Wal-Mart won't build stores if pay rises WAL-MART says it won't build three stores it had planned for the District of Columbia if lawmakers approve a bill that would force the retailer to pay its employees at least $US12.50 an hour. Arkansas-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc has been planning to build six stores in the nation's capital. But a Wal-Mart representative wrote in an op-ed published online by The Washington Post on Tuesday that the retailer will abandon plans for three of those stores if the bill gains final approval from the DC Council on Wednesday. Wal-Mart says the bill will also jeopardise three stores already under construction. The bill is backed by worker advocates and unions that say employees of big-box stores should earn a "living wage." It applies only to stores doing business in spaces of 22,860 metres or more.