Well, Wal-Mart’s got its foot in the door at Olhava. Months of speculation have officially been confirmed. The end of an era is certainly at hand but the corporation must not be the end of Poulsbo as we know it. Our community here and the community of North Kitsap will definitely be impacted by its weight.

But it doesn’t have to buckle under the pressure. We don’t have to become another statistic on the charts of corporate greed. Rather, we could become the one area that left the “suits” scratching their heads, wondering,“Why didn’t it work there?” or “Why didn’t they support us?”

You don’t have to. It’s simple, really. If you don’t like the idea of Wal-Mart — don’t shop there. Don’t buy into to “falling prices” that will spell the fall of your community.

Whether our small businesses succeed or go under is up to you. This decision to support your neighborhood stores has always been, and will always be, yours. Wal-Mart could build 50 stores around Poulsbo but if North Kitsap residents didn’t shop there and continued to patronize their local and long-time stores, it would be all for naught.

Don’t support it and it won’t start toppling business.

Wal-Mart is coming but rather than seeing it as a threat, we can use it as an opportunity to tell Wal-Mart that there is at least one community left in America that didn’t buy into its greed. One community that couldn’t be bought.