Wal-Mart launches mail campaign in D.C.

Wal-Mart will be filling the mailboxes of D.C. residents with direct mail this weekend aimed at improving public opinion of the chain’s plans to opens its first stores in the District.

Earlier this week, the chain sent two mailers to registered voters in the city. In one — being sent city-wide, according to a Wal-Mart spokesman — the store pledges to create 1,200 new jobs and 400 construction jobs “for D.C. residents,” while bringing in $10 million in annual tax revenue with the four stores it plans.

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A second mailer is directed at improving views specifically for one store, planned for Georgia Avenue NW, that has garnered significant opposition. That mailer shows renderings of the proposed store and touts the 300 jobs the chain says it will bring.

Opponents of the store have circulated a petition, put up yard signs and held anti-Wal-Mart events in the neighborhood around the site.

The company would not disclose how many mailers it sent.