We had a Wal-Mart come to our small town with no lack of political drama. I've found that the arrival of Wal-Mart provides fast, hard lessons in economics and unintended consequences to local politicos (most of whom previously could barely muddle through the cost/benefit of adding a single traffic signal) that can't be matched by any other event in local government.
It makes you want to make popcorn and watch the spectacle of it all.
Ditto, the area our first house was located in generated about 40% of its tax revenue from Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart began talk of relocating to a neighboring city's tax district right around the time of the election. The incumbent mayor actually backed an idea to help Wal-Mart bulldoze 40-50 homes that were essentially the main downtown area to keep them around. He didn't even think for a second about the impact it would have on the community. Needless to say he didn't win the election.
America seems a strange place. I can't remember seeing so much fuss over any retailer in Germany.
Also people love to hate Wal-Mart. In Germany Lidl isn't exactly liked, but Aldi, Plus and several others can't complain about their image. (Especially Aldi reached near iconic status during the nineties. They should just open more stores in the UK --- so that I do not have to go so far for them. Tesco doesn't match them.)
It makes you want to make popcorn and watch the spectacle of it all.