There was also an argument that Wal Marts etc. displaced more local jobs than they created, and also received tax breaks that undermined local services. I am not quite sure to what these arguments are true, but they are certainly more powerful than the "community building" or lower consumer prices.
The community building argument is a dreamy utopia not worth a serious consideration. But the lower process argument can be attacked on the grounds that while per-item prices are lower in Wal-mart, the marketing power of Wal mart makes people buy more than they actually need, and thus their total out of pocket expenses increase - hence any "savings" suggested by the "per-item" cost approach are illusory.
Wojtek