WALMART OPENS HALAL-MART IN DEARBORNISTAN

Well looks like Walmart, the world's largest retailer, has decided that ethnocentric pandering is the way to go in what once was the "melting pot" of America. The United States of America's successful centuries old melting pot of immigrants has, in recent years, turned into nothing more than a "chunky soup".  Now it looks like "America's store" is furthering the balkanization of the United States - all in the name of profit. 

Walmart has decided to go full tilt into setting up the latest in its ethnocentrically targeted stores in Dearborn Michigan - whose mushrooming Islamic population has caused many to rename the city - Dearbornistan. Not only do many of the staff, of this big box store, speak Arabic - but the 650 employees are receiving "sensitivity training" how to best appease the muslim customers - also known as dhimmitude.

With such major help from this greedy international corporation, already accused of lowering wages and forcing thousands of American jobs overseas, is their sefish combination of pandering and profits going to become the downfall of Americanization? - Is this what the "new" America is becoming? Shall we soon be the Balkanized States of America? Do we really want or need a 20,000 sq. ft. giant retail store that is "akin to a farmers market in Beirut"?

article in full - emphasis mine

Arab-America’s Store

Wal-Mart stocks falafel, olives and Islamic greeting cards to attract Dearborn's ethnic shoppers.

By Keith Naughton | NEWSWEEK

Mar 10, 2008 Issue

Brian Ulrich for Newsweek

Big Bazaar: Arabic-speaking staff can guide customers to the Middle Eastern goods

As Arwa Hamad strolls a new Wal-Mart, an eight-foot display of olive oil stops her in her tracks. "Oh, wow," she says, marveling at the sight of so many gallons of Lebanese extra virgin. "We could go through one of these in a week in my house." Around the corner, row upon row of gallon jars of olives—from Turkey, Greece, Egypt and Lebanon—soak in deep hues of purple, red and green. "Look at the size of these olives," says the stay-at-home mother of three and native of Yemen. Hamad, 34, has shopped at Wal-Mart before, but never one like this. She is overcome with nostalgia as she spots Nido powdered milk and Al Haloub Cow, canned meat she calls the "Arabic Spam." "My father loves this," she says. "People from war-torn countries, this is what you lived on when you couldn't go out of the house to shop." This Wal-Mart, though, isn't in a war zone. It's in Dearborn, Mich., home to nearly a half-million Arab-Americans, the largest concentration of Arabs outside the Middle East.

As America changes, so does the store where America shops. In Dearborn this week, the world's largest retailer opens a store like no other among its 3,500 U.S. outlets. Walk through the front door of the 200,000-square-foot supercenter and instead of rows of checkout counters, you find a scene akin to a farmers market in Beirut. Twenty-two tables are stacked high with fresh produce like kusa and batenjan, squash and eggplant used in Middle Eastern dishes. Rimming the produce department are shelves filled with Arab favorites like mango juice from Egypt and vine leaves from Turkey used to make mehshi, or stuffed grape leaves. A walled-off section of the butcher case is devoted to Halal meats, slaughtered in accordance with Islamic law (when a Wal-Mart manager noticed the pork section was too prominent he ordered it moved, since Muslims don't eat pork). In the freezer case, you'll find frozen falafel. You can also pick up a CD from Lebanese pop singer Ragheb Alama or buy Muslim greeting cards.

Wal-Mart's Arab-American emporium provides a preview of the retail giant's latest strategy to boost business as it reaches the saturation point in its American expansion. Over the past two years, Wal-Mart has tested its "store of the community": it has stocked stores in Chicago and Atlanta with products aimed at African-Americans and set up a hitching post at an Ohio store near a large Amish community. The Dearborn store, though, is the most extreme example of the concept. Wal-Mart offers its standard fare, plus 550 items targeted at Middle Eastern shoppers. "In the past, Wal-Mart has been pretty cookie-cutter when it comes to merchandise," says Dearborn store manager Bill Bartell. "But this time, we really got to know the community. We're blazing a trail here."

Typically when Wal-Mart comes to town, it drops its big-box store on the community with a thud. Then it rolls out rock-bottom prices that undercut local merchants, who often wither and die. That Bigfooting has led to passionate community opposition in many markets, including suburban Detroit, where it opened its first supercenter just a year ago to protests over plans to stay open 24 hours (Wal-Mart backed down to 18 hours a day).

To fit into this bastion of ethnic tradition, Wal-Mart started two years ago to meet with imams and moms, conducting focus groups at Middle Eastern restaurants. Wal-Mart learned the community wasn't as concerned about seeing Arabic-language signs as they were with dealing with Arabic-speaking staff. So Bartell hired about 35 Arabic speakers, including Suehaila Amen, a local middle-school teacher who is providing ethnic-sensitivity training to the 650 employees. He also learned not to bother stocking traditional Muslim clothing, like the headscarf, or hijab, Amen wears. "The community told us, 'I would not feel comfortable coming to Wal-Mart to buy my hijab'," says assistant store manager Jordan Berke. "We're not here to overstep our bounds."

Despite the sensitive sell, local shopkeepers still worry about Wal-Mart. "There is a fear factor in the business community," says Osama Siblani, publisher of Dearborn's Arab American News. To allay those fears, Wal-Mart is making an extraordinary promise: it will not undercut the prices of the small local merchants (though it will still go after Kroger). The insular company even agreed to be scrutinized by a "community advisory board" made up of local Arab-American leaders to ensure it isn't harming the mom-and-pop shops. One example: Wal-Mart agreed to charge one dime more than local grocers for a six-pack of pita bread.

