I am curious: Who here doesn't use Wal-mart? Why??

[Beekissed]

Nope....WM is the only clothing store around, besides Family Dollar. Food stores there are a few, but very little selection. No appliance stores at all, no Lowes, no Home Depot, no Sams Club.

There is one McDonalds in that town....it was recently remodeled and people turned out in droves to watch the new construction. Actually sat in their cars and watched all day as the old building was torn down.

It seems to me, where ever a WM springs up, other businesses open up next to them to try to catch some of the consumerism going down. We got the first and only cinema next to the WM but they still only take cash....no cards, no checks.

 

[reinbeau]

People up in Northern Maine fight over the Wal-Marts coming to town. Some love it for the reason that, as Pat mentioned, they just can't get some of the stuff anywhere else, and drive for many miles to find things - the other side hates development of any kind, and what is Wal-Mart but its own mega-development, when they build one now, it's huge, they have to improve the roads around them, it's a big development.

 

[FarmerChick]

I don't think it's a bit of hypocrisy to live a SS life and shop at Walmart....

____________
it was said in a different context to just being SS and shopping there.

and as I see it, NO you can't just up and move to "wherever"---life does not work that way for many. Just up and move is not the answer to how this country truly needs to change. Home is home. Family nearby etc. Locations where we want to raise our kids etc. So many factors....so the
just move" doesn't work for millions.

 

[patandchickens]

My only point about WM siting its stores, not intended to be an argument, is that I imagined they would be along the lines of McDonald's and only build stores where there is enough population to keep the stores open. I assume any area with enough population to do *that* would already have stores. I was just thinking out loud.

The thing is, Walmart (or to a lesser extent any other big box type store, like Home Depot or whatever) has a whoooooole lot more drawing power than Uncle Bob's Shoe Shop. Walmart has bajillions of sparkly new things of all sorts. It is WORTH it for people to drive a long way to a Walmart. It is not worth it for people to drive that far to Uncle Bob's.

Also, even within a type of merchandise (like, the shoe department at Walmart), because they are a vast corporation with huge buying power and leverage, they can offer a large selection without breaking a sweat. Whereas at Uncle Bob's, it costs *money* to buy inventory to sell, meaning that unless Uncle Bob starts out quite well capitalized or gets a very large customer base right away, his store will be hard-pressed to offer the selection (in style, mfr and sizes) that Walmart can. And most people, me included most of the time, would rather go somewhere they feel they've got a good chance of finding what they really *want*, rather than somewhere that might, possibly, have something sort of kind of usable.

So, "enough population to keep a Walmart open" is very different than "enough population to keep a small independant business open" in many cases.

It's an interesting problem. I haven't the vaguest notion what the solution could be.

Pat

 

[Beekissed]

Why....for most folks to buy less, of course. But then, I've recently learned that it is "morally irresponsible" to not spend money and be a consumer.

If we live more SS, spend less on things we don't really need, then I guess we wouldn't actually need all those shiney things at Walmart and we could keep our dollars locally at stores who didn't have to price gouge to compete with Walmart.

 

[me&thegals]

Why....for most folks to buy less, of course. But then, I've recently learned that it is "morally irresponsible" to not spend money and be a consumer.

Geez, I hope I'm not being misquoted again. It is morally responsible, but not good for a consumer economy.

 

[FarmerChick]

no it isn't the solution to buy less.

big stores supply different items, wide variety of each product to choose from and make good buys and decisions. Small stores can not stock 100 different pairs of shoes in 12 sizes of each size. Big stores can do this.

So if you put big store with tons of NEEDED items to buy next to the small guy...where are ya going with your crunched time? I am going to the big guy cause I can get better selection and get more done in one shop.



I don't know if there needs to be a "solution"

maybe the face of consumerism is changing. Mega stores and that is it with some specialty shops doing well. I don't know if that would be a bad thing at all. Instead of competing with big store items, more specialty stores pop up and consumers will visit them.

remember when people lived confined, with no planes trains and autos the small town shops were important. society is changing so definitely the way we will be shopping will also be changing. maybe we don't need to fight so much....let it take its course.

 

[reinbeau]

Why....for most folks to buy less, of course. But then, I've recently learned that it is "morally irresponsible" to not spend money and be a consumer.

Geez, I hope I'm not being misquoted again. It is morally responsible, but not good for a consumer economy.

BigDaddy made it quite clear if we didn't spend, even spend money we don't have, then we'll be - what was it he said - standing in line waiting for a bowl of rice. It's in another thread, if you want me to find it, I will. The point is the 'consumer economy' is one of the problems that has brought us to our economic knees. From many, many different directions. Low cost goods means production is moved to a cheaper economic area, usually offshore, people who buy those low cost goods usually are in the types of jobs that produce them, until they're offshored - people using credit cards irresponsibly, buying things they can't afford, etc. I brought up the fact that we were told back when I was younger to save - now we're told to spend, and at any cost. Consumerism is not a good way to live, to run an economy, or to run a country.

 

[sylvie]

Why does Walmart have only the extra large carts and no hand baskets? If that isn't pressure to fill up the cart, I don't know what is!

 

[FarmerChick]

My walmart has hand baskets.
hmm....

I love the big cart, I can fit the kid and stuff I buy