I was truly shocked to notice yesterday that yet another W’Mart had opened up near my office. A few minutes research has proven that there are seven W’Marts and four T’gets within a ten mile radius.
How is it possible? I thought their whole business model depended upon people driving a bit to get to one.
NOVA Dopers: The larger half of the Chantilly Expo center has been turned into a W’Mart!! I think it’s about 2 or 3 miles from the 24Hour W’Mart Superstore in Fair Lakes.
:smack:
Is the new Walmart particularly close to a major roadway? If the other Walmart is close to a different roadway, it may be missing significant traffic.
Is it close to another set of business(es)? Sometimes, a business will pick a spot so it can feed off the traffic of other businesses.
But yeah, 7 Walmarts and 4 Targets within a 10 mile radius is a lot.
They are one exit apart on Route 66 West, I’m guessing those two exits are no more than two miles from each other, and each W’Mart is maybe another 1/2 mile northish. Closer by the back roads.
In one way that seems ridic. In another, I’m jealous. There is no 24 hour Walmart near me (I have to drive 15 miles to get there), whereas there are like 3 24 hour Meijers on my way home (8 miles). If there were more Walmarts near me, maybe there would be a 24-hour one. I mean Meijer’s okay, but their groceries aren’t as cheap as Walmart’s.
Up here in Target land (Minneapolis) I can draw a 10 mi. diameter around where I am now and circle 8 Target stores, 4 of which are Super Targets.
Also have 4 Best Buys and 4 Home Depots.
I would have said the same thing five years ago about Walmart, but apparently Walmart has realized that not everyone wants to (or can!) drive long distances to one of their stores and not all desirable markets are going to allow acres of parking and a block’s worth of set-back from the street. :rolleyes: They’ve opened up Walmart Expresses and Neighborhood Markets in urban areas, including one in downtown Chicago (between Union and Northwestern Stations).
IMHO Target was always that way, though. They’ve been opening urban locations for some years now, with parking garages rather than the acres-o-asphalt. In Chicago, even though they have a successful store just south of downtown, on Roosevelt near State, they’re opening a store just about a mile away, in the heart of State St. in the old Carson Pirie Scott space.
Not true at all. WalMart does extensive population growth studies and tries to open stores where their data says people will be moving soon. It just does it when land and lease costs are lower. Other companies buy this data from WalMart, so often it looks like it’s all popping up at once.
Looks like walmart is putting in a small store near me. It is going into a really low rent strip mall, low rent enough that there is a Harbor Freight and a BigLots. I’m a little miffed because it is displacing a nearby and halfway good Chinese buffet.
I went in there last night, and I gotta say it was really well done. Turns out it had been open for business less than 24 hours, and everything was running smoothly.
As I walked around I realized this is why I never go to the mall anymore. I got summer shorts and swimsuits for Celtling, shoes for both of us, dishwashing gloves for me, food, and printer paper, and I half-wished she wasn’t along so I could have done the Easter Basket fixin’s as well! Why go to the mall when here everything I need is cheap, quick to find, and there’s only one cash register? The only thing I miss is the lovely supply of shopping bags I used to have. . .
There was even a Subway sandwich shop. So who needs the food court?
:: sigh :: I want so badly to live in the kind of town that has hundreds of boutique-y little shops owner by families that care about quality. But dadgummit I also want to get the errands done quickly so I can get home to make dinner.
Is that so wrong?!?
Wasn’t there a Simpsons episode in which a Starbucks opened up in the restroom of another Starbucks?
I’ve heard that part of the Walmart plan is to open too many stores in an area, then shut some of them down after all the local businesses close, leaving people to travel a bit farther to another Walmart.
I know that when Walmart was found to be doing traffic studies and the like in a neighboring small town here the For Sale signs went up on Main Street almost immediately. Literally the only business left on Main Street now is a pizza parlor; pharmacy, appliance store, furniture store, even the barber shop are all gone. The Walmart store was cancelled.
I do remember, years back, seeing 2 Starbucks literally across the hall from one another at O’Hare Airport.
It’s stories like this that make me feel guilty for shopping there.
I find it interesting that in less then a century we are going back to the General Store shopping concept. We have gone full circle through Main Street stores, 5 & Dimes, shopping malls, strip malls and now back to the central general store that has all of your shopping needs in one place.