Wal-Mart Recasting Its Image As a Friendly Neighbor: ; Company Proposes to Help Rival Businesses; Retailer Also Selling More High-End Products

Summary

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NEW YORK - After years of accusations that it caused the demise of thousands of smaller merchants, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is undertaking an unusual strategy: helping competing local establishments stay in business.

Wal-Mart recasting itself as a friendly neighbor? It's the latest course change by the world's largest merchant as it tries to modify its corporate culture - and the perception that it's a ruthless competitor obsessed with maintaining its dominance of the retail industry.

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Wal-Mart Recasting Its Image As a Friendly Neighbor: ; Company Proposes to Help Rival Businesses; Retailer Also Selling More High-End Products

Wal-Mart's proposal to help rival small businesses, from bakeries to hardware stores, focuses on blighted urban markets where the retailer plans to open 50 stores within the next two years. The efforts wi...

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