class gave him a new perspective.

“I came to the conclusion that they’re rather destructive for both women’s rights and small communities,” Stark said.

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UNION STORES IN BG

With roughly 20 employees organized under the United Food and Commercial Worker’s Union Local 911, The Pharm is one of four union stores in Bowling Green touting benefits and salaries they claim support their workers’ families in a way Wal-Mart won’t.

Kroger, Meijer and Rite-Aid will all be competing with the Supercenter for grocery and pharmacy business, and are all organized by UFCW Local 911 – a union that definitely has an opinion about Wal-Mart.

But no controversy was raised by local residents or business owners when the city’s Planning Commission held a public hearing in January 2005 for rezoning of the property that Wal-Mart wanted to build on.

Because the Planning Commission relies on the people to voice their opinion when displeased with a zoning proposal, no uproar over Wal-Mart’s request led to approval of the permit request, according to Ken Taylor, senior planner.

Every business – whether “big-box” or family-owned – must be given this same shake by the Planning Commission, said Taylor, regardless of the effects they may have on neighboring businesses.

“It would be unfair to discriminate,” he added.

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EFFECTS OF ‘LOW PRICES’

The concession is easily made by UFCW 911 representative Bob Gilbert that Wal-Mart has “changed the way business is done in America” – but in his opinion that’s what we should be worried about.

Bowling Green shoppers enjoy the store’s low priced products, but may not know that they are paying even more money through taxation to provide many Wal-Mart workers health care.

Forty-six percent of the children of Wal-Mart’s 1.33 million U.S. employees were uninsured or on Medicaid, according to an internal company memo titled, “Reviewing and Revising Wal-Mart’s Benefits Strategy,” reported by the New York Times on Oct. 26.

Shouldering health care responsibilities so a corporation can increase profits is something Bowling Green taxpayers shouldn’t stand for, Gilbert said.

But Wal-Mart does offer their employees health care options, said Serghini, community affairs manager, while plenty of retail companies don’t even do that.

“We do provide benefits. Are they the richest benefits in the world? No,” Serghini said, “but we are trying to deal with this issue.”

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WILL SMALL BUSINESS SUFFER?

In addition to acting as a potential burden on BG taxpayers, Gilbert is concerned local niche merchants won’t be able to compete with the Supercenter, which could further dilute the city’s business tax base.

“Wal-Mart comes into a town like BG devastating the businesses that have operated there for years,” Gilbert said. “Our hardware stores, our clothing stores, they just can’t compete with a company that sells so low.”

But for 29 years, Floyd Craft, owner of Ben Franklin Variety ‘#38; Crafts located downtown, has been able to compete fairly well.

As the “big box” stores like Wal-Mart and K-Mart have come and gone over the years, smaller businesses like Ben Franklin’s will always take an initial hit, Craft said. But customers in Bowling Green have proven especially loyal to his stores, which include Ace Hardware and For Keeps gift shop in downtown Bowling Green.

Craft even champions Wal-Mart for choosing to keep their new Supercenter on the south side of town, because of the lack of businesses at that end of Main Street.

“That side of town would be in bad shape if they weren’t there,” Craft said. “So I appreciate them being down there.”