Arwa Hamad says her devotion to Dearborn's Muslim merchants doesn't simply rest on one thin dime. After all, when her husband goes to their Arab butcher, he buys in bulk. "It's hard to get half a lamb at Wal-Mart," she says. And yet, the more she wanders the aisles, the more she likes. There are the Turkish sweets and dried dates her kids love, and the Nescafé coffee she adores. "This brings back memories from home," she says. "I'll never forget Mustafa's corner store, but as soon as this place opens, I'm coming here with my checkbook." Going native just might be the next way Wal-Mart wins.

Comments

[Pat Viliors]

Asia and the Middle East is very very big. Is there not enough room in it for the Muslims? Why are the colonising our countries, which they clearly despise?

Pat, Londonistan

[Christian]

Yet another good reason to abandon Wally world. .

I am sure that in no time, Dhimmis will not be welcome. Perhaps Wal Mart will offer a female genital mutilation kit for $1.99, complete with surgical gloves and a piece of broken glass.. .

How long before the bombers start demanding IED kits and IED enabled cell phones?

Way to go Walmart. . you have lost my business

[Langworthy]

Islam has been plotting to overthrow the world. They are entering the United States for one reason to take our country away from us, most likely with force, using weapons they are now amassing.

[mohammed the pig]

allah is dead

[Joy]

My Jesus, who stated that He was MORE than a prophet said the thief aka known as satan, comes to "steal, kill and destroy". Go to the first chapter of Job to get an understanding of satan's modus operandi, then using your Western, Judeo-Christian trained mind and put two and two together.

[Gretchen]

Dearborn has a high concentration of Middle Eastern people. What is wrong with a Wal-Mart that caters to this ethnic group? I think it is a clever marketing idea. Cool the hysteria and join the 21st century with the rest of us.

[allahlovesporkchops]

Gretchen you poor, ignorant soul. If you don't understand the threat of shari'a creep, you are, unfortunately for you, part of the problem. I suggest you marry a muslim, and find out how wonderful islam is to it's women. Love to see you in a burkha! ;-)

[TheOPINIONATOR]

Thank you allahlovesporkchops - I couldn't have said it better.
It is clear that this is not a little "specialty" store but rather a huge SUPER Walmart - set up for muslims - I doubt you will find any pork products or anything elso that the regular American stores would carry- This is NOT what America is about and sure as heck does not enhance the "melting pot" - this type of "population specialization" will lead to further Balkanization of the USA rather than assimilation. As far as the population in Dearborn - the majority are Somalian - there IS a big problem there with illegal immigrants but due to the community and language the police/INS have nearly a zero chance of arresting any illegals as they are hidden by other muslims - in fact as far as the law goes - some of the area/neighborhoods is/are set up for the local imams to use Sharia Law & act as the "police" within the neighborhoods. This has been going on "under the radar" with little to no publicity. The clueless multiculties need to wake up and "smell the Sharia creep".

[MARSHA]

I dont see what the problem is.
Stores in Jewish and Polish and Italian, German etc. neighborhoods do the same thing for their local shoppers.
-Marsha

[Xtina]

I am so troubled by this thing. I live on Chicago, and no exhageration, I can go a whole day without talking to or dealing with any native born English speaking people! The building I live in is full of Polish and Ukrainians, one part of town is heavy on Mexicans, and another part of town, say around Sheridan and Devon and parts west, is full of Muslims, and in between I find Indians from India. The Muslim men are kind of *ssholes - they tend to treat women like mindless chattel - I don't like that but you get a vibe of violence from them so you have to be careful when you speak out.

You know they were brought in for a. their money, and they do, it can't be denied, bring a lot of income into the city with their shops and their tax payments and the like, and b. for the work force; they tend to be better educated, especially the Indians, than our home grown kids are. Our gov't let them in, that's for sure.

I am very troubled about Mexico and S. America - we had a hand in ruining their economies, so they find it hard to survive in their own countries. It would seem to me their economies would have to be fixed before many of them could come home again. They left because they couldn't survive!

I've done pro-immigrant work because I hate to see people criminalized for just wanting to lead a decent life. But I know there is a problem. I just wish we could do right by them.

[Michael Dall]

Maybe it's Gods plan to get them all in one building to take them home!

[Evelyn Goodman]

I am sure that, if immigrants from other countries had better economic opportunities in their own countries they would not be coming here, to start with. So, that is what we should help work towards.
As for Walmart, I do not patronize them if I can help it, but I have to admit that they have a smart sense of catering to the ethnic needs of their customers, besides lower prices.
Help those from other countries go back to their
own origins, economically.
I think they would welcome it!

[kat]

I no longer shop at "Red Star Imports". I can find everything I need at other stores and most often they're made in the USA. I don't like this polarization that I'm seeing among the races and I detest our country being invaded and nothing being done about it! Don't confuse Invasion with lawful immigration.

[JANET]

So nice that Walmart checked with local Arab merchants about not underselling them...did they both to also check with the NON-ARAB local merchants? Dhimmwits!

[Bilal Abdullah]

Allah is very much alive and well...

Anyway,xenophobes and racists should note that America is home to Muslims as well as Christians, Jews or whatever. I applaud Walmart for recognizing Muslim americans have economic clought. We we have money and will spend it in places that show us due respect. Now tell me why it's Dhimmitude to make money off a minority group? Is Walmart pandering to the Zionist cause by offering kosher items? (they sold kosher food items long before they got on the halal band wagon). Like it or not, Muslims are here to stay and our numbers will only get larger and our influence on local, state and national politics will also grow. Dito in Europe. Get used to it.