walmart expanding

[tobefirst ⚽️]

Wal-Mart expanding really doesn't surprise me. As of a few years ago, at least, it was the only way they could increase profits. The year-over-year sales on a per store basis really don't increase very much at all, so the way that Wal-Mart creates growth is by creating stores. At least that's what I recall from my business classes.

I'm very aware that I'm in the minority here, but I'm kind of conflicted on the "Is Wal-Mart bad?" issue. It seems that we, at least in America, have a tendency to hate giant corporations and get pissed that they put "Mom and Pop" shops out of business. However, I think we, often times, fail to remember that Wal-Mart, Microsoft, etc., didn't start out as giant corporations. They made decisions that their competitors didn't make to grow their business.

For instance, my grandparents run a religious supply store, and they've been running it for about 15 years. Being "stereotypically" old, they are deathly afraid of computers and the internet, and, as such, have no online presence, in a market which could have (or have had) room for significant growth. They have made or avoided decisions which limit their business potential, either intentionally or unintentionally.

I wonder why I should be chastised for shopping at bigger stores, and encouraged to shop at places that, like my grandparent's store, have missed these opportunities for growth. In some ways, I think people aim to support places that don't make the best decisions.

[As an aside, I'm really not all that passionate about this topic. I usually just say my peice and leave it at that. You are more than welcome to flame me, and I very well may stick around for it and reply to anything said, but, then again, I may not.]

 

[princealfie]

Yeah... no doubt.

 

[nbs2]

I also wonder about the history of Wal-Mart. It began as a store in nowhere Arkansas. Because it's founder made smart moves to expand and grow, they have become large. They improve conditions in Chinese factories (if you would like, I can hunt down the article I read last year) - not worsen. The industry jobs they take overseas should anger the Koreans who are losing the jobs they took from Americans, not the Americans themselves. If people weren't clamoring for the lowest cost, their model would not succeed. In many inner-cities, not everybody can work at W-M. So, many can have more for less and only a few have to have thsoe jobs (compared to the many who are stuck unemployed...)

 

[MacFan782040]

Eh...I'm not gonna lie. I'm a poor college student who can't afford much and Walmart's dirt-cheap prices on everything is definitly a reason for me to shop there. Also the fact that they have everything you need in 1 place.

But I cannot stand waiting in line for 20 minutes. That's the only thing that irritates me. That's why I like to go at like 1 AM and beat the crowds. But then sometimes they still only have like 1 line open so it still takes forever.

 

[cantthinkofone]

I also wonder about the history of Wal-Mart. It began as a store in nowhere Arkansas...)

i thought they started here in missouri, near branson. There is a school near springfield that one of the grandson's of Walt goes to, or used too, and they had a charter bus for their sports team.

You're in Missouri....Rolla by any chance? Just wondering because your bio says you're a student at RHS, with the R possibly standing for Rolla. Not to mention, the Wal-Mart down here does often seem to have accidents near it.

I'm down in that craphole for college (I know there's another UMR student who posts on MR too) and hate the fact there isnt much choice besides Wal-Mart. It's so dirty and trashy. K-Mart is even worse. I try to do most of my shopping at Kroger, but have to face the truth that there are somethings Kroger either doesn't sell or is insanely overpriced on. I'm hoping a Target opens up here (not likely) for several reasons. One, I get my employee discount since I work at one in STL during the summer. Two, the stores are just always nicer, and three, they don't have the same unethical business tactics Wally World has.

But to anyone who says "don't shop there", trust me....if I had a choice (that didn't involve driving 100 miles to the closest Target), I wouldn't shop there.

I worked at kmart last year, and they were making things better. But it did seem that the really skanky people shopped there than wal-mart. If you don't like kroger, try going to country mart, down BB, they have just about anything that kroger doesn't.

 

[Felldownthewell]

I am so proud of my town. Portland has 1.5 million residents, and I live in a suburb. I am politically active, but my neighborhood isn't. However, when Wal Mart said they planned to open up here, they mobilized. I don't know if the middle aged people united because they don't like Wal Mart or because they are having flashbacks from the 60s. In any case, we put together a resistance movement to fight Wal Mart through the legal system. First hearings are May 1st and 2nd, and I am very excited.

If they get approved, me and the more extreme of my friends will do the Oregon thing and chain ourselves the building site. However, I hope it does not come to that!

I dislike Wal Mart because not only do they mistreat women, skimp on overtime pay, and do not provide healthcare, but they undercut their suppliers and dirve out local busniess. I also hate their censorship policies. I do not understand how a store will not carry R movies and Parental Advisory records because they are a "family store", but they will carry guns and ammo... They are an example of everything that it wrong with America.

