Maryland Stands Up To Wal-Mart

If they operated on basic economics I would have no issue. It's what they do outside of basic economics, like pricing fixes for their competitors/suppliers that breaks the system, thats where I hate them. If you don't understand that, thats your problem, not mine.

I don't buy dell, HP, compaq, or toshiba. I make all my own PC's with seperate components. You also seem to be unaware that its not the PC makers that put mom/pop shops out of business, that was microsoft with their licensing deals WITH the PC manufacturers.

Why would walmart build 3 superstores in a town with a population of 10k? to put the smaller stores OUT OF BUSINESS. I'm smart enough to know, and experienced enough to have seen, the results of running other business' out of town. Once walmart becomes the 'place to shop', theres no need for them to be 'the best' out there. They OWN the retail market in that area now.

So you would be happier if everthing was more expensive? The citizens of the town have a choice in where they shop. Blame them for not supporting local businesses.

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The Hokey Pokey
That's what it's all about !

I have news for you.... lots of businesses give discounts at various levels to various customers depending on how much products they buy. Blame the suppliers for agreeing to give Wal-Mart discounts, don't blame Wal-Mart for asking for them. I ask suppliers for better prices all the time. Sometimes I get it (if justified) and sometimes I don't. Sometimes my business will "committ" to a certain level of business over a certain period of time to get better pricing. There are too many variables for you to rely on this as a reason for hating Wal-Mart. They aren't doing anything other businesses haven't done and aren't doing.

Lucky you that you can build your own. Not everybody can. And many cannot afford to buy what a small PC maker would charge. Nobody forces people to use MS. Lynux is a good system and more and more businesses are starting to use it.

If they are doing that, there is a reason and it isn't to just put mom and pops out of business. That would make no sense at all considering one store could do that. There must be other variables involved. Likely they have to do with zoning. Let's say you have a town of 10K people surrounded on four sides by towns of 100K but that have strict zoning laws. I would be willing to bet Wal-Mart would put one store on each side of town to cater to the 100K towns. Makes sense to me. And you know what? The town of 10K is making a lot of dough off people coming into THEIR town to shop there. I am sure the town of 10K can use the revenue from property taxes, etc. that they get.

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"The point of having an open mind, like having an open mouth, is to close it on something solid." - G. K. Chesterton

i shop there as little as possible....i would agree, they are a retail predator.

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green lantern

when you tell your supplier that you'll buy this much more than anyone else SO LONG AS you only make it this way, thats subverting the market.



some people just refuse to see i guess.

The suppliers aren't forced to comply - they can freely say "Take your business elsewhere." But... why would they?

This is an interesting discussion.

What I see are people defending wal marts practices: some say predatory. And others that denounces this practice. This to me, is the end game with wal mart.

If a foreign country were to do to the US what wal mart does to local towns, (dumping, ie, lowering prices so much that others are driven out, because you can afford the "temp" dump) we would all be up in arms. Yet, we all get shoulder to shoulder with wal mart for dumping. Why?

Is it because wal mart is an "American" company? Thus the market should reign supreme? Do we dislike foreign companies doing the same thing because, a nod only because, they are somewhat subsidized by their own government? What is it?

Btw, there is a huge, and I mean huge issue of this import coming to my town: that is, whether or not to allow 150 acres for development of which would be a strip mall Target, Whole foods (I like), Lowes (just had home depot move in, which costco will be right next door in Aug.) and others. Many issues behind this bill, but, most do not want SLO to lose its downtown appeal. I at first signed up to vote against the new development (on farm land). However, when I recieved the vote pack in the mail, I reconsidered and have not been able to send it in.

Here is my thing:

I love this town (45K pop, cty, 220K, and we are cty seat) and don't want it to grow. I grew up here, but have lived in the NW for the past 10. We have a college that has a pop of 18K.

I would love the stores, esp whole foods. However, this would require a new access ramp for the FW, which after living in Salem, OR, is maybe not a bad thing, yet we have 10, in only a town this size.

One major issue is Wal Mart. So far the developer has promised that wal mart will not move in, yet, NO store has a K, thus, WM or any other store could move in. There is a WM 15 miles S of here, no problem going to it. Had to go to it because their prices on my necessities are by far much lower than anywhere else (even costco on some items).

But, I do not want a walmart in this town. Why? Well, even though this is farmland that the owner wants to sell (our land is now much more valuable than crops, save grapes for wine) the city still has a say over what goes onto his land, b/c we have a very, very conservative growth policy, which has kept this town what it is today.

So the question is: given a "free" market economy, should the citizens of this town vote for the marketplace? Should they vote for getting of farm land (200 acres) and put a mall in? This property sits by a freeway, border on one side by Bed Bath and Beyond Me (even though my wife loves it) and staples.

I have to vote in the coming week. Any advice or questions would be appreciated.

Thanks

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You've obviously never owned a business. That is the way things are in business. That is how companies beat their competitors. That is called having something made to "specification".

Refuse to see what? You haven't presented anything that countered what I wrote. Where is this mysterious town of 10,000, with nobody for miles and miles and miles around, where Wal-Mart is going to spend millions of dollars building three huge Superstores for a market that can't even support ONE it is so small?

I smell horseshit!

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"The point of having an open mind, like having an open mouth, is to close it on something solid." - G. K. Chesterton

Yurt, IKEA is a foreign corporation that has come in and is putting small furniture stores out of business all over the country. Yet nobody complains about them either. Wal-Mart is in Korea, Japan and many other countries, so Wal-Mart is also exporting their brand of retail. In Korea, a competitor has sprung up called "Kim's Club". It is obvious that others see the value in Wal-Mart's business plan, because many have tried and are trying to repeat it. What about Fry's? CompUSA, ComputerPlus, etc. The same things being said about Wal-Mart today were said about Sears in 1900.

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"The point of having an open mind, like having an open mouth, is to close it on something solid." - G. K. Chesterton

maybe you didn't read all of that. Not only do they say 'make it this size only', but they require the supplier to do that for all of their other customers as well. Have you not read about the pickle jar deal with wal mart?
The walmart you don't know



I did not say that it was a town in the middle of nowhere. It's somewhere in the middle of the DFW complex.

clean your shoes.

Well, if the supplier wants the business, they will do it. They are not at allthe only company that does this kind of things. It happens in EVERY industry. I see it ALL the time. If one customers is going to buy a huge number of something, it is not uncommon for the customer to demand that their design become the standard. Not uncommon at all.

You witheld a key point then in trying to make it look like something it isn't. DFW is huge and there is a huge population around the airport (I am assuming that is what you are talking about when you say "DFW complex"). I grew up there (I know, you live there) and as you know, many people commute to work from one part of town to another. I am willing to bet WM is building on major traffic thoroghfares. You weren't trying to mislead were you with the "town of 10,000" people? C'mon.....

okay!

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"The point of having an open mind, like having an open mouth, is to close it on something solid." - G. K. Chesterton