Wal-Mart nation? Its size, power, and low prices have helped make it an American success story. So why are some people today so fearful of War-Mart?

• Author: Hays, Constance L.
• Position: Cover Story

Adeyemi Adeduro is 18 years old and works part-time in a Wal-Mart supercenter in Roswell, Ga., just north of Atlanta. Adeduro works as a cashier and a sales clerk, among other roles.

He says he signed on to work at the Roswell Wal-Mart, where his mother is a department manager, to earn money for college; he graduated from high school in nearby Marietta, Ga., last spring and hopes to attend Georgia State University. He is also a Wal-Mart shopper, buying "a lot of games and electronic devices, and parts for my car," he says.

For Adeduro, working and shopping in Wal-Mart is practically second nature. "I've been in the store since I was 8," he says, "and it's kind of like family."

But as Wal-Mart has grown, some people don't see it as the family-friendly place that Adeduro does. Wal-Mart is no longer just a store, but a force to be reckoned with--and not just for all the mom-and-pop businesses along the Main Streets of America.

1.2 MILLION WORKERS

Last year, Wal-Mart rang up $256 billion in sales (more than any other company, including General Motors and ExxonMobil), and accounted for 2.3 percent of the nation's GNP in 2002. It now sells gas and groceries, along with $3,000 plasma TVs and $1,000 diamond jewelry. Its approximately 3,600 stores and warehouse clubs stretch from Maine to Alaska and to countries like Great Britain, Mexico, and China. Wal-Mart employs 1.2 million workers globally, and with about 1 million of those in the U.S., it is the nation's largest private employer.

Wal-Mart's reach extends to its suppliers, who must operate as efficiently as possible in order to sell their goods to Wal-Mart at the lowest possible prices. And its influence is certainly felt in competitors' aisles: Toy sellers, electronics dealers, and music vendors are just some of the retailers whose fortunes have been affected by Wal-Mart. In August, Toys "R" Us announced that it might leave the toy business now that discounters like Wal-Mart are selling more and more toys.

AT WHAT COST?

The company says its low prices help people afford what they might otherwise not be able to buy, and some economists believe that Wal-Mart has itself helped hold down the nation's inflation rate. But others have begun asking: Is there a cost to Wal-Mart's relentless focus on low prices?

Labor unions, for example, have attacked the company for discouraging workers from unionizing and demanding better pay, and a recent class-action lawsuit contends that women are not promoted to management positions as frequently as men. Other lawsuits contend that Wal-Mart subcontractors hired illegal immigrants to clean the stores, and that hourly workers were pressured to work overtime without pay. And in the past, Wal-Mart has been found to have sold goods made by child laborers in sweatshops in China and other places overseas.

"Wal-Mart is not just a chain, but a chain of exploitation that stretches from the sweatshops in China to the sales floors of Massachusetts," says Al Norman, founder of a group...