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Ok, someone give me their take on the whole “Big Box Debate” because from my perspective it just seems like a bunch of selfish property owners and their “not in my backyard” attitude. I find it very hard to believe these people have never shopped at Walmart and they were fine with it being near someone else’s home in Christiansburg but now that someone wants to build it near their homes here in Blacksburg, suddenly it’s “Walmart is the Evil Empire” and “they will destroy our town!” Very convenient, is it not? I love that about these armchair activists. They were completely content to do nothing until it personally effected them. I never heard these people talking about the evils of Walmart before they decided to build one here in Blacksburg.

Another thing. Has anyone in Blacksburg taken a minute while in this part of town and stopped and really took a good look at this project? It’s huge! I took some photos this afternoon and my first thought was what difference did one big box store matter in the grand scope of things when it would be next to this sprawling complex? Take a look at the site plan above and the pictures I put up on Flickr below.

So, I ask you? Is this about Walmart being an evil corporation? Is this about allowing a big store into the town of Blacksburg? Or is it something else entirely that I am missing? Personally, I don’t have a problem with big box stores. They sell me products I want or need at a cheaper price than smaller “Mom & Pop” places can. If I save more of my hard earned money do you really think I am going to miss the Mom & Pop stores? Here’s a prime example. Across the street from the proposed Walmart site is Eats Natural Foods Co-Op, the classic Mom & Pop operation. They will sell me a bag of pre-popped popcorn for $3.30. I can get the very same bag of popcorn across the street for $1.00 from Kroger. Where would you buy the popcorn? Granted, organic food store prices are ridiculously high, but that’s another story. To some degree it still comes down to the size of their respective operations.

To offer us these cheaper prices Walmart outsources to third world countries because they employ a cheaper work force and people say this is bad for the US and the Chinese worker. Has anyone asked the Chinese worker their opinion? They just might like their new factory job making dust pans and it wasn’t a job I was doing here in the US. Yes, I know. Now I am being selfish but then again I aspired to a little more than a factory job making dust pans when I finished my schooling.

Ok, I have been ranting long enough. I want to hear someone else’s opinion. Please enlighten me to the real story behind all this hub bub. “The Great Big Box Debate“. I’m all ears.

To access the stream, click the link at the top of this web site titled “BES Scanner“.

Also, I have instructions on that page on how to get the RTSP protocol to work with Firefox if you are on a PC. Mac users shouldn’t have any problems at all launching the stream. If you have any questions you can comment here or on the BES Scanner page.

Cheers!