I guess Walmart thinks we are a bunch of idiots.

[fetch33]

Was at Walmart this am after work. Decided to go down the clearance aisle to check for 'bargains'. The deals were not to be had. Most stuff was only marked down 20-50 CENTS. The best (in a humorous way) was the aquarium set up.... original price $55.12, clearance price.......$55. Seriously?

[Wolf mom]

WM is hurting as is most stores these days.

The local Wm has just remoded and the isles are wider - not for convenience, but because there's less choice of brands on the shelves, they are also not as full. Food department is carrying less food and the fresh vegie bins are smaller. The garden dept. did not have any trees or shrubs this year, only a few vegies 6-paks and potted plants.

[Ardie/WI]

Originally Posted by fetch33

Was at Walmart this am after work. Decided to go down the clearance aisle to check for 'bargains'. The deals were not to be had. Most stuff was only marked down 20-50 CENTS. The best (in a humorous way) was the aquarium set up.... original price $55.12, clearance price.......$55. Seriously?

Ya' think someone goofed up maybe!

The WM we go to a lot is always busy, the stock is good and the restrooms are clean!

[farmwoman59]

To me, their clearance aisles are a joke. Unless something has been marked down and down and down (in other words it's been there a looong time) I don't even bother. I keep telling them they need to get serious with clearance prices.

[starjj]

Was interested in the fact that poster said isles are wider. Mine just remodled and they are narrower so much so that it is going to be hard to get two carts side by side down them NOT to mention the people that block the isles to chat.

[scooter]

Originally Posted by Wolf mom

WM is hurting as is most stores these days.

The local Wm has just remoded and the isles are wider - not for convenience, but because there's less choice of brands on the shelves, they are also not as full. Food department is carrying less food and the fresh vegie bins are smaller. The garden dept. did not have any trees or shrubs this year, only a few vegies 6-paks and potted plants.

The Wal-Mart here had terrible looking veggies and flowers for planting, I would never buy any of their garden plants.

[Home Harvest]

I hate to shop at Walmart. Walmart is almost single handedly ruining Mainstreet America. All the big box stores make it impossible for small shops to compete. And once the small shops are gone, what happens? That quality and variety of goods at Walmart is reduced to where it is all cheap crap from Asia.

Buying from the cheapest store may be more expensive in the long run.

[redwall]

maybe if mainstreet would not rip off people then we would shop there im not paying 50% markup by the way thats how much wallmart was beating them in my small town.

[joseph97297]

I laugh at people who blame Wal-Mart for the 'destruction' of Good Ole Main Street........ ha.....ha......

Wal-Mart provided a service, at a better cost that the Main Street, but I never have seen Wal-Mart 'forcing' people to buy there.

Wal-Mart did not ruin anything, the folks shopping there who in some instances choose price over quality, or whatever their reasons.

You can't blame the Big Box companies, they just found the market niche and ran with it. You want to blame someone, blame the shoppers....their money, their choice.....simple.

But yes, Good Ole Main Street, markups and all....guess if you can't make the profit in quantity, then make it some other way..... since it sure isn't quality sometimes.

But before Wal-Mart, were the Malls ruining Main Street? Did 84 Lumber ruin anything? What about Ace? You can't blame the company, but you could blame the shoppers.....

[Prismseed]

Redwall, it isn't markup, it is the backroom deals Wallymart gets for bulk buying goods. Not to mention most small towns have big taxes for mainstreet shops, wallymart on the otherhand gets breaks and incentives to lure them in just because it wil add a few dozen new minimum wage jobs to the economy.

Also walmart ain't got jack for service compared to your local hardware store.

[HOTW]

I used to workk for a small pet store that carried a variety of goods. When a Wlmart opened up near us he went over and did his homeowrk they were selling the cat litter boxes and litter for cheaper than he could get them from any of the wholesalers! Th eonly thing that he was able to compete on price was hte fish an dhe refused to pay that game as he went and picked out the fish ever week and they were good quality and the tank were kept immaculate so people knew he had good fish. WalMart underprices so it can get the sale but once they elimnate hte competition I doubt there will be any deals

[Prismseed]

once they elimnate hte competition I doubt there will be any deals

Exactly. Local video store, rentals $3 not great but livable. Movie Gallery comes in with the fantastic low price 99 cents for a 5 night rental. That only lasted untill the other guy got choked out of business. Now rentals are almost $8 and to top it off MG is in major debt and their employees are getting hosed.

[Ernie]

I used to place all the blame completely on Walmart and only shopped at small local stores. Then I realized that most of those small local stores were doing what I despised Walmart for doing, only on a smaller and less efficient scale.

