My granddaughter Hanna Leach is seventeen and a senior at DCHS this year.. I invited her to use my editorial space this week and I thought she did a great job.. What do you think? (T. Seber)

My English class required me to write a letter to an editor. Then I had to post it on social media and receive feedback. So here is a copy of it. Any feedback would be appreciated.

I would like to discuss the issue of some Walmart stores closing. Ever since Walmart has come into small and large cities, it has helped and hurt the economy of these cities, though smaller cities seem to have been affected harder than large ones.

These Walmarts have driven many of the local businesses out of town, whether intentionally or not. The prices at Walmart are generally lower, drawing consumers in and causing small businesses to be unable to compete with the lower prices.

When Walmart first came it brought many jobs to a lot of people, but the negative effect is that it caused many employees working for small businesses to be laid off because of this competition. Walmart had the power to buy items in bulk at a cheaper price from other countries. This allowed for the savings to be passed down to customers buying the items.

Walmart also has many departments, all the way from groceries to automotive. This allows them to have more variety, which appeals to customers and allows them to go to just one place instead of multiple places to get everything they need.

Another convenience of Walmart is that their stores are open twenty-four hours, which allows people who work different shifts, such as night shift or morning shift, to be able to go by the store and pick up items at a time that worked for them. For most small businesses, they have regular day time hours and are usually not open during night time.

Now some of these Walmarts are beginning to close up shop and move out of these small towns. All of the Walmart closings have caused a domino effect because there are not many small businesses left to pick up the slack of these closings.

This is also making it hard for families because all of this unemployment has made it hard to support one another. This may force these families to move elsewhere so they can provide. What is going to happen to all these buildings?

All of these Walmart buildings will be abandoned in these small cities, becoming a place for people to hang out and possibly get into trouble. Some small businesses could possibly buy the buildings if they are at a reasonable price. Otherwise they may sit empty and become an eye sore for passersby.

If a closure such as this occurs, these towns may no longer have a Walmart or any small businesses at all. These closures will cause people to have to drive farther to get the supplies the need. This will cause a special hardship on people who lack transportation or who rely on others to take them to get groceries and supplies if they are not able to get them on their own.

I do understand that Walmart seemed like a good idea for a while, but now that they are disappearing it is causing a lot of conflict in these cities.

In larger cities, the Walmart closings are not causing as much of an effect. Due to larger cities having many businesses besides Walmart, it has allowed the transition of Walmart closing to be a little easier. In smaller towns there are not many places similar to Walmart except little town grocery stores.

In larger, rural areas there are bigger stores who can keep up with the demand Walmart has sustained. This may cause some minor conflict in large cities due to the fact that people are drawn to larger cities for their variety of different types of entertainment and larger shopping stores like Walmart to get the things they need while shopping for clothes and other items at the same time.

How do we stop all this conflict when Walmart closes? There are a few possible solutions to fix this problem.

One solution is for small businesses in an area come together and discuss whether a big corporation such a Walmart would be good idea for a small city such as their own. They may go to other small businesses in other cities about their size to find out how a big corporation has affected their city.

Another solution is that local businesses could join and work together. Each one could provide a specialty or service and join forces to promote each other’s businesses instead of being in competition. This would cause less need for larger corporations to come into small cities. Therefore, there would be less risk of them later deciding to leave and causing conflict in a city.

Big corporations that allow one stop shopping seem like a good thing, and they can be good if the risk and reward are weighed out.

Hannah Leach

...And So here I stand..