The people united will never be defeated! Down with Wal Mart!

*runs off and burns down a Wal Mart*

 

[yg17]

I also hate their censorship policies. I do not understand how a store will not carry R movies and Parental Advisory records because they are a "family store", but they will carry guns and ammo... They are an example of everything that it wrong with America.

Agreed. I can't buy a CD with some naughty words but I can buy a gun, go figure


However, you may be even more disgusted to know that they'll relax their censorship policy when there's money to be made. Where do you think I bought the last 2 Grand Theft Auto games at? Yep. Wal-Mart. They'll sell violent video games when they know they'll sell well and there's money to be had. But when a game won't sell well, they decide to become my parents and tell me I can't buy it.

 

[Southerner]

Whenever I'm in the States I avoid Wal Mart like the plague - I just pop into Kmart, Safeway and Target instead.

Where I'm from, in Britain, Wal Mart trades under the name ASDA. No sign of the Wal Mart name but only larger ASDAs are called "ASDA Wal Mart Supercentre".

ASDA is a really good place to shop in, everything's cheap and it stocks everything from George fashion to electricals and many more but most ASDA stores are smaller than standard American Wal Marts but they are really massive here. Recently ASDA has opened Britain's first bigger sized supercentre which is similarly based on a standard American Wal Mart store in Milton Keynes.

The staff in ASDA seem to be friendlier, warmer and more helpful than those in American Wal Marts. Perhaps a tad too friendly - upon walking in to be thrown at with endless special offers by grinning over zealous store greeters who wouldn't leave you alone!

Funnily it's not ASDA/Wal Mart is annoying me instead it's Tesco. What Tesco is doing to Britain is almost as bad what Wal Mart is doing to America.

Tesco has a larger market share here and is the 1st largest supermarket chain while ASDA/Wal Mart is number 2 - though Tesco has many many more stores than ASDA across the country. What really gets me is Tesco is really everywhere in Britain wherever you go - nearly every town and city has a Tesco and you cannot really escape from the Tesco name! Argh!

Our main streets in towns and cities are facing decline because of the stiff competition from Tesco with them being able to sell just about everything. Small individual retailers such as general stores, hardware stores and butchers have closed down and people now tend to drive to large supermarkets rather than walk down the main street going into different shops getting what they need which in supermarkets they get everything in one place - talk about laziness.

To add insult to injury - Tesco have been involved in some attempts to breathe life in main streets, which people have abandoned in favour of large supermarkets and shopping malls, by opening smaller supermarkets called "Tesco Metro" or neighbourhood convenience stores called "Tesco Express".

Tesco Express is, in a way, more fancier and slighty superior to 7-11 more like a mini version of Safeway in downtown locations. Tesco will be opening Tesco Express stores in the Los Angeles area sometimes this summer. They don't want to jump straight ahead into the American market only by opening smaller stores and want to see if the Americans like Tesco or not.

If Tesco eventually does prove to be popular in the States - it is more likely they'll take over an American chain possibly Albertsons' and open larger Tescos' especially its supercentres called "Tesco Extra" to take on Wal Mart. For some Americans sick of Wal Mart, this might be a welcome change - so watch this space!

 

[supremedesigner]

Billion of dollars a day

I just read an interestin' news... WalMart made ALMOST a billion of dollars a day (800,000,000+ at most). That is INSANE!

Way more than Microsoft.

Until it got beaten by EXXON (gas station).

 

[floriflee]

Whenever I'm in the States I avoid Wal Mart like the plague - I just pop into Kmart, Safeway and Target instead.

After several negative encounters with their "customer service" department when attempting to exchange/return items or consolidate gift cards the hubby, his family, and myself have permanently banned Target from our list of frequented stores. They are not customer-saavy and are very unrelenting/non-lenient non-communicators. We have noticed on more than one occasion their website will say one thing while their in-store reps say another, and if you have to deal with the in-store reps to get what you need their word wins. Bah!

 

[yg17]

After several negative encounters with their "customer service" department when attempting to exchange/return items or consolidate gift cards the hubby, his family, and myself have permanently banned Target from our list of frequented stores

What exactly were you trying to do? I work at Target, and can probably tell you if the customer service rep was right or not. Because if what you wanted was against store policy, then too bad.

 

[maxterpiece]

unlike target, they also sell cigarettes.

I can vouch for the way wal-mart pinches suppliers. I used to work for one of wal-mart's suppliers (I believe about 30% of our volume was wal-mart sales). We sold most things to wal-mart actually below cost, because the sheer volume that they purchased from us got us better prices from our suppliers, and we could make more money from our other customers.

