I decided today I might consider shopping at Wal-Mart if they institute secure bicycle parking for shoppers at all locations. Since they could not exist without our gas-guzzling mobile society in which people willingly drive a dozen miles or more to a gigantic box store, they owe it to humanity at large to try to mitigate some of that harm. If someone wants to haul the BOB or ride the Big Dummy or the Xtracycle, or even just hang the panniers and go for it, they should find a warm welcome at the World's Largest Retailer.
World domination has responsibilities attached.
I'm waiting for the rise of Wal-Mart mini stores and specialty boutiques, reinventing Main Street under the banner of the Big Smilie. It's a natural progression. They'd all better have covered bike racks.
2 comments:
One of my claims to fame is that I stopped a Super Wal-Mart development cold in its tracks (in Longmont, Colorado) until they agreed to install bike racks equivalent to 5% of the car parking spots. And they had to be inverted U bike locks *and* they had to be near the front doors.
I also got another Big Box emporium -- Wild Oats Marketplace -- to change the bike rack specification in their corporate development standards.
Excellent! And I'd hope Wild Oats would have decent bike racks. Didn't they sponsor a bike team?
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