It's a Good Day

Wal-Mart has given up the bad fight to penetrate the New York market.

Wal-Mart’s chief executive H. Lee Scott Jr. said yesterday, "I don’t care if we are ever here."

The unions that have opposed Wal-Mart returned the sentiment. "We don’t care if they’re never here," said Ed Ott, executive director of the New York City Central Labor Council. "We don’t miss them. We have great supermarkets and great retail outlets in New York. We don’t need Wal-Mart."

No horrendous, huge, ugly stores. No independent merchants being driven out of business. No further malling of Gotham. No underpaid, overworked, uninsured employees. Sorry, Bloomie: you couldn't get this corporate monster through.

The sun is shining, folks. It's a beautiful day.