1990: the Wal-Mart cometh.

'DISCOUNT retailing in Los Angeles could be in for a major shake-up: Wal-Mart Corp., the $20.6

billion discount retailer that leads the nation in sales per store, will open its first Los Angeles County outlet in Lancaster this summer," the Business Journal reported in June 1990.

At the time, the Arkansas-based chain planned to open 14 stores in Southern California in 1990 and '91, so the Lancaster store was seen as the leading edge of an incursion with the potential to reshape the region's discount store scene.

"Wal-Mart is one of the magical retailers that has done just about everything right for years now," said Jack Kyser, then-chief economist of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. 'It will definitely turn up the competition. Smaller retail shops, mom-and-pops and competing chains will all be under pressure. Anytime a giant comes into a market, it rearranges the deck chairs."

And since then, the deck chairs have indeed moved.

At the time, analysts expected that price wars involving Kmart, Target, Pic "N" Save and other retailers due to Wal-Mart's arrival.

"Kmart did consolidate, closing many of its stores across the region during a bankruptcy reorganization. Pic 'N' Save became Big Lots. Target thrives.

Wal-Mart opened a series of stores throughout the area. Current expansion plans, which include 40 grocery-selling superstores, played a role in the recent grocery strike/lockout.

In April, voters in Inglewood rejected a ballot initiative that would have allowed Wal-Mart to build a superstore there. In August, the Los Angeles City Council voted to require Wal-Mart and other retailers to show that non-union discount stores wouldn't hurt jobs, wages or businesses in the surrounding area. The measure was seen as an attack on the supercenter plans.