When gas prices went up, wal-mart started going nuts trying to recoup the money they were losing on shipping in any way they could. They bleed their suppliers as much as they can, and what choice does a supplier have? They can stop selling tg wal-mart and go out of business, or they can try their best to survive on the terms that wal-mart sets. There's no fighting with them.

 

[macpastor]

Our WalMart in my town is expanding. They have taken over half the stip mall and the other 5 stores they are eating have decided to up and leave completely. There are some angry people here in Faribault, MN.

 

[floriflee]

What exactly were you trying to do? I work at Target, and can probably tell you if the customer service rep was right or not. Because if what you wanted was against store policy, then too bad.

Just because it's against store policy doesn't mean that the store policy isn't bad. A couple of the things we ran into were, perhaps, against store policy, but we definitely disagreed with the policy. And the people we encountered during these disagreements were not very kind even though we were not acting like raging mad and rude customers. Our last encounter--to us, at least--seemed legitimate and inline with policy.

In our last instance all we wanted to do was return an item that Target.com said we could return in the store. However, when we tried to do so, the rep told us that we couldn't do it because the item wasn't being recognized even though the exact same item is clearly on the website. It seemed like what we were trying to do was part of Target's policy, but we had no way of proving it to them. Maybe they didn't have that item in that particular store yet or whatever, but they were unwilling to try and help us out (they made us feel like we were liars instead). It didn't seem like they had a way of checking the website (or were willing to do so if they did) so we couldn't show them what we were talking about....

Now, one thing that happened that I can kind of understand, but still stinks.... We also had some trouble trying to return a few items we got when we got married because the person didn't include a gift receipt or order number. The rep told us we'd have to get that from the person who gave the gift to us in order to return or exchange. Now, how rude and thankless would we come off if we had to go to gift-givers and ask for a receipt?

Lastly, another policy that's not necessarily applicable to just Target (but one they still have nonetheless) that still sucks.... We got a gift that someone gave us that was a "Web Only" item. It was an item that we already had, and one we had not put on our registry--I don't mind people straying from a registry, mind you, and I thank them for being thoughtful, but when I've already got one of whatever it is I'm going to try and return it. When we looked into returning it we found out that we'd get refunded the price, but that about $8 would be deducted from the refund for the shipping. The refund would also only come in the form of an online credit so we'd have to use another $8 of our credit to pay for the shipping of another item. When the item being returned is only worth about $18, that basically gives us a credit of $2. This particular item was one we couldn't find in any physical local stores so trying to return it elsewhere was fruitless.

 

[QuarterSwede]

Just because it's against store policy doesn't mean that the store policy isn't bad. A couple of the things we ran into were, perhaps, against store policy, but we definitely disagreed with the policy. And the people we encountered during these disagreements were not very kind even though we were not acting like raging mad and rude customers. Our last encounter--to us, at least--seemed legitimate and inline with policy.

In our last instance all we wanted to do was return an item that Target.com said we could return in the store. However, when we tried to do so, the rep told us that we couldn't do it because the item wasn't being recognized even though the exact same item is clearly on the website. It seemed like what we were trying to do was part of Target's policy, but we had no way of proving it to them. Maybe they didn't have that item in that particular store yet or whatever, but they were unwilling to try and help us out (they made us feel like we were liars instead). It didn't seem like they had a way of checking the website (or were willing to do so if they did) so we couldn't show them what we were talking about....

Now, one thing that happened that I can kind of understand, but still stinks.... We also had some trouble trying to return a few items we got when we got married because the person didn't include a gift receipt or order number. The rep told us we'd have to get that from the person who gave the gift to us in order to return or exchange. Now, how rude and thankless would we come off if we had to go to gift-givers and ask for a receipt?

Lastly, another policy that's not necessarily applicable to just Target (but one they still have nonetheless) that still sucks.... We got a gift that someone gave us that was a "Web Only" item. It was an item that we already had, and one we had not put on our registry--I don't mind people straying from a registry, mind you, and I thank them for being thoughtful, but when I've already got one of whatever it is I'm going to try and return it. When we looked into returning it we found out that we'd get refunded the price, but that about $8 would be deducted from the refund for the shipping. The refund would also only come in the form of an online credit so we'd have to use another $8 of our credit to pay for the shipping of another item. When the item being returned is only worth about $18, that basically gives us a credit of $2. This particular item was one we couldn't find in any physical local stores so trying to return it elsewhere was fruitless.

I work for Target as well and I can tell you that everyone in our store HATES the online store because idiotic corporate has made it so that the stuff that is online that isn't in the stores isn't recognized by our store systems ... which means even if you return the item the store takes a loss because there is no way for us to return the item to the distribution center. They've basically made it so the online store is separate from the physical store. The really crappy thing is that they could add the ability to send online returned items back to the distribution center because we send items back every other week. The only good news is that they update their store systems quarterly and improve them with each release.

