smoe.org mailing lists
ivan@stellysee.de
| From | "Mark Eichelberger" <markeichelberger@comcast.net> |
| Subject | Re: Wal-mart |
| Date | Wed, 3 Dec 2003 16:48:06 -0500 |
[Part 1 text/plain iso-8859-1 (1.5 kilobytes)]
(View Text in a separate window)
I used to travel for business a few years back and a lot of our clients were
in small towns or small cities. It always used to amaze and sadden me that
when I asked a client for advice on shopping and restaurants in the area,
90% of the time the response would be Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Applebee's, Olive
Garden, Red Lobster, etc., etc. You can travel all over the country and
get the same monotonous product.
Mark E.
----- Original Message -----
From: "josh chasin" <jchasin@nyc.rr.com>
To: <audities@smoe.org>
Sent: Wednesday, December 03, 2003 3:25 PM
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."
For assistance, please contact
the smoe.org administrators.