A newly formed group of students spent Thursday evening boycotting Wal-Mart.
Nine members of Third Party Movement, formed two and a half weeks ago, held signs, passed out flyers and shouted about the corporation outside the 4730 Encore Blvd. location.
Grand Rapids senior Jack Buck, the group’s organizer, said the group’s goal is to raise awareness of third party political groups without endorsing a specific party.
“Small businesses struggle because of Wal-Mart,” said group member Chris Belanger, a Lake Leelanau junior. “They come in and lower their prices, making it impossible for businesses to compete and then wait for the businesses to crumble so they can reap the benefits.”
When arriving at Wal-Mart Supercenter, the group split up and started passing out flyers outside of each store entrance.
Jenison sophomore Kyle Landstra, right, and Grand Rapids senior Jack Buck of the Third Party Movement RSO rally against Wal-Mart at the intersection of East Blue Grass Road and Encore Boulevard. (Libby March/Staff Photographer)
The flyers contained an article titled, “Wal-Mart Dishonors America’s Civil War Dead” and another page of facts stating that Wal-Mart mistreats its employees and gives billions of dollars to China.
Response
Within about ten minutes of the group’s arrival, Wal-Mart security and management informed members they had to leave.
Store manager Chris Emmons declined to comment on the issue other than stating Wal-Mart has a no solicitation policy, which must be followed.
Once kicked off company property, the group relocated to the store’s main entrance at the corner of Encore Boulevard and Bluegrass Road and passed out flyers to moving cars.
They held signs reading “Gravesite of the American Dream,” and “Support local biz,” which contained an upside down smiley face.
Hudsonville senior Ryan Dacey said the group passed out around 750 flyers within about 45 minutes.
“I think we got our voice out there no matter if people agreed or not,” he said. “We just want our voice to be heard.”
Mixed feedback
The group’s presence caused many people to honk their horns and cheer in support — but not all the feedback was positive.
Buck said he received death threats from passing vehicles.
“We got screamed at and called hippies,” he said. “There were four or five people that screamed, ‘Go back to college.’”
The group dispersed after about an hour, when Isabella County Sheriff’s Deputy Mike Hosking told them the police received complaints regarding group members running into traffic.
“You guys have the right to do what you want but, when you start running into traffic, it becomes a problem,” he told group members.
Mount Pleasant resident Anthony Boness, who was shopping during the protest, said the group was using its constitutional rights.
“Nobody really forms together anymore,” he said. “Whether good or bad, all opinions should be put out there.”
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Joe Borlik
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i just think that having a lot of separate local business will run up the costs of goods being sold. think about general stores and how their prices compare to walmart. think of how convenient it is to go to one place and get everything you need. what if you had to go to a separate local business for car supplies, groceries, clothes, toys, and whatever else you needed? think of all the gas you would be using. the creation of all these local stores will cost the companies money (buying or leasing the land, constructing a building, hiring and training employees, etc… and which, the company will forward the cost to the consumer.
i’m not trying to bash anybody’s views or opinions, i am just trying to put what i’ve learned through college into this reply. i wish any other business majors could comment and post their views on this controversial topic. yes, it is true and unfortunate that walmart pays chineses workers over americans, but at this time our society is no longer a sole manufacturing society like it was at the turn of the industrial revolution. it is an information and service producing society that may involve some higher degree of learning than what high school can provide. walmart can provide millions of jobs, as you have stated above, to a big segment of the uneducated, unqualified, or unemployeed people of america. and i think they can afford to do this better than local business ever could.
I’m not going to go further into this than to say the debate against Wal-Mart is in extension a debate against Globalization and is, in most cases, a failed one.
I will say however that the idea of a third party in America is crazy not JUST because of existing political structures but because of the electoral system we have. In a plurality system, it always ends up with two parties.
Seriously people, if you want to be taken seriously, try get a haircut and a shave first. Like it or not, most people dont have respect for people who look like punks, or their views.
It’s great to see that so many CMU students care about their local community. When Wal-Mart opens a new location, their exec’s go around town betting on which local businesses will close first. Poor people are really in a bind. They want cheap products, but buying at Wal-Mart diverts our money oversees. Further, the millions Wal-Mart spends each year on anti-union propaganda prevent their workers from making decent pay. These factors ultimately harm the poor people who shop at their stores.
It’s unfortunate that corporate dollars have been allowed to corrupt our government to such a degree that basic protectionist trade policies that made our country great have largely been abandoned.
Wall-Mart off shores all it products!
Why do you think we have 10% unemployment here!
These people who protested kick ass, keep up the good fight!
I love Wal Mart and you are wasting your time but keep protesting. Maybe you’ll have to drop out and move back into your mother’s basement.
Jobs aren’t leaving the U.S. because of the Wal Marts, they are leaving because we have the second highest corporate tax IN THE WORLD second to Japan by a mere fraction of a percentage point. Wal Mart is the biggest employer in the U.S. and does a lot of good for low income people. Sometimes you libs fail to do your homework, that, or you just don’t care about poor people.
Do you really want to know why libs hate Wal Mart? It is because they refuse to unionize. Libs see over a million employees nationwide and $30 bucks a pay looks real good in their political coffers. Do the math, its that simple.
how do I contact this organization?
http://www.thethirdpartymovement.com
this is how you contact the organization
we have developed a website: http://www.thethirdpartymovement.com
Greg,
“I love Wal Mart and you are wasting your time but keep protesting. Maybe you’ll have to drop out and move back into your mother’s basement.”
What does dropping out and having to live in your mother’s basement have anything to do with protesting Walmart? If you’re going to try to make a point, please do us all a favor and at least attempt to sound intelligent.
Thanks.
Well, It’s great. Very few of us have the intestinal fortitude to stand out physically and express individuality. If looking like everyone else will get me that “job”, save it for someone else who wants to compromise who their are to waste their days in a cubicle. I refuse to believe there aren’t other ways to support one another.
A third party is only impossible because of the control world leaders have over media outlets. If Ron Paul were given half the chance main party candidates were to express his stance on national television, I feel they may have had to make room. Bottom line, a two party system is unhealthy. Obviously.
And to any of those egoists making posts about how they love Wally World, your eyes will open up when you realize they give no more a fuck about you than they do the billions of others globalization has plagued across the world when you don’t have valuable currency to stroke them with. First the jobs are gone, and then the stores will be gone.
One Love.
Wow, you know who else hated big centralized stores and sang the praises of the mythical local-owned mom-n-pop store? The Nazis. It was part of their political platform when they ran during the Weimar years.
(Someone had to go Godwin on this stupid article about NINE PEOPLE.)
i work for wal mart and let me tell you thay make a lot of jobs do and im thankful for every thang thay do thay feed holess and do a lot of charidy events so so what if a lot of small bisnesis go under wal mart is a jobe and i like working fo them so go jump in a river
Billy Says:
i work for wal mart and let me tell you thay make a lot of jobs do and im thankful for every thang thay do thay feed holess and do a lot of charidy events so so what if a lot of small bisnesis go under wal mart is a jobe and i like working fo them so go jump in a river
This is exactly why Wal-Mart controlling our economy is a very bad thing, resources get misallocated. Come on billy, you cant spell anything. You really shouldn’t be arguing for Wal-Mart, they pay no local taxes to your community!