Other than that Target is a much much better store than Walmart. Their customer policies are just pretty strict because they were getting ripped off by so many customers and to afford to compete with Wal-mart they needed to save money somewhere. Unfortunately, that just happened to be with tightening their return policy.

Oh and as far as the employees being rude, that really just depends on the person. Corporately they are taught to be friendly and try to help the customer out as much as possible. Unfortunately there tends to be stores where everyone just has an attitude problem. If I were you I would put in a complaint to corporate. They do listen and will reprimand employees for continuous problems with problem employees.

On the Wal-mart side of things, there are 3 in my town. Two Super Wal-marts and one smaller one. This is all within a 10-20 minute drive of each other (probably within 7 miles). Northern Virginia sucks.

 

[floriflee]

I work for Target as well and I can tell you that everyone in our store HATES the online store because idiotic corporate has made it so that the stuff that is online that isn't in the stores isn't recognized by our store systems ... which means even if you return the item the store takes a loss because there is no way for us to return the item to the distribution center. They've basically made it so the online store is separate from the physical store. Its really quite idiotic.

Other than that Target is a much much better store than Walmart. Their customer policies are just pretty strict because they were getting ripped off by so many customers.

Yes, their online store policy does seem pretty idiotic.

The odd thing about it was that the item we were trying to return in our last instance was NOT listed as a Web Only item and it said in the product description or wherever (the hubby looked it up) that the item COULD be returned to the store. Yet when we got to the store we were told it couldn't. I don't know if it was an item that was new to the stores or what. So we had contradicting information, no gift receipt, and no reps at the store were willing to help us in our predicament (we talked to two). So right now we're stuck with an extra sandwich maker that will probably just end up being regifted to someone else.

 

[atszyman]

link

I just really want to see walmart crash and burn...

They're also running a trial of an upscale Wal-Mart not far from where I live, and actually just across the highway from a mall with an Apple store.

I'm half tempted to go check it out (more of an excuse to hit the Apple store than go to Wal-Mart).

 

[bitfactory]

Wal-Mart expanding really doesn't surprise me. As of a few years ago, at least, it was the only way they could increase profits. The year-over-year sales on a per store basis really don't increase very much at all, so the way that Wal-Mart creates growth is by creating stores. At least that's what I recall from my business classes.

I'm very aware that I'm in the minority here, but I'm kind of conflicted on the "Is Wal-Mart bad?" issue. It seems that we, at least in America, have a tendency to hate giant corporations and get pissed that they put "Mom and Pop" shops out of business. However, I think we, often times, fail to remember that Wal-Mart, Microsoft, etc., didn't start out as giant corporations. They made decisions that their competitors didn't make to grow their business.

For instance, my grandparents run a religious supply store, and they've been running it for about 15 years. Being "stereotypically" old, they are deathly afraid of computers and the internet, and, as such, have no online presence, in a market which could have (or have had) room for significant growth. They have made or avoided decisions which limit their business potential, either intentionally or unintentionally.

I wonder why I should be chastised for shopping at bigger stores, and encouraged to shop at places that, like my grandparent's store, have missed these opportunities for growth. In some ways, I think people aim to support places that don't make the best decisions.

[As an aside, I'm really not all that passionate about this topic. I usually just say my peice and leave it at that. You are more than welcome to flame me, and I very well may stick around for it and reply to anything said, but, then again, I may not.]

I agree - I'm not passionate one way or the other - but I enjoy reading other people's comments that revolve around why capitalism is bad. They may not realize they are saying it, but they are. If you don't like it, don't go there. If enough people do that, they shut down that store. The math is not that difficult.

I'd say 90% of the people who bitch about WalMart think McDonalds is to blame for people being fat.

 

[bitfactory]

If they get approved, me and the more extreme of my friends will do the Oregon thing and chain ourselves the building site. However, I hope it does not come to that!

I can see the South Park episode now.

I dislike Wal Mart because not only do they mistreat women, skimp on overtime pay, and do not provide healthcare, but they undercut their suppliers and dirve out local busniess. I also hate their censorship policies. I do not understand how a store will not carry R movies and Parental Advisory records because they are a "family store", but they will carry guns and ammo... They are an example of everything that it wrong with America.

The people united will never be defeated! Down with Wal Mart!

*runs off and burns down a Wal Mart*

The irony is almost unbearable.

I do agree about their odd policies of not carrying certain albums / movies. That's just plain dumb. The answer is NOT to shop there.