Photo by Doug Duvall
Though it is the primary target of the Large Retailer Accountability Act, Wal-Mart is far from the only major big-box retailer that is reconsidering its future in D.C. over the bill mandating certain stores pay their employees more than 50 percent over the minimum wage. Executives of six stores sent Mayor Vince Gray a letter today, urging him to veto the bill whenever it reaches his desk and saying that if it becomes law, “any future plans for retail expansion in the city must be revisited.”
The companies on the letter, which was first reported by Washington Business Journal, are Target Corp.; The Home Depot, Inc.; AutoZone, Inc.; Walgreen Co.; Lowe’s Companies, Inc.; and Macy’s, Inc. Representatives of the corporations are asking Gray to stamp out the bill, backers of which say it will provide a “living wage” to hourly workers at large stores with non-union payrolls. The bill targets stores that are at least 75,000 square feet and owned by companies that net more than $1 billion in annual revenue.
The D.C. Council passed the bill last week on an 8-5 vote, prompting Wal-Mart to cancel plans for three stores it was slated to build in D.C. (The company is already in progress on three other District locations.)
Gray has stated his caution about the bill—indeed, one of the now-scuttled Walmart locations would have been built at the Skyland Town Center near Gray’s home in Ward 7, a store the mayor insisted Wal-Mart build if it wished to enter D.C.—but has not made any overt veto threats. There is also no indication when the Council will actually submit the bill to the mayor’s desk for his signature or refusal.
Even though the living wage bill was written with Wal-Mart in mind, the tenor from the other stores is clear. “Given the geographic location of the District market, access to District consumers is not necessarily dependent on establishing multiple storefronts within the city boundaries,” the letter reads. “The unintended consequence of this legislation will continue to drive consumers outside of the city, where they are already spending more than a billion dollars annually on retail options available in the suburbs of Maryland and Virginia.”
Wal-Mart said earlier today that District residents spent $40 million at its stores in nearby suburbs.
