When Michelle Obama visited a Walmart in Springfield, Missouri, a few weeks ago to praise the company\u2019s efforts to sell healthier food, she did not say why she chose a store in Springfield of all cities. But, in ways that Obama surely did not intend, it was a fitting choice. This Midwestern city provides a chilling look at where Walmart wants to take our food system.<\/p>\n
Springfield is one of nearly 40 metro areas where Walmart now captures about half or more of consumer spending on groceries, according to Metro Market Studies. Springfield area residents spend just over $1 billion on groceries each year, and one of every two of those dollars flows into a Walmart cash register. The chain has 20 stores in the area and shows no signs of slowing its growth. Its latest proposal, a store just south of the city\u2019s downtown, has provoked widespread protest. Opponents say Walmart already has an overbearing presence in the region and argue that this new store would undermine nearby grocery stores, including a 63-year-old family-owned business which still provides delivery for its elderly customers. A few days before the First Lady\u2019s visit, the City Council voted 5-4 to approve what will be Walmart\u2019s 21st store in the community.<\/p>\n
As Springfield goes, so goes the rest of the country, if Walmart has its way. Nationally, the retailer\u2019s share of the grocery market now stands at 25 percent. That\u2019s up from 4 percent just 16 years ago. Walmart\u2019s tightening grip on the food system is unprecedented in U.S. history. Even A&P \u2014 often referred to as the Walmart of its day \u2014 accounted for only about 12 percent of grocery sales at its height in the 1940s. Its market share was kept in check in part by the federal government, which won an antitrust case against A&P in 1946. The contrast to today\u2019s casual acceptance of Walmart\u2019s market power could not be more stark.<\/p>\n
Having gained more say over our food supply than Monsanto, Kraft, or Tyson, Walmart has been working overtime to present itself as a benevolent king. It has upped its donations to food pantries, reduced sodium and sugars in some of its store-brand products, and recast its relentless expansion as a solution to \u201cfood deserts.\u201d In 2011, it pledged to build 275-300 stores \u201cin or near\u201d low-income communities lacking grocery stores. The Springfield store Obama visited is one of 86 such stores Walmart has since opened. Situated half a mile from the southwestern corner of a census tract identified as underserved by the USDA, the store qualifies as \u201cnear\u201d a food desert. Other grocery stores are likewise perched on the edge of this tract. Although Walmart has made food deserts the vanguard of its PR strategy in urban areas, most of the stores the chain has built or proposed in cities like Chicago and Washington D.C. are in fact just blocks from established supermarkets, many unionized or locally owned. As it pushes into cities, Walmart\u2019s primary aim is not to fill gaps but to grab market share.<\/p>\n