Protestors Bane of Big Boxer

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — One of our Facebook friends pointed us to this recent posting on stopping Walmart stores on a Columbia Business School blog "Public Offering."

Paul Ingram, a Columbia professor, has done studies of Walmart's reception in communities and how that's affected its plans. The result was surprising: 65 percent of its proposed new stores were canceled between 1998 and 2005 because of less-than-welcoming communities.

Even though the global discounter made over $400 billion in 2008, local antagonism can put the brakes on construction.

Building a new retail outlet is not cheap. A store location encompassing tens of thousands of square feet can cost up to $10 million to build. Added to that, the hunt for viable real estate is fraught with uncertainties, particularly when it comes to community support.

 Walmart uses cheaper filings with city and town governments to measure the degree of opposition. The posting doesn't say how it determines support (that may be in Ingram's 50-page study linked to the posting) but we're guessing petitions and pizza parties similar to those being used in North Adams.

It does shatter the mythology that only a hardy few (like Greenfield and parts of Vermont) have been able to stall the global giant. It appears Walmart dips its toes into the water before diving in.