Big or Small, Wal Mart wants it all...

1. Wal-Mart's Organics Could Shake Up Retail, from AP, discusses how Wal Mart is adding organic produce, to help expand their marketing towards upscale demographic segments.

A display of organic lemons is shown at a new upscale Wal-Mart store, Tuesday March 21, 2006, in Plano, Texas. The new store, complete with organic fruits, microbrewery beer, fine wine and cheese and plasma TVs, is set to open its doors Wednesday. (AP Photo/Amy Conn-Gutierrez)

2. Activist Under Fire for Wal-Mart Position, from AP, discusses the continued fallout over Wal Mart's co-optation practices.

Former United Nations ambassador and Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, left center, dances with WalMart employees Sabrina Taylor health and beauty aides department manager, left, Antonia Priest, ladies apparel department manager, and Stephanie Smith, right, toy department manager, at grand opening ceremonies for the Wal Mart Supercenter in Decatur, Ga., Wednesday, March 22, 2006. (AP Photo/Ric Feld)

3. And in "A Show of Hands on Wal-Mart," the New York Times reports on Wal Mart's application to create an industrial bank, which they claim is solely for the purposes of lowering credit card transaction fees that they are charged by banks. With capital v. capital, it will be interesting to see who wins. Although this is not necessarily a single event, but a process, and Wal Mart has staying power. (Remember "telecommunications reform?" When someone asked me about it back then, I said it was "change" in the laws but not necessarily "reforms" that would benefit the average consumer. This isn't much different.)

Mark Wilson/Getty Images. Protesters at a rally in Washington Thursday took issue with Wal-Mart's aspirations to get into the banking business. Some other groups, including the Salvation Army, support the nation's largest retailer.

The real problem with Wal Mart is that they want all of the market, and they can use their market power to continue to grow and take market share at the expense of other retail sectors. Plus their format is out-sized in a scale sense. A single Wal-Mart Supercenter has 1/4 or more of the leaseable retail space that would normally comprise the average larger neighborhood commercial district or small town downtown.

Mother Goose & Grimm Comic Strip, 3/22/2006.

And 4. From Wal-Mart land, I didn't know, but White Knuckled Wanderer, a blog from Bentonville, Arkansas, reports on terrible tornadoes, Bentonville planning efforts, and an interesting, but controversial reconstruction of a street that DC doesn't have, "J Street."

Tornado impact in Centerton, Arkansas.

A redesigned J Street, intended to reduce car driving speeds.

Index Keywords: retail; urban-design-placemaking