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Clad in "Ghostbuster"-like T-shirts - only with "Wal-Mart" crossed out - residents pack meetinghouses then stride to microphones by the hundreds to demonize the big-box distributor. Yet very few city governments listen.
Instead, opposition to the corporate behemoth routinely is tagged as a crusading minority - vocal activists who don't represent the wider community. Besides, officials typically argue, cities simply need the sales tax riches that Wal-Mart virtually guarantees.
Perhaps Tuesday's Sandy balloting - a referendum approving a zone change for a Wal-Mart went down to the wire while the same voters nearly toppled one of Utah's most powerful mayors - will turn the tide. It already has some observers thinking outside the (big) box.
"Sandy is somewhat the leading edge of what you see in the Salt Lake Valley," says Matthew Burbank, associate professor of political science at the University of Utah. After the suburb's far closer than expected pro-Wal-Mart vote, he says, mayors and city leaders "may want to pay attention."
Robyn Bagley, spokeswoman for Save Our Communities, says her members are disappointed the zone change prevailed for Sandy's east-side gravel pit, but is pleased the group went toe to toe with the world's largest retailer in what is believed to be Utah's first-ever referendum on big-box stores.
"Even with all that slick marketing it was close," Bagley says of the 6-percentage-point margin. "We had peanuts to spend. We know it was at least a half million" spent by the other side.
Sandy does not require interest groups to file campaign disclosures.
A Wal-Mart representative did not return phone calls Wednesday for this story.
In recent years, the mega-retailer won approval for either a "neighborhood" store or 220,000-square-foot super centers in Salt Lake City, Logan, Centerville, Brigham City, Riverton and now, narrowly, Sandy.
Heber City bucked the trend this summer by setting size limits to prevent retailers from building the huge outlets. And Wal-Mart appears doomed in downtown Ogden after residents prompted the Legislature to rule cities cannot condemn property for a redevelopment agency. Ogden has since hired a lobbyist, hoping to revisit the restriction.
"People are becoming educated. They're beginning to understand," says George Fisher, a Centerville business owner who fought vigorously, but unsuccessfully, to fend off the retailer in his Davis County city.
Fisher says criticism from residents too often is dismissed as "public clamor." But he points to a citizen-launched poll in Centerville that showed 73 percent of residents opposed the new big box. Had residents rallied a year earlier, he insists, they would have stopped the superstore.
"It's the old adage," Fisher adds, "to remove the champion, you've got to score a knockout."
But is that possible in what often is depicted as a David-vs.-Goliath struggle?
Burbank, the U. professor, says the Sandy vote total suggests: "Yes."
"This is not a small group of environmentalists or anti-corporate types," he says.
Dennis Sampson, who led a Riverton citizens group before the state Supreme Court to battle Wal-Mart before settling, says Sandy's close count could open eyes across Utah.
"It sends a good message that citizens can still influence the political process," he says. "It may have some effect on city councils if they're presented with referendums."
Sandy's zoning referendum, which mirrored the vote in the mayoral race between incumbent Tom Dolan and Gary Forbush, was neck and neck until the end.
That's somewhat surprising, since the grass-roots forces who opposed Wal-Mart - and likely voted against Dolan - appeared overmatched by the outlet's army of lawyers and well-connected three-term mayor.
Even so, Centerville City Manager Steve Thacker says the outcome probably was skewed by the "crusade of folks who oppose [Wal-Mart] so passionately."
"Most of those opponents that voted against it in Sandy will still shop there," he says.
Thacker concedes a growing segment in Utah fears the impact of big boxes. But he notes the concern in Centerville was focused on traffic rather than any business-ethics issue.
Fisher says the opposition runs deeper - and points to Sandy as proof. "We're all growing and learning in this process," says Fisher, convinced the debate over Wal-Mart will become an issue in the 2008 presidential election. "They're very self-serving," he says, "very predatory. Wal-Mart is truly reshaping small-town America."
One of those places nestled near the mountains in Wasatch County took a preventive strike when the Heber City Council voted to cap the size of commercial structures. Councilwoman Shari Lazenby, who lost a mayoral bid this week, argues the move will help preserve Heber's mom-and-pop atmosphere.
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Tribune reporter Jacob Santini contributed to this report.