# The downfall of WalMart **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 24, 2007, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-downfall-of-walmart/409243 "2007-06-24T22:39:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2007, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-downfall-of-walmart/409243/61 "2007-06-27T11:52:03Z")
[QUOTE=slaphead] Their idea of using excellent logistics to deliver cost reductions (and hence lower prices) was very good, and gave them a big edge. But that pricing edge covered up the fact that they’re not actually that good at running stores people want to shop in. Now that many other companies have mastered the necessary logistics, the focus is no longer solely on price, but on the basics of the retail experience - at which they are not so good, because they’ve not had to be. [/QUOTE] I’m not much of a WalMart shopper - and in the Twin Cities (corporate home to Target), WalMart stores are pits - long lines, messy, dirty. I was in a suburb of Phoenix and needed something. Having no idea where anything was I ran into the first place that would sell what I needed, a WalMart. Well lit, tidy, well stocked, well staffed. WalMart is a little like Home Depot - they are capable of doing really good retail, I’ve seen it. They are also capable of LOUSY retail that leaves you wondering if the prices are worth it. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2007, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-downfall-of-walmart/409243/62 "2007-06-27T12:29:43Z")
[QUOTE=Dangerosa] WalMart … they are capable of doing really good retail, I’ve seen it. They are also capable of LOUSY retail that leaves you wondering if the prices are worth it. [/QUOTE] Having never experienced a “bad” or dirty Wal Mart, I wonder if their Managers are subject to the death penalty if things go badly in a store in Arkansas… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2007, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-downfall-of-walmart/409243/63 "2007-06-27T14:22:01Z")
actually, WALMART did NOt invent the low price warhouse store model-it was started by the French “hypermakets” in the 1970’s. face it, this type of retail appeals to one segment of the market-when that is saturated, where does WM go next? Upscale? Why would anyone want to buy designer cloths at WM? ---
**Author:** ![mazinger\_z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@mazinger\_z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mazinger_z)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2007, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-downfall-of-walmart/409243/64 "2007-06-27T19:09:36Z")
[QUOTE=Evil Captor] My many arguments with libertarians and conservatives on this board with regard to things like fair wages, medical care and affordable housing for workers have convinced me that you simply cannot overestimate the willingness of people to inflict misery on others when there’s perceived to be a dollar in it for them. In China, with its long, not-so-proud tradition of enslaving, torturing and killing its people, it’s gonna be a LOOONG road before anything LIKE “fair wages” gains any traction with the powers that be. [/QUOTE] Except it’s really the market that is dictating wages. Even in China, the areas that are allowed to have a free market, have one (Chinese control is over the political mechanisms not the business/economic ones). Wages, simply stated, are defined by the amount of resources able to be used by it, along with the amount of supply available. Wages are not dictated. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2007, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-downfall-of-walmart/409243/65 "2007-06-27T21:52:26Z")
Coincidentally, I have just being reading an article about Tesco (big, big supermarket chain thing) now trying to move in to the U.S.A. I can’t imagine that Walmart will be overjoyed at that. [Tesco Wants to Take Over the U.S.A. Too](http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=9358986&fsrc=nwlgafree) (I don’t _think_ you need to register with “The Economist” to read this article). ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2007, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-downfall-of-walmart/409243/66 "2007-06-27T23:35:14Z")
[QUOTE=ralph124c] actually, WALMART did NOt invent the low price warhouse store model-it was started by the French “hypermakets” in the 1970’s. face it, this type of retail appeals to one segment of the market-when that is saturated, where does WM go next? Upscale? Why would anyone want to buy designer cloths at WM? [/QUOTE] They existed before that. We used to go to a giant store called Great Eastern Mills on Long Island in 1961, which had both a gigantic department store and a grocery. The place was at least as big as our local CostCo, and much bigger than either of our nearby WalMarts. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-downfall-of-walmart/409243/67 "2007-06-28T02:15:04Z")
Today’s Wall Street Journal had a story about Wal-Mart with an interesting statistic. The typical WM shopper spends 21 minutes in the store, has a shopping list of 10 items, but only buys 7 of them. In other words, shoppers don’t browse, don’t explore, and don’t even find everything they came in to buy – at least not in 21 minutes. If WM stores get bigger, it will be harder for shoppers to find what they’re looking for. If they get smaller, they won’t have everything shoppers go there to find. Sounds like a pretty slippery tightrope to me. ---
**Author:** ![goldenmean1975](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@goldenmean1975](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/goldenmean1975)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-downfall-of-walmart/409243/68 "2007-06-28T13:21:53Z")
I see it already right here in the heart of Walmart country. I was talking about this with a group of friends the other day and the concences was, we do anything we can to avoid going to W.M. I almost always leave W.M. in a bad mood, hating my fellow man. Target has the things the regular grocery store doesn’t, so it may mean going to two different stores, but its worth it. Walmart just sucks on so many levels. There is no customer service. The people working there are rude for the most part. I was in the audio dept recently looking at CDs and an employee (older lady)wedged herself between me and the shelves and started putting up stock like I wasn’t even there. I see this all the time. They stock round the clock and will practically shove customers out of the way. The other customers are generally nasty, uneducated slobs. The bathrooms, more often than not have shit and buggers smeared on the walls, unflushed toiletts, piss all over the floors. I’m in no way exaggerating. I just don’t see this in Target or Walgreens. Walmart has its place though, the white trash just love it ! ---
**Author:** ![slaphead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@slaphead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slaphead)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-downfall-of-walmart/409243/69 "2007-06-28T15:13:14Z")
[QUOTE=ralph124c] actually, WALMART did NOt invent the low price warhouse store model-it was started by the French “hypermakets” in the 1970’s. face it, this type of retail appeals to one segment of the market [/QUOTE] Of course not. Their innovation was in logistics, e.g. [cross-docking](http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11214069&whse=BC&Ne=4000000&N=4010120%204294967119%204294965535%204294909944%204294967120%204294967004%204294967114&Mo=3&No=0&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&cat=28444&selRefs=r1%7Cr15%7Csc1%7Cec4&lang=en-US&Sp=R&pg=D) . And if low-price warehouses only appeal to one segment of the market, Costco must be operating as some sort of money-laundering front for the cocaine cartels. A keen price ALWAYS appeals, providing you don’t cut back the rest of the offering too far. If you were to open LearJet & MegaYacht Warehouse, multi-multi-millionaires would definitely be interested in scoring a good deal from you. They probably wouldn’t put up with dirty toilets and a queue at the checkout though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-downfall-of-walmart/409243.md?page=3)