Tim and I spent a couple days out in Newfoundland, an island that has 2.5 times more Wal-Marts than the rest of Canada, per capita. There's a lot of heritage in Newfoundland. Some families have been there over 500 years, lending a rich history and sense of community to the old villages and towns that dot the island. This heritage and history is already being theatened by steep decline in Newfoundland's traditional industrie, and the homogenous big-box model offered by Wal-Mart is threatening things even further.

Overall we had a good response. Here's some brief thoughts about our time there.

St. John's
Sergeo Kirby joined us in St. John's for our screening at Memorial U. Odds were definitely against a strong turnout for us there: the city was immersed in a harsh blizzard, plus there was a big labour meeting and a screening of Al Gore's film happening at the same time. Despite that, we managed to draw out about 40 enthusiastic people to the screening.

A lot of discussion ensued afterward. A few people in the audience were really interested in discussing the environmental impacts that come from big box retailers like Wal-Mart. Local alternatives were also a big topic, and a few people recognized that alternatives are already starting to vanish.

Corner Brook
By far our largest screening in Atlantic Canada, we packed about 130 people into an over-capacity classroom at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College. A very long discussion about the impact of Wal-Mart on . One woman, self-employed as a glass painter, said that her business has consistently dropped after Wal-Mart's arrival in Corner Brook, because small merchants have less and less money to spend on her services.

There was a very strong consensus in the room that the arrival of Wal-Mart in Corner Brook heralded the beginning of a steep economic decline among local merchants. The local mall lies mostly unused, home to a small bible store and a craft shop. This type of decline is pretty common in the communities we've seen -- niche merchants tend to survive, while direct competitors wither away.

It's pretty important that people start to support their local businesses, before there aren't any left to support.