Chicago's Chatham neighborhood has the distinction of being the place where the first Walmart Express opened in the U.S. Mayor Rahm Emanuel visited the 10,000 square-foot store, located at 83rd St. and Steward Ave. to see how the store was fairing on its first day in business, with his office releasing the following statement: "Increasing access to fresh, healthy foods in underserved neighborhoods throughout Chicago is an important priority for the Emanuel Administration."

Meanwhile, unions leaders and advocacy groups are calling on Chicagoans to keep a watchful eye over the treatment of workers at the establishment.

According to reports by the Chicago Tribune, the retail giant barely missed an opening day embarassment when a store employee noticed that the hair care products being shelved at the store did not cater to the ethnic population that lives in Chatham, which is predominantly African American. The proper products were brought in, reaching the store's shelves by Tuesday. Shoppers can also expect to find a full-service grocery store that includes produce and meats as well as a pharmacy. A second traditional Walmart superstore is scheduled to open across the street from the Walmart Express in the spring of 2012.

As Walmart expands its stake in the Chicago market, a national effort to boycott the retail giant is underway on Facebook. From the boycott's organizers:

Boycotting Walmart will not only create new economic opportunity for this country, but will restore the political, and economic ambiance around the world (people are happy when they are not in economically hopeless situations). Not spending money at Walmart will not only open the market to new jobs, businesses, manufacturing, and living wages, it will stop the corporate take over of our education, our government, and our constitution.

America has become an oligarchic government ("a government in which a small group exercises control especially for corrupt and selfish purposes".) Boycotting Walmart will help restore our politics and our values as a society ... Please read the bullets of facts I have gathered from multiple sources:

• Did you know chief executive Mike Duke earned $18.7 million last year; down from $19 million the prior year.
• Did you know the Walton family spent $3.2 million and $4.2million this year on lobbying, conservative causes and candidates federal elections; Walmart and its affiliated companies spent more than $6 million lobbying Congress and federal agencies".The issues of most of interest to the mega-retailer were taxes, labor and antitrust laws and health."
• Walmart has announced it is donating $20 million to charities and opening several dozen new stores in Chicago area; this is no surprise since records show repeated contact and donations from Walmart PAC to Sen Dick Durbin; Two of Durbins former aides, are now lobbyists for the top Democratic powerhouse firm Podesta Group, which lobby's for Walmart.
• "Using gimmicks Walmart avoids an estimated $300 million a year in state corporate income tax payments; Using an army of lawyers and consultants, Walmart systematically challenges property tax assessments to chip away at its property tax bills, costing local governments several million dollars a year in lost revenues and legal expenses.

To learn more about the boycott and the organizers' efforts to get 1 million supporters, click here.

Image courtesy of the Mayor's Press Office.