| March 5, 2009 | - February U.S. retail sales increased 0.7 percent, although if Wal-Mart sales were excluded, sales would have decreased by 4.1 percent. “Flat is the new up,” said one retail analyst. “If you're only doing a zero percent increase, congratulations. You're a winner.”
| Source:
New York Times
|
| February 27, 2009 | - Ten people in Bloomingdale, Indiana, watched as a 58-year-old Wal-Mart employee, described by management as “fun to be around,” set himself alight in a parking lot near the store where he worked. People threw their coats on the man, but he tossed the coats away; before succumbing to burns he told police, “I just couldn't take it anymore.” The man's son said that his father had enjoyed living in the suburbs. “This had nothing to do with the economy,” said the son. “We were getting ready to redo the front lawn.”
| Source:
CLTV
|
| January 29, 2008 | -
Wal-Mart announced an economic “stimulus plan” that offers steep discounts on thousands of items, including a five-pound bag of Tyson frozen chicken wings ($8.88) and two Hillshire Farms Cocktail Smokies or Ropes ($5).
| Source:
Wal-Mart &lq;Stimulus&rq; Pkg: Will Doritos Rescue The Economy?
|
| July 3, 2007 | - It was revealed that Wal-Mart has collected on at least 75 of the 350,000 life insurance policies it had secretly taken out on its employees.
| Source:
The Tampa Tribune
|
| October 12, 2006 | -
Chinese
Wal-Mart workers unionized.
| Source:
International Herald Tribune
|
| June 2, 2006 | - A snake bit a woman at a Wal-Mart in Florida. “Thank goodness for sweat pants with elastic,” said the woman, “because he tried to climb up my britches' leg.”
| Source:
WFTV.com
|
| March 4, 2006 | -
Wal-Mart announced that it would begin to sell the morning-after pill, but would not require pharmacists to fill prescriptions if the pill offends them.
| Source:
The New York Times
|
| December 13, 2005 | - A man who works as a Santa at a New York
Wal-Mart was arrested after he exposed himself to a 15-year-old boy and asked for oral sex.
| Source:
Record Online
|
| November 5, 2005 | -
Wal-Mart released a study showing that Wal-Mart is good for the U.S. economy.
| Source:
Arkansas News Bureau
|
| June 14, 2005 | - An achondroplastic dwarf in Florida named Molly Beavers sued Wal-Mart for firing her from her job at Sam's Club because she did not smile enough; Beavers cannot smile because her face is partially paralyzed.
| Source:
St. Petersburg Times
|
| May 22, 2005 | - In Indiana a three-year-old boy crawled inside a toy vending machine at a Wal-Mart and had to be freed by firemen. He did not receive a toy.
| Source:
BBC News
|
| May 17, 2005 | -
Wal-Mart announced that it would export $18 billion worth of Chinese goods.
| Source:
Forbes
|
| May 14, 2005 | -
Wal-Mart apologized for running an advertisement that equated current Arizona zoning ordinances with the Nazi regime. Using a photo of a 1933 book burning in Berlin, the ad read: “Should we let government tell us what we can read? Of course not . . . So why should we allow local government to limit where we shop?”
| Source:
Washington Post
|
| February 9, 2005 | -
Wal-Mart
announced plans to close a store in Canada after
the store's workers unionized.
| Source:
The Street
|
| November 6, 2004 | - A giant Wal-Mart opened up within a mile of the pyramids at Teotihuacán, Mexico.
| Source:
New York Times
|
| October 8, 2004 | -
Mexico declined to stop the construction of a Wal-Mart next to the ancient ruins of Teotihuacán.
| Source:
Reuters
|
| September 22, 2004 | -
Wal-Mart agreed to stop selling The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, a nineteenth-century anti-Semitic forgery, on its website; a spokesman said the company had "made a business decision to remove this book."
| Source:
Jewish Telegraph Agency
|
| June 4, 2004 | - Good Jobs First, a Washington, D.C., research group, reported that Wal-Mart has received more than $1 billion in subsidies from state and local governments around the country.
| Source:
Elizabethton Star
|
| March 9, 2004 | - A Georgia woman was arrested for trying to pass a fake $1 million bill at a Wal-Mart.
| Source:
Associated Press
|
| November 29, 2003 | - A Wal-Mart shopper in Orange City, Florida, was trampled and knocked unconscious during a stampede at a Wal-Mart Supercenter; the stampede occurred at the 6 a.m. opening of a big sale. The victim, who was first in line, was found clutching a DVD player.
| Source:
Daytona Beach News-Journal, New York Times
|
| August 14, 2001 | -
Wal-Mart's
sales were up 6 percent.
| |
| November 30, 2000 | - A crowd of 2,000 shoppers in search of Black Friday bargains gathered in front of a Long Island Wal-Mart at 5 a.m., shattered the store's sliding-glass double doors, and rushed into the store, killing 34-year-old Jdimytai Damour, a temporary worker hired for the holiday season, in the stampede. “It was crazy,” said a worker in the electronics department. “The deals weren't even that good.”
| Source:
New York Times
|
| September 12, 2000 | -
German government regulators ordered Wal-Mart to raise its prices after they concluded that Wal-Mart was illegally trying to harm competitors with artificially low prices.
| |
