When Sam Walton brought Walmart Express to Falfurrias, Texas, his intention was for the store to serve as a shopping place for supplies for his personal family and friends visiting his hunting camp located in the area. By doing so he brought to Falfurrias a business that provided much needed jobs, economic support, and a variety of higher quality merchandise.
Falfurrias and the surrounding communities will be immensely affected:
*students and teachers will lose a place that sells a variety of quality supplies for school projects, plays, and trips. ex. In the middle of producing a project, one runs out of supplies and has to drive 40 minutes one way to the nearest Walmart to purchase the necessary item to finish the project.
* Patients will lose a place to get their medications (Walmart Pharmacy)
i.e. There is only one other pharmacy in town which never has the full amount of medicines to fill complete prescriptions. Therefore, people will have to make multiple trips to fill their prescriptions or they will have to travel an hour and a half round trip to get their medications.
*83% of the people in the surrounding area are not economically or physically capable of making trips out of town to purchase much needed medications, clothes, shoes, electronics, sewing supplies, emergency equipment, baby necessities, hunting/fishing supplies, jewelry, arts and craft supplies, and photo processing.
(According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, this area is the #4 poorest county in the nation.)