People don't realize that the complete infrastructure for small local businesses has been destroyed. It's gone. It won't be rebuilt. Walmart helped, but mostly it's consumers who have destroyed America. The very first time a company took a factory overseas or made a decision to sell foreign-made products instead of local ones then the people should have risen up and said, "No. We're not going to buy your stuff." Then maybe we could have stopped it.

I'm not advocating a totally protectionist economic policy. There are things that just simply aren't grown in quantity here in the States (coffee) or that some people may like and be willing to pay to have it shipped (like a rug from Asia). But we've shipped almost everything out and for the sole reason that it's cheaper. No American textile company can compete against a company using cheap Bangladesh child labor UNLESS American consumers decide to take a real stand and support American businesses.

Walmart is simply the express lane for this economic destruction. And what people don't understand is that there is a very real social cost to this. It's not just saving a few cents on a jar of peanut butter. Those owners of the small private businesses in your community were more than just local area merchants. They hired local people. They put money in the local economy. They paid local taxes. They were also your kid's soccer coach or served on the local PTA. Maybe they cut the grass of the Old Widow down the street.

When foreign goods and Walmart put them out of business they had to go work somewhere else. They either moved out of your community, or perhaps now the work shift work down at the local factory. Or perhaps they're stocking shelves in the very store that destroyed their livelihood. Now they don't have time to be the soccer coach. They don't have time to serve on the PTA. They don't have time to help out a neighbor. And they also don't have money to put into the local community. All of that money makes a brief stopover in Bentonville before heading out to China, or India, or Taiwan.

[Wayne02]

I don't go to walmart much but I stopped into one while on a road trip a few weeks back. I have stopped at this store before to get a drink for the road, but this last time was after a big remodel and I must say the remodel is really nice.

Much brighter lighting, much wider aisles (wide enough to drive a full size pickup down), you can see over the shelving etc.

I also noticed that layout of the store was such that you needed to walk clear to the back of the store to get certain staples such as milk. This layout was no doubt intentional as you have to walk by all the end-caps and aisleways filled with other stuff that the shopper probably did not intend on purchasing initially but get sucked in when they see the items.

[dezingg]

The big box stores are getting more and more of the total sales volume compared with the small chains and independents. So if a manufacturer can't get the box store to buy their product, the manufacturer could go out of business.

So not only are we losing the independent stores, but also the independent manufacturers. This applies to food producers as well.

[WildernesFamily]

Originally Posted by Ernie

But we've shipped almost everything out and for the sole reason that it's cheaper.

Cheaper, yes....

... and then there's that U.S. EPA thing as well...

Our factories are struggling to be in compliance with EPA regs and at the end of the day it's just not cost effective for them to keep operating in the states. Our factories are being regulated out of business. So we send our jobs and manufacturing overseas.. along with our pollution.

But hey.. we're working towards that "21st century clean energy economy that would create jobs, strengthen our national security, and protect our environment for our children." as Obama says.


http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com...manufacturers/

http://www.oregonlive.com/business/i...ts_oregon.html

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...yMU6E&refer=us

http://www.ecofactory.com/news/senat...lations-061110

http://www.bestgrowthstock.com/stock...bon-polluters/

[ladycat]

Originally Posted by Wayne02

I also noticed that layout of the store was such that you needed to walk clear to the back of the store to get certain staples such as milk. This layout was no doubt intentional as you have to walk by all the end-caps and aisleways filled with other stuff that the shopper probably did not intend on purchasing initially but get sucked in when they see the items.

This IS intentional. Most grocery stores have laouts like this, designed for you to pass impulse items while you're going to the staples you're looking for.

[Ernie]

Originally Posted by ladycat

This IS intentional. Most grocery stores have laouts like this, designed for you to pass impulse items while you're going to the staples you're looking for.

Exactly. The modern grocery store is essentially a very large Skinner Box with teams of psychologists working together to develop a single response ... a purchase.

[ladycat]

Originally Posted by Ernie

Exactly. The modern grocery store is essentially a very large Skinner Box with teams of psychologists working together to develop a single response ... a purchase.

Actually, they're sociologists.

Psychologists concentrate on the roots of an individual's emotional responses.

Sociologists are used by marketing divisions to assess the behavior and reactions of groups. That knowledge is used to manipulate the behavior of the masses (i.e., to brainwash the buying public).

[Ernie]

Hrm. I think that definition has changed over time. BF Skinner worked with individual responses and defined himself as a psychologist.

I wonder what the cause of that shift is.