On Sat, Aug 20, 2011 at 3:13 PM, Bhairitu <noozg...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> > Don't hold your breathe too much on Walmart expansion. They are already > feeling the pinch from the economy. If you want business you need > customers with money. And right now that customer total is diminishing > as people lose their source of income. And that is the banksters > fault. Walmart is now getting into smaller stores these days. > > Walmart made a very big mistake and though it vows to correct it, it's not doing it fast enough, IMO. I used to love to go to Walmart Superstores because of the great variety and at times, even quality. But the Walmart I go to for the time being is even more depressing than the the Walmart I was going to Flugerville, Texas. Walmart decided they'd be sort of like TJ, with a single brand and limited merchandise. So every time I went to Walmart, some favorite food I wanted, say Mexican Rice Pudding, had disappeared. The Walmart a bit south of me in South Carolina sells perhaps 50 different varieties of canned beans. All Bush's beans. I've looked and looked and even accidentally taken home Bush's Meatless beans only to find when I got home that there was beef tallow in the beans. No other brand. I needed a wine glass. I could buy any size, shape and quantity of wine glass or water glass or tumbler or whatever, as long as it was made out of plastic, with a great big seam down the side. When I told the store manager a couple years ago at the Walmart in Flugerville and also called up Corporate to remind them that there are also affluent shoppers who don't want to go to a big box store then go do their real shopping, they flipped me off. About a year ago they found Jesus and are re-introducing brands they had d/c'ed. Appears there were more upscale shoppers than they had imagined. The Krogers in the 120% Hispanic section of Austin I go to decided it was going to be a "value" store. That concept failed miserably. It turns out that Mexicans want more than cheese imported from Mexico. They also make spaghetti and wanted Romano cheese to put on top just as I do. Walmart and Krogers discovered that there weren't as many shoppers they had thought wanted to shop former Soviet Union style where there was bread or eggs or butter but never all three. Another problem with Walmart. The Flugerville and other Texas stores had massive inventory problems. Say I wanted swiss cheese. None in the deli case. No slabs of Swiss cheese, no prepackaged Swiss cheese. Not even Swiss cheese flavored crackers or any Swiss cheese spread. People who wanted to buy Swiss cheese something picked the place clean. Perhaps there were not even plastic swiss cheese wedges left in the toy department. Now this would go on for months. Finally, they got in Swiss cheese. Then no Pom anything for months. The convenience of one stop shopping was gone and IMO might never come back. Of course I'd rather shop at Target or in one of those upscale non-mall malls they have in Overland Park, KS or in parts of ?greater? Austin. But Target is heavy on glasses but light on anything to pour into them. Dishes, knives and forks but little except Vienna sausage to place on those dishes. Mens underwear? No variety. And I've never seen a Target, even in Mexico, which had a Santaria section. Now how on Earth are you going to keep evil spirits away or cast spells on people without proper Santaria? Barry, how's your back been lately? Even the Dollar store carries Santaria merchandise in many towns. Why not Target? Walmart sells Santaria merchandise even in Fargo, North Dakota.
