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| From | "Barry S." <BarryS@lernerweisslaw.com> |
| Subject | Re: Wal-mart |
| Date | Wed, 3 Dec 2003 13:04:30 -0800 |
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2 things to add to this thread.
First, here in Los Angeles, there are no Wal-Mart superstores, and just
a handful of regular Wal-Mart stores with no groceries. However, it is
inevitable that the Wal-Mart superstores are coming. Recently, the
large chain supermarkets (Ralph's, Von's, Albertson's) have been unable
to come to terms with unionized checkers over a new contract. Union
wants more medical benefits; the chains know that with the very small
margins that are a fact of life in the grocery industry, and with
Wal-Mart panting at the fence, management knows that this labor battle
is literally a battle for their survival. Right now, the checkers are
locked out --- essentially, on strike. It can't be a coincidence that
about a week ago, right when the strikers were picketing through the
Thanksgiving period, Wal-Mart announced its intention of opening
something like 65 superstores in the greater Los Angeles area. The
battle is at hand.
Second, and this is less about the literal death of small-town Main
Streets than the state of mind behind the Wal-Martization of America, I
know for a fact that one very large multistate bank (it's not Citibank,
but think Citibank) has a target of selling an average of 6.5 "products"
per customer: some combination of bank products, insurance products,
mortgages, securities, etc. Places that sell services want you to
multitask with them just like the places that sell more traditional
goods.
--- Barry Schlom
-----Original Message-----
From: josh chasin [mailto:jchasin@nyc.rr.com]
Sent: Wednesday, December 03, 2003 12:25 PM
To: audities@smoe.org
Subject: Re: Wal-mart
This anecdote is a precise microcosm of the "Wal-Martization of
America,"
also known as the death of downtown. Often Wal-Mart will open up
outside of
town on a highway or intersection between two towns-- to draw retail
traffic
from each-- and destroy the downtowns of both in the process.
Wal-Mart really is the quintessential corporate bully. They use their
sheer
size to intimidate manufacturers into giving them volume deals that no
one
else can get. Then they turn around and routinely use these discounts
to
price inventory such that any downtown store would go out of business if
they matched the prices. Wal-Mart often retails goods at a lower price
than
he local guy can acquire them wholesale. As I heard one executive say
in a
speech about 8 years ago, "If you have a store in one of the 37
categories
Wal-Mart operates in, and they open in your area, you have a problem."
----- Original Message -----
From: "John L. Micek" <jlmicek@mindspring.com>
To: <eldeluxe@mcn.net>; <audities@smoe.org>
Sent: Wednesday, December 03, 2003 2:43 PM
Subject: Re: Wal-mart
> > Over here in Bozeman they are getting ready to open the Superstore.
As a
> > result a lot of businesses are doing their best to deal with that.
>
> A few years ago, a Wal-Mart superstore and an accompanying
mega-complex
> opened on the outskirts of Torrington, Conn., where I grew up.
> In the middle 1990s, after years of decline, Torrington's downtown
district
> was on the verge of a small renaissance. There were cafes and stores
> downtown, and a small arts community had developed.
> At that point, there were only rumors about a big box plaza (of any
> description) coming to town.
> In October, my wife and I returned to Torrington. She'd never been
there,
> and it was my first time back in about four years. The downtown had
been
> decimated. The shops were shuttered, and those that remained were
decidedly
> downmarket.
> Out at the Wal-Mart on the edge of the city, things were bustling and
the
> parking lot was packed.
> That's about as much primary source information as I need in order to
form
a
> conclusion about the deleterious effects of sprawl development on a
> downtown economy.
>
> john.
>
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