The WalMart virus has spread like a wild-fire...

[JoeTruth]

WalMart: Started in middle America in 1962 and has spread like a wild fire. Small businesses worse enemy. It has wiped-out small businesses across little towns. Not a fan!

1962=0
1964=1
1965=2
1967=3
...........
2007=3176 stores!

Very interesting (and cool) time line...

http://projects.flowingdata.com/walmart/

The days of mom and pop businesses are a thing of the past or will be, at this rate. More of a reason to continue to support your local businesses and LBS's.

[wgb]

You know, there are some bad things associated with WalMart. However there are some good too. Walmart does in some cases force smaller operations out of business, but at the same time they force manufacterurs to offer goods at a price lower than market price. A lot of companies don't like doing business with Walmart, but they can't afford to not do business with them either.

[BrewMaster]

I had never heard of Walmart until I came to Southern California in 1997.

[Rockinthecasbah]

I first heard of Wal-Mart when my mom lived in Kansas I would go for a visit and we would all go to the super or mega or whatever Wal-Mart shortly there after they started conquering the world. Dont you all know the soul of walmart is just yourself and your quest for low prices

[2wheel_lee]

Originally Posted by wgb

but at the same time they force manufacterurs to offer goods at a price lower than market price.

Just the same, it forces those companies to produce their products in locations where labor is cheaper and the resulting quality is significantly worse. Remember when it was worthwhile to repair a TV, VCR, vacuum cleaner, toaster, or other appliance? Now, most of that stuff is still somewhat expensive, but it's now disposable junk.

The value of WalMart is a double-edged sword.

[sperminator]

Companies like walmart are really going to hurt with the gas/fuel prices this high. It is going to be really soon that all the american made stuff is going to be cheaper and then walmart will have to start caving to the mom and pop shops.

[boludo]

And pigs just may fly.

Embrace The Walmart. Dont envy, fear or hate The Walmart.

Plus, they are the only retailer that sells a chinese candy I used to by when I was a kid at Omari's Veg/Fruit shop. For that reason alone I love The Mart.

Plus, how many people here have issues with their mom and/or dad? For that reason alone I've always said Ma & Pop shops are overrated. But not LBS's.

[Rockinthecasbah]

not necessarily because fuel prices effect american made goods the most, so all of there raw materials and sub contracted things are going to go up in price its the transportation costs that kills it,imported goods are all traveling on huge ships so it effects them less, allthough everything is just going to get more expensive theres no stopping it whether its imported or made in the USA fuel prices are going to drive the cost of goods up

[DISCO]

I had a client, nice old fella who used to call on Sam Walton personally when he was a sales man for morton salt. Back then Sam offered him a dollar a share for a 1k buy in for his dream of a store for average people and fair prices. Today you have one of the largest employers nationwide, it's impossible to ignore how many people's tables have food on them from the opportunity and the low prices provided.

Personally the selection is limited and there are a lot of things I do not buy there (like bikes) however five quarts of full synthetic American made oil for $14 is too good to pass up. My friend I mentioned however passed up the pre-IPO because he was raising a family and did not want the risk. The moral here is that if a business takes risks and provides more than the next guy than the competition does not have a chance.

[lukewiens]

wow....crazy!! look how strategic the placing is in North Dakota....maybe just a coincidence.

[silkworm]

eh, so who wants to ride bikes this weekend?

[bikeadict]

Walmart is neither good or bad or even evil, it is just an option. the San Diego City council has banned walmart
http://www.usatoday.com/money/indust...an-diego_x.htm

Are you telling me this is what America is about? The government saying what size of business you can have in their city? How many % groceries you sell?

WTF, You can shop at walmart if you want. It is a choice. However, the government saying that I can't have that choice I mean is this right....

If people want to shop at mom and pop stores they can do it... I mean this was sooo blatently directed at walmart. You notice they don't include IKEA or Home Depot or any other huge store, just walmart.

It just blows my mind every day when I think about it. Why can't we have the right to choose?

[uzziboy]

Originally Posted by 2wheel_lee

Just the same, it forces those companies to produce their products in locations where labor is cheaper and the resulting quality is significantly worse. Remember when it was worthwhile to repair a TV, VCR, vacuum cleaner, toaster, or other appliance? Now, most of that stuff is still somewhat expensive, but it's now disposable junk.

The value of WalMart is a double-edged sword.

You hit the nail on the head lee, I also want to add that their practices concerning their employees is horrible. wal mart just lost a lawsuit that said they were making their employees working on lunches and off the clock w/o paying the employees.

[RustyIron]

Originally Posted by 2wheel_lee

Remember when it was worthwhile to repair a TV, VCR, vacuum cleaner, toaster, or other appliance? Now, most of that stuff is still somewhat expensive, but it's now disposable junk.

I remember the tv I had in the mid-seventies. It was built in the 60's and used tubes. The remote control? It was a two-button contraption that contained aluminum tuning forks. A hammer would strike the fork, resulting in ultrasonic vibrations that were picked up by a receiver inside the television. It didn't even require batteries!

Those were the good old days... NOT!

Give me a cheap tv made in Taiwan ANY day.

Rob

P.S.
Let me know when you want to talk about those vacuum cleaners that weighed as much as a tank... or dishwashers that didn't clean well and sounded like a Mack truck... or bicycles that didn't work well and broke regularly...

The good old days are NOW.

[davidB]

capitalism. f yeah
america. f yeah!

now I get why a chick i knew in Indiana would say there was nothing to do except wander around the walmart(s)

[1FG rider]

Walmart wouldn't exist if there wasn't a market for cheap prices. People go on and on about buying Made in the USA and saving US jobs, but its Economics 101. Consumers shop at Wal Mart, Home Depot, Costco, etc. because they get products cheaper than going to the Mom and Pop hardware or furniture store.

How many people are willing to pay more for a item so that the extra money will go towards someone else's paycheck, retirement or healthcare benefits. I really don't believe the average consumer is going to be that generous when they're looking after their family first.

[Permagrin]

Walmart is dangerous. You can walk in with a set list of 5 items and walk out with 100 things you just didn't know you had to have and couldn't live without, all for drastically less than Wallgreens or the grocery store. Yeah, Walmart is my new dry goods food store; brand names for sometimes 1/2 the price.

[foofighter]

cities dont like them because walmart promises a lot of things so these cities fork out the money to help build their huge box retail building and get tax incentives. and when it comes time to pay the piper...walmart and their bean counters pick up and move outside the city's boundary and build their own because it's cheaper to do that than own up to what they agreed to do. meanwhile they already established the loyal customer base so the people will follow them outside the city line, all the while those small ma and pa shops are gone done fin they (walmart) really do leave a wake of broken dreams and pissed off city government

[foofighter]

i wanted to bump this because i thought of something interesting. Walmart is often portrayed as the the big box evil giant that kills competition; yet no one says anything about Costco...thoughts?