Queens Locals Not Laughing Over Wal-Mart Prank

On April 1st the Queens Tribune alerted area residents that a Wal-Mart was moving into the neighborhood. The article (credited to Wiegot A. Bigbocks) has since been taken down... because it was an April Fools prank. LOL Queens, right?! Not so much. Today the Daily News reports that locals were outraged over the idea that the evil corporation was making a new home for themselves in the area.

The article, which ran with a Photoshopped image of the store in Atlas Park, was not well-received by union members. A spokesman for the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1500 told the paper, "Some people looked at the story and thought it was real. Dozens of our members called in, a little freaked out. We're good-humored people, but this one just cut a little too close." In the past the union has threatened picket lines when phone surveys asked their opinion on the retailer (who they note "provides poor working conditions for non-union employees").

The paper's editor responded to the outrage by saying, "We apologize if anybody actually thought that Walmart was coming in without any hearing on the community level. The Tribune would have certainly covered it months in advance." At least Reverend Billy didn't get word of this; when rumors were going around that the store would be setting up shop in Manhattan, he told us: "Wal-Mart in New York City? DEVIL GET THEE BEHIND ME! I will take that company to the LAKE OF HELLFIRE!"

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By Jen Carlson in News on April 7, 2010 12:06 PM

Comments [rss]

NannyState

Wal Mart knows what's waiting for them in Queens: shoplifters that could pick their racks of cheap ladie's underwear clean in less than 5 seconds.

longacre

Why would they shoplift Walmart instead of Victoria's Secret?

NannyState

Shoplifters only steal what they can afford.

Boogie Down

What a mental image. Yikes!

jgonzz

If/When WMT opens in queens, it will be a 24hr store because everyone and their granny will be shopping there...

ed_Extinct

this is as horrible as jobs coming to harlem. i'd rather my taxes go up so i can pay for some more bullshit welfare.

newsyspice

Newspapers should not be participating in April Fool's Day Pranks. You want to be taken seriously, then don't be stupid.

Brian Denton

Words can't express how joyed I am that my community is keeping jobs and savings away from my community.

jaycjay

"We apologize if anybody actually thought that Walmart was coming in without any hearing on the community level. The Tribune would have certainly covered it months in advance."

Sometimes this type of apology is simply worded "I'm sorry you're an idiot."

longacre

The Tribune runs fake stories every April Fools. My favorite was the one about Disney building a new amusement park on Fort Totten.

Billiamsburg

isnt that image backwards? it looks like he's slashing the the lower wages and replacing it with a higher one. ??

youngpro

god forbid a low-cost, union-free store open up anywhere in nyc. fucking unions are ruining EVERYTHING.

longacre

Best part is Walmart pays its employees better than most union supermarkets.

BDS=(Boycott.Divest.Sanction)

for reals. ikea = ok. target =ok, home depot, lowes, kmart, toyrus, and on and on, they are here already.

the hate for walmart is misplaced, imo.

youngpro

yes, it's a tactic a lof of employers do to keep their employees happy so they don't get any union ideas.

i had a friend who worked as a (unionized) toll collector on a bridge coming into the city while in college and said he was instructed to 'throw tacks' onto the road outside the booth if a Wal-Mart truck approached.

fuck the unions.

jaycjay

"said he was instructed to 'throw tacks' onto the road outside the booth if a Wal-Mart truck approached."

That would have to have been as much a joke as the April Fools Day article, since tacks would have no effect at all on a truck tire.