By George Anderson
The Muppet character, Kermit the Frog, may not have found it always easy being green but he was smart enough to see the value in it because as the song goes, "Green's the color of Spring". It can be "cool and friendly-like" and it "can be big like an ocean, or important like a mountain, or tall like a tree."
Normally when one thinks of Wal-Mart, the green that comes to mind is the color of money, but with its new experimental environmentally-friendlier store, the world's largest retailer is seeking to discover if the "cool and friendly-like" green can actually put more green - as in money - into the company's coffers.
In July, Wal-Mart will open a store in McKinney, Tex. that will feature wind turbines to generate energy and other features to reduce energy consumption. It has another similar store planned to open in Aurora, Colo.
"Ultimately," reports the Dallas Business Journal, "the green buildings may serve as a blueprint in the design of other Wal-Mart stores. The retailer has said it would like to partner with universities to study the stores and then share that information with the retail industry."
Moderator's Comment: What do you expect to come out of Wal-Mart's green store test?
Some have suggested that Wal-Mart's green store strategy is simply about softening the company's public image. That may be a benefit of this endeavor but Wal-Mart is about making and saving money. The retailer is not simply doing this for public relations. We'll be interested to see just how much the company shares with other retailers about what it has learned by operating the units in McKinney and Aurora.
Wal-Mart should also get credit for its recent moves to provide leadership (self-serving or not) on environmental issues such as its partnership with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, donating $35 million to conserve an acre of land for every acre developed for the company's use. - George Anderson - Moderator