Add Wal-Mart *

Since last week's Inglewood vote (and L.A. Observed item) pushed a few buttons, here's a follow through from L.A. blogger Armed Liberal over at Winds of Change, who posts to a Business Week comparison of Wal-Mart and Costco. He pastes in a Biz Week graphic that is too big to drop in here, but it shows that Costco pays higher wages (average $15.97 hourly to $11.52) and more in health care and retirement per employee (and most are covered), and Costco also has much lower turnover (6% a year, versus 21% for Wal-Mart). The kicker is that Costco spends less of its sales income on labor costs and makes more profit per square foot and per employee.

* And: It's Arnold's store, the LAT finds. Also, a guest columnist in the Breeze goes to Costco for the first time and joins up.