American Dream

Hood River, Oregon, has successfully stopped Wal-Mart from building a supercenter, thus assuring that its residents will continue to pay higher prices for groceries and other goods. Wal-Mart already has a regular store in the area, but the city said that a supercenter, which would be twice the original store's size, was "incompatible with other buildings" in Hood River. The Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals agrees.

This decision is a clear victory for Safeway and several independent grocery stores in Hood River, which now can continue to charge customers higher prices and don't have to innovate in order to compete with Wal-Mart. Of course, it would be silly to let consumers decide for themselves whether they want to shop at a huge, low-cost store or smaller stores that may provide goods and services you can't get at a Wal-Mart.