Walmart Jumps on the Healthy Food Bandwagon

Walmart bashing is fashionable in some circles, but credit and recognition should be given when earned. They have made some excellent decisions in recent years, such as promoting sustainability and introducing “green” features in their stores.

Now Walmart has jumped on Michelle Obama’s healthy eating bandwagon. This bodes well in the fight to reduce childhood obesity and put healthier food on family dinner tables across the nation.

Our giant neighbor in Bentonville sells more groceries by far than any other retailer. Sheer size alone gives Walmart tremendous clout. It frequently pulls the strings that cause entire industries to shift priorities, such as recent labeling changes on their Great Value label and encouragement of other products to do the same.

Here’s a summary of what Walmart plans to accomplish by 2015:

*Reformulate packaged food to reduce salt by 25% and sugar by 10%.
*Remove all trans fats and hydrogenated oils from processed foods.
*Reduce prices on fresh fruits and vegetables.
*Lower prices on healthy-choice items such as whole-wheat pasta and low-sodium canned goods.
*Build stores in poor areas that don’t have grocery stores.
*Develop a logo for healthier items to make them easy to identify.

That’s quite an agenda for the next four years. Making food healthier while keeping the taste Americans have come to love will take a tremendous effort.

On the other hand, rarely does Walmart do anything that won’t make them more money in the long run. But this time the public good and their healthy food initiative may have common goals. The only other necessary ingredient is the average American--who also needs to jump on the bandwagon.

For more information:

Arkansas Business

Bloomberg News

NPR

Washington Post

NW Arkansas is Getting Greener Every Day and Not Just Because It’s Spring

Mother Nature endowed the Ozarks with mountains, millions of green trees, lakes and rivers everywhere. This beauty and diversity calls people outdoors to enjoy it. It is heartening to know governments, corporations and individuals are working to preserve it all for generations to come.

You can walk, hike, mountain bike, or jog at your own pace on hundreds of miles of trails throughout NW Arkansas, many of which interconnect. Springdale has been a bit slower than other cities in building new trails, but now has plans under consideration to repair an old dam and reopen an existing trail around a lake. Additionally they may convert an empty building in the downtown area into a staging area connecting trails.

Green is more than just a buzzword in these parts. As everyone knows, NW Arkansas is the home of Walmart, one of the leaders in the sustainability movement here and throughout the country. Walmart’s membership-club arm, Sam’s Club, is a great illustration of green possibilities. The Fayetteville store showcases numerous environmentally sustainable features such as wastewater recycling, motion-sensor lighting, harvesting rain water for landscape plants, and more than 200 sky lights.

In 2007, Walmart Foundation gave a $1.5 million grant to fund The Applied Sustainability Center, based at the University of Arkansas Sam M. Walton College of Business. According to the Center’s web site, they have developed a broad-based coalition of partners to advance efforts in building and supporting an economy built around people, planet and profit.

The Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce introduced a new program named the GreeNWAy Initiative to certify businesses that are going green. The GreeNWAy committee partnered with the City of Fayetteville, the University of Arkansas Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE), and the University of Arkansas Applied Sustainability Center to develop the certification process.

Some time back, many separate organizations joined together to form Green Valley Development in NW Arkansas. The idea is to bring together sustainability innovators, businesses, and technologies to coordinate resources and services for green companies to excel in the world market. Charter members include Walmart, several construction companies, banks, real estate companies, retailers, electric cooperatives and more.

What I’m trying to say is…

The continuing greening of NW Arkansas and adoption of sustainable policies is alive and well. It’s one of those things that make Fayetteville and NW Arkansas regular visitors to national “best places” (to live, retire, raise children, etc.) lists. And the green is one of those things that contribute to our high quality of life here.

I Guess NW Arkansas Isn’t Bulletproof After All…

By now everyone has heard about Walmart cutting 700 to 800 jobs at the home office in a restructuring move. This has come as a big surprise to a lot of people including me, and I’m worried about a “chilling” effect that this could have on the local economy.

As the national media proclaim doom and gloom stories about job losses, increased unemployment rates, and yet more economic stimulus measures, we thought we weren’t as bad off as other parts of the country. Walmart and other large corporate employers in NW Arkansas have provided job growth here—smaller than in past years, but at least positive growth.

The other thing is that a discount store like Walmart usually does better when times are tough as they are now. Thus we thought this would keep our area “safe” from what’s happening elsewhere. So to have even Walmart cut 5% of their positions here is significant, and could affect the already suffering housing market.

The perceptions that the economy here isn’t as robust as people thought and that there may not be as many jobs available, may prevent new people from moving here and purchasing homes. On the other hand, some of those 700 people may have difficulty finding new jobs here and selling their homes to move elsewhere. Thus the chilling effect is magnified as the number of months of housing inventory increases at a time when sales are down compared to previous years.

For me as a Realtor® I’m disappointed. Yes, Walmart may be fiscally responsible to its shareholders, but when someone you know is one of those 700 people the negative effect is felt even more sharply. I just found out that a client of mine, a nice young man to whom I have sold a home and who was going to get married in a few months, was one of those laid off. He is, of course, devastated, and trying to take stock of his situation.

Ultimately the effect of these job cuts probably can’t be measured. But the actual as well as psychological chill this has caused locally goes beyond news reports on the situation. Only time will get us out of this economic mess.

For more information:

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/252028/
http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Business/252088/
http://nwanews.com/bcdr/News/70632/
http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2009/02/11/news/021109azwalmartlayoffs.txt