- As expected, Wal-Mart Stores has appealed the decision to grant class action status to a gender discrimination suit against it, asking a federal appeals court Tuesday to review the class action decision.
If the appeal is denied, the suit could end up representing as many as 1.6 million women, changing that the company practiced institutionalized discrimination against female employees. Wal-Mart maintains that all hiring and promotion decisions are made at store level, and therefore class action status is inappropriate.
- The Northwest Arkansas Business Journal reports that a recent research report from Merrill Lynch suggests that over the next ten years, Wal-Mart could build as many as 850 of its Urban 99 stores – superstores just under 100,000 square feet that live up to zoning restrictions and/or fit into inner city spaces.
The Urban 99 store is described as a cross between a Supercenter and a Neighborhood Market. Or, in other words, yet another nightmare for the mainstream supermarket industry.
