Everywhere We Are Not

Scott says WAL-MART'S strategy for growth is to be "everywhere we are not." In the United States, that means edging closer to major cities, such as Los Angeles, New York and Washington, where the chain is likely to find less land, higher costs and stiffer resistance from labor unions and neighborhood activists.

What has always intrigued me about Wal-Mart is that they predominate where they're not "needed" (the prosperous suburbs), and are absent where they are most "needed" (the impoverished inner cities). The fact that the suburbs welcomes Wal-Mart may provide the reason for its prosperity; and the fact that the inner-cities refuse them may also explain its poverty.