I still remember walking out of the Century Theatre after seeing Star Wars for the first time. It would have been early 1978. The movie had been out in major Canadian cities since June 1977, but it took time for independent cinemas like the Century to get a 35 mm copy of the film. We didn’t know that. Instantaneous cultural knowledge was not a thing yet.

And here I am, almost half a century later, on Kent Street, thinking about the Death Star. But this time that existential machine is not a movie prop. It is Walmart, the largest retailer in the world. And make no mistake: Walmart is the Dark Side.

Yoda warned us that the Dark Side was “quicker, easier, more seductive.” For Walmart, the seduction is lower prices. And I get the allure. Prices in general are insane these days. That’s why most people are really excited about it, my own family included.

There is a lot of research into the economic fallout of a Walmart coming to town, often named the “Walmart effect.” A September 2024 study from the IZA Institute of Labor Economics and a recent paper by University of Victoria researcher Justin Wiltshire point out the dangers posed by this planet killer. These findings, confirmed by international studies from Europe and Mexico, highlight the existential danger of this retail juggernaut.

A lot of the danger arrives from the labour monopsony that Walmart holds. (A monopsony is the exact reverse of a monopoly: it happens when one company is the dominant buyer of something. In a local economy, that “something” is people’s labour.)

People who say Walmart will improve the local economy are flat out wrong. It has been shown repeatedly that its ability to depress wages and decimate local supply chains has catastrophic effects. Rising poverty, shrinking incomes, an economic shift to low-wage retail, decreased tax revenues and increased public expenses are documented phenomena. Walmart traps the local economy in a malevolent tractor beam. Put simply, lower prices do not offset the overall economic losses.

In Star Wars, the Empire frequently uses blockades to cut off a planet’s trade routes, starving the inhabitants into submission without firing a single shot. This is the exact threat posed to our downtown. To be sure, independent retailers have spent a lot of effort providing a specialized, experiential shopping experience, which will weather some of the assault. The city can help by upgrading its wayfinding game and doing all in its power to encourage residential occupancies in the downtown core.

But surviving the Empire takes more than just municipal policy and hoping for the best. It requires a conscious choice to support the rebel alliance of local merchants who keep our community’s soul intact. Life has certainly changed since 1978. I just don’t remember people cheering for Darth Vader.