Walmart arrives in DC amid fanfare, national wage controversy

WASHINGTON, D.C. — There was plenty of fanfare to greet the opening of the first two Walmart stores in the nation’s capital Wednesday morning.

Just as doors were set to open at 8 a.m., Mayor Vincent Gray cut the red ribbon at the Georgia Avenue location, heralding the 600 new jobs created by the big-box retailer. A dancing Oreo cookie, a costumed Batman and Robin, and a local high school color guard were on hand for the ceremony.

But a celebratory official mood and the hundreds of shoppers who crammed the aisles belied a three-year-old dispute over wages that preceded Walmart’s arrival in the District.  

Earlier this year, as the company finalized plans for six stores in D.C., the City Council responded by passing a bill that would have required big-box retailers to pay employees at least $12.50 an hour, well above the District’s current minimum wage of $8.25. When Walmart threatened to abandon plans for four of the proposed stores, Gray vetoed the legislation, citing the urgent need for jobs in D.C. and drawing the fury of some labor organizers who insist the company is shirking its obligations to the local community.

Inside the Georgia Avenue branch in D.C.’s Ward 4, where unemployment is around the national average of 7 percent, even those who fought the crowds at the store’s grand opening had conflicted feelings about Walmart's entrance into the neighborhood.

On the one hand, shoppers said they were pleased with a place where 98 cent frozen buttered corn shared a roof with a $25 George Foreman grill, a few aisles down from where one can purchase a $200 futon. They also welcomed the hundreds of badly needed jobs the store created.

“The whole D.C. area is tickled pink — we can walk here!” said Annie Washington, 83. “Look at these prices — it’s a blessing, and around Christmastime and around hard times, too. We’re all trying to make ends meet.”  

Some, nonetheless, said that Walmart could likely afford to pay employees better wages and benefits in line with its multibillion-dollar profits and were worried about the impact on the surrounding community. A wide body of academic research has tried to pinpoint the effects of Walmart openings on local economies and found a mixed bag of benefits and losses, according to a review by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

One downside is the likely impact on other local shops. The study of research into the firm found that "evidence suggests that, indeed, retail competitors suffer when Wal-Mart enters the local market."

Some locals echoed that sentiment. “It does destroy small businesses. There’s a dollar store across the street that probably won’t be here in a year,” said Dawn Lattisaw, 55, as she eyed baby clothes for a soon-to-be-born grandson. “But they’re selling a bunch of cheap crap from China and we come here to buy it.”

Lattisaw, a lifelong Washingtonian, added that young people in the community without college degrees desperately needed the jobs, even if they were minimum wage. A low-wage job was better than no job, she said. 

Others said the store would have a positive impact in an area poorly served by local shops. Michelle Hunt, 44, another Washington resident, used to take two Metro trains and a bus to buy fresh produce. She said she was happy that the 105,000-square-foot supercenter — with a full deli and pharmacy — was now just a short commute from her home.  

“You have to understand that this is something that this area really needs,” said Hunt, the mother of three sons.

Asked about the controversy over wages, she added, “They should be able to pay their employees $12 an hour with all the money they make, but my family needs to eat, too, and I have to feed them.”

Anthony Addison, 53, who came Wednesday morning with a page-long shopping list, said he used to go to a Walmart in Laurel, Md., and thought he might as well be spending his money in his own neighborhood. He said, however, that he wished the company would pay its employees a living wage.

“They always need to raise wages — people can’t survive,” he said. “That’s not right, because of all the money they make.”   

Walmart said it received about 23,000 applications for the 600 jobs available — an indication of the hunger for new employment opportunities.

Ruth, a 19-year-old sales associate working in the beauty and makeup aisle, said she was being paid $9.25 an hour, about a dollar higher than what she had been paid at her last job, at Walgreens.

“It’s a good start,” she said, noting that because she does not have the money to pay college tuition, she would like to work her way up to assistant manager.  

The wage issue does not seem likely to go away anytime soon for Walmart and other big businesses. The D.C. City Council earlier this week again took up the issue of the minimum wage, voting unanimously to raise the rate for all employers to $11.60 by 2016. The provision must go through a final vote early next year before it goes to Gray’s desk.

Nationally, Walmart stores have been beset by protests from workers demanding better wages and benefits, with some cities, like New York, refusing to let in the retailer altogether because of its poor labor track record. Meanwhile, a bill introduced earlier this year in Congress, which would hike the federal minimum wage for the first time since a similar bill was passed in 2007, seems likely to fall by the wayside as the House and Senate gird for another round of budget battles.