The New York City Council was supposed to hold a hearing this Tuesday about a renewed campaign by Wal-Mart to open its stores in the city.

But it had to be rescheduled, for January.

“We needed a bigger room,” the Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn, said. “We heard from unions all across the city, small business leaders from across the city. It’s a growing list of people.”

Wal-Mart, an inescapable part of the retail landscape just about everywhere except in New York City, twice retreated on efforts to open stores in the city after fierce community opposition.

Now it is back, and mounting an aggressive campaign to crack the country’s largest urban market. Wal-Mart is looking at properties in each of the five boroughs and has hired Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s former campaign manager, Bradley Tusk, to help coordinate its lobbying efforts.

Bill de Blasio, the city’s public advocate, predicted, “They’re not going to find it easy to get serious public support.”

“As you reap,” Mr. de Blasio added, “so shall you sow, and they’ve had a really bad history. You can talk to people across the spectrum and they’ve all heard something about the problems of Wal-Mart.”

The renewed push by Wal-Mart comes five years after the retailer tried to open stores in Queens and Staten Island but faced furious opposition from community leaders and elected officials. But the retailer and its supporters, and even its opponents, say that the dynamics have changed and that the city has become more receptive to so-called big-box stores, like Target and Ikea.

But perhaps the greatest difference is the economy. With the city’s unemployment rate hovering around 9 percent, any project that promises jobs might find appeal.

Wal-Mart is the country’s largest private employer, with 1.4 million workers, but it has been a constant target for labor groups who say its wages are too low and its benefits insufficient.

Other big-box stores that have gained a foothold in New York, like Costco, provide far better compensation than Wal-Mart, some labor leaders said.

And critics say Wal-Mart would also spell doom for nearby small businesses that could never compete with the giant retailer on price and selection. But some Wal-Mart supporters say protecting businesses that charge higher prices is unfair to consumers, especially when so many New Yorkers are worried about their finances.

And in an effort that is likely to anger other labor groups, Wal-Mart is working to win the support of one powerful union group, the Building and Construction Trades Council, and is negotiating a deal that would guarantee that some stores would be built by union workers.

But there is still enormous opposition, from unions, community groups and elected leaders, to the idea of a Wal-Mart rising in any city neighborhood.

Mr. Bloomberg, who invested major political capital in trying to win support for the Kingsbridge Armory proposal, told reporters recently that he “would love to see Wal-Mart open here,” noting that many New Yorkers travel to Nassau County or New Jersey to shop at Wal-Mart.

(Source: NY Times)