SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 22, 2001--The national news media has been reporting more and more about local communities that are fighting against megastore expansion. More and more people are coming to feel that uncontrolled megastores mean death to established businesses, increased traffic, and a major loss in quality of life. STORE WARS: WHEN WAL-MART COMES TO TOWN, airing on PBS Thursday, June 7, 2001, 10:00 p.m. ET (check local listings), follows the year-long conflict that polarized Ashland, Virginia, population 7,200. The ensuing debate pitted neighbor against neighbor in a heartfelt struggle between conflicting versions of the American dream. On one side were those who wanted to preserve their seemingly idyllic small-town way of life; on the other were those who believed in the positive economic benefits Wal-Mart promises. A truly American story, the one-hour program explores questions that American towns in every state are wrestling with today -- how much growth is too much? Can communities shape their own futures? And, when there's conflict, who gets to decide?

STORE WARS also offers rare insight into Wal-Mart and how they deal with the communities in which they build. The world's largest retailer and the second largest employer in the U.S. (behind only the federal government), Wal-Mart opens a new megastore every two business days and has expanded on average into one new country every year. A truly global company, Wal-Mart has redefined the shopping experience for the American consumer and yet, despite multimillion dollar public relations campaigns, they have repeatedly been accused of union-busting, under-paying their workers, skimping on benefits and being poor neighbors and ungenerous to charity. In STORE WARS, we see Wal-Mart lawyer Jay Weinberg and the company's community relations liaison in action.

Also featured in the film are Ashland mayor Tommy Herbert, the town council members (including a bus driver and mortician) who must eventually make the decision whether to welcome a Wal-Mart store, the ``Pink Flamingos,'' a grassroots citizens group opposed to the store, and famed ``Sprawlbuster'' Al Norman, who defeated Wal-Mart in his hometown of Greenfield, Massachusetts and has since helped over 100 communities nationwide fight the megastores -- and win.

Although STORE WARS ends with Wal-Mart the seeming victor, the store has not yet been built in Ashland and activists continue to fight. Just last month, communities as far flung as Bangor, Maine, Davenport, Iowa and Honolulu have fought megastore expansion, and the trend continues. STORE WARS takes us to the battlefields -- our town councils, coffee shops and street corners -- where the megastore war is being fought.

STORE WARS: WHEN WAL-MART COMES TO TOWN is a production of the Independent Television Service, which this year celebrates ten years of public television for a change. Funders of independent programming for broadcast on public television, ITVS will be saluted this summer with retrospectives at film festivals and museums including The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.

For ITVS press releases, visit the ITVS Press Room online at www.itvs.org/pressroom.

Downloadable images of this program are available to press at www.itvs.org/pressroom/photos.

Contact:

 
     ITVS
     Nancy Fishman, 415/356-8383
     Nancy_Fishman@itvs.org
      or
     
Mary Lugo, 770/623-8190
     fenfam@negia.net
     Cara White, 843/849-1174
     carapub@aol.com
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