The Oakland, Cal., City Council voted Oct. 21 to ban "big box" retailers that devote more than 10,000 square feet of space to sales of nontaxable goods, i.e., groceries.(Briefly Noted)

Land Use Law Report, November, 2003

THE OAKLAND, CAL., CITY COUNCIL voted Oct. 21 to ban "big box" retailers that devote more than 10,000 square feet of space to sales of nontaxable goods, i.e., groceries. City officials admitted the law was aimed directly at Wal-Mart, which has recently sharply increased its attempts to penetrate the supermarket segment of retail sales.

Council member Jane Brunner said the measure was intended to protect local mom-and-pop operations as well as grocery chains that are having a hard time competing with Wal-Mart's low prices. She pointed out that the typical Wal-Mart sales clerk earns between $7.00 and $8.00 dollars per hour, in contrast to the average wage for checkout clerks at the Albertson's supermarket chain of $18.00 an hour.