If Wal-Mart was a country it would have been ranked 22nd in the world as a result of its high GDP putting just behind Belgium, Sweden, Turkey, and Australia and just ahead of Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Norway, and Denmark. Comparing its sales to other retailers, its annual sales were greater than the combined sales of Target, Sears, Kmart, JC Penney, Safeway and Kroger. In terms of employees, only the United States Government employs more people, and its workforce of 1.7 million people is greater than the combined workforces of Ford, GM, IBM, and GE (Wal-Mart).
In many cases, the Wal-Mart Corporation has been asked to build a shopping center in a town in order to bring down local business prices and provide more jobs. In Miramichi, Nebraska, a local woman and her friend were planning on driving an hour and a half to another town just to save a few extra dollars and they decided to start a petition to get Wal-Mart to build a shopping center in their home town. Finally, Wal-Mart opened an outlet in Miramichi, and not only did it create new job opportunities and instilled new life to the towns commercial district