1st February 2003, 9:27 AM
I can definately relate to ABF. I live in a small town of 4000. Our town <i>thrives</i> on business downtown from tourists. Almost every single business downtown is family owned. Last year Walmart wanted to build a super center (the smallest of the super centers) here, and get this: <b>they asked for a tax break from the city</b>. Now, I don't fear that Walmart would put an end to the shops downtown because as I stated earlier, most of their business comes from tourists and not from the locals. They offer novelty items and other things that you would expect to get on a vacation. I'd actually enjoy having a Walmart because I have to drive 20 minutes to a bigger city to buy video games and other stuff you can't get here at the local shops. It's just the fact that a fortune 500 company driven by greed would even dare ask for a tax break. They've now delayed construction by a couple of years, but I'm glad our town was smart enough to vote against the tax break.