WinCo

Ok, 93 locations in 7 states isn’t even close to being in the same league as Wal-Mart currently finds itself sitting in all alone, but it shows that you CAN take care of your employees AND still be a profitable company. Because they’re not a publicly traded entity, they don’t have stockholders demanding ever larger returns on dividends every quarter at the the expense of both the consumer and the employees. The employees are the stockholders and the better the company does, the better they do. Crazy concept isn’t it? Oh yeah, and they’re also eco-friendly – and they’re expanding. I’ve hated Wal-Mart ever since they put many of the stores out of business in the town that I grew up in nearly two decades ago, and I don’t find Target that much more palatable either. If WinCo can thrive and expand in Texas, I fully expect that they will be able to do so across the rest of the United States and finally give Wal-Mart the competition they so desperately need. It’s about time.