The recent announcement of the Amazon takeover of Whole Foods dominated the recent news on retail in the grocery sector. Since it took over Whole Foods, Amazon has cut prices over 40 percent on many staple products while pledging to maintain the company’s focus on local and organic products, signaling that it is willing to lower Whole Foods prices to compete with Walmart. Even with these cuts, analysts expect that the company will need to make even deeper cuts if it intends to beat Walmart.

With the Amazon takeover of Whole Foods still unfolding, lessons from the evolution of Walmart are important for planners and policy makers to consider. While the future of the company may not be in complete jeopardy as a result of the Amazon-Whole Foods merger, bigger problems for communities may come with changes to the industry. Recent work [pdf] shows that, increasingly, competition from e-commerce is likely lead to loss of local retail and stores, and ultimately a loss of taxable income, fresh affordable food, and jobs.

Although the decline of brick-and-mortar retailers has been steady, the evolution of Walmart into an e-commerce power provides a tangible example. Not only has Walmart forced many local closures, but they have also pulled out of many markets, leaving economic wounds—operating as both an "opportunity maker" and an "opportunity taker."