The study, which was recently highlighted by The Atlantic's CityLab, evaluated customer service by analyzing the Yelp reviews of 2,840 Walmart locations across the US. Among the 2,840 Walmart stores the reviews pertained to, Reich found that the higher the percentage of Black or Latino residents in a zip code, the lower the Yelp reviews were of stores in that area, even when controlling for the area’s average income. Stores in areas with predominantly black residents tended to be “negative,” “nasty,” “terrible,” “unorganized,” and, mainly, “worst.” Stores in areas with mostly white residents tended to be “friendly,” “typical,” “clean,” and even “pleasant” or “amazing.” 
 
 Now, it seems incredibly unlikely that anyone at Walmart is actually sitting around twirling their handlebar moustache and trying to figure out how to make life miserable for low-income or minority customers on purpose. In a statement to Business Insider, a spokesperson for Walmart called it “flawed and without merit.” 
 
 “Our customer traffic and overall customer satisfaction scores have been improving and we’re focused on continuing to do better,” the representative told BI, tacitly acknowledging that the company has some pretty serious customer satisfaction problems overall. The researcher running the study didn’t just look at the numerical ratings stores got; he also looked at the words reviewers were using to describe them. A worker from Cincinnati [#1521] described how customers call her store the “Ghetto Walmart,” because of its low customer service. A poor shopping experience could be increasingly damaging for the brand as online shopping grows and competitors increasingly invest in providing quality in-store experiences. "For its own sake, then, Walmart should hire more employees, particularly at stores in low-income communities of color, and give all Walmart employees more reasons to smile through better wages and working conditions." The study's author, Adam Reich, an assistant professor of sociology at Columbia University, analyzed approximately 35,000 reviews of Walmart locations and found that there was a consistent correlation between a neighborhood's majority race and socioeconomic status, and a location's Yelp reviews.
– Ouch. A study out of Columbia University suggests that Walmart deliberately runs much better stores in white neighborhoods than in minority neighborhoods. The study found that stores in lower-income neighborhoods have considerably lower customer service ratings than those in wealthier ones. More specifically, the higher the percentage of black or Latino residents in an area, the lower the Walmart rating, reports Consumerist. The researchers suggest one reason is that the chain generally doesn't staff stores in low-income neighborhoods adequately because it doesn't need to do so—Walmarts in such neighborhoods are often the only place people can shop, and thus competition and customer satisfaction aren't priorities. “When Walmart moves into the South Side of Chicago, it’s not really displacing numerous other businesses,” study author Adam Reich tells the Atlantic. “So it can shortchange investments in staff, and force people to work harder. Consumers don’t have a choice about where they’re shopping.” The authors, who published their study in the American Sociological Association journal Contexts, analyzed Yelp reviews of 2,840 stores and found that those in predominantly black areas tend to be rated with words like "nasty," "terrible," and "unorganized," while those in white areas tend to be described as "friendly," "clean," and "pleasant." A Walmart spokesperson tells Business Insider that the analysis is both "flawed" and "without merit," and the publication notes a few "holes," including that reviewer bias and outside influence can't be accounted for. (More than 200 violent crimes have been reported at Walmarts so far this year.)