From the Big Box Blues department:

Today marks a dark day in Chicago consumer history. Wal-Mart is opening its first store within Chicago city limits today. It's been two weeks since Mayor Daley vetoed the big-box ordinance which would require stores like Wal-Mart to pay their employees a living wage (huh?) and offer competitive benefits (wha?). Man, the ghost of Sam Walton moves fast!

According to the ABC 7 report, this location will "feature products, from food to clothing, specifically aimed at the ethnic mix of Chicago's West Side, mostly African-American and Hispanic. Rather than McDonald's, for instance, there is an Uncle Remus fried chicken inside." Yeah, because unethnic people hate cheap products made in China and won't go anywhere without a McDonald's, right? Call me crazy, but this seems like another effort that will only result in keeping the ethnic out of the mix by exploiting and providing for them simultaneously on the West Side where they will now have every thing they need. Wal-Mart will be keeping it in the community and sending the checks south. God I hate them.

(ABC7 via Chicagoist)