Wal Mart Plans to shut down 269 stores

[roadman65]

Some may think its good news that the Mom & Pop buster Wal Mart is cutting back some of their stores.  However, jobs will be lost and its a sad case for one of the big giant stores to actually get into this position.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/wal-mart-to-close-269-stores-globally-1452868122?mod=e2fb

[noelbotevera]

Some may think its good news that the Mom & Pop buster Wal Mart is cutting back some of their stores.  However, jobs will be lost and its a sad case for one of the big giant stores to actually get into this position.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/wal-mart-to-close-269-stores-globally-1452868122?mod=e2fb

To be honest, Wal-Mart is the reason that they took down K-Mart, which did things that Walmart doesn't want to do, and does them better than what Walmart did. First, Wal-Mart treated their employees like trash. Not with K-Mart. The cycle kept repeating till K-Mart started hemorrhaging money and losing shoppers...also, Wal-Mart was greedy after Sam Walton died, and it's still a despicable place 30 years later. They don't even need to try anymore...

TL:DR Walmart is too greedy and brought down things people loved.

[cpzilliacus]

Related story - WalMart has decided not to build two large stores in the District of Columbia, one of which would have been in a pretty impoverished part of town.

Washington Post: District leaders furious Walmart breaking promise to build stores in poor neighborhoods

Walmart abruptly announced Friday that it was abandoning a promise to build stores in Washington's poorest neighborhoods, an agreement that had been key to the deal allowing the retailer to begin operating in the nation's capital.

The giant retailer cited increasing costs for the new projects and disappointing performance at the three D.C. stores it opened over the past several years. But news that Walmart would pull out of two supercenters planned for east of the Anacostia River, where its wares and jobs are wanted most, shocked D.C. leaders. In one case, the city had already committed $90 million to make a development surrounding one of the stores viable.

"I'm blood mad,"  D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) said at a Friday news conference.

"It's an outrage,"  said former mayor Vincent C. Gray (D), who in 2013 completed the handshake deal for the stores. "This is devastating and disrespectful to the residents of the East End of the District of Columbia."

[jakeroot]

TL:DR Walmart is too greedy and brought down things people loved.

Wal-Mart doesn't force anybody to work for them. What they do provide, however, is a paying job (and they also provide some benefits -- many minimum wage jobs have zero benefits). Is there a career ladder to climb? Probably not. But it's a job, and unlike at a Mom and Pop store, the chances of that paycheck not coming in is slim (though I know that's rather ironic, given the point of this thread, but there's still plenty of other stores).

[kkt]

Wal-Mart doesn't force anybody to work for them.

But they put the other potential employers out of business, so for low skilled labor in a small town there are a lot fewer places to work.

[Pete from Boston]

Some may think its good news that the Mom & Pop buster Wal Mart is cutting back some of their stores.  However, jobs will be lost and its a sad case for one of the big giant stores to actually get into this position.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/wal-mart-to-close-269-stores-globally-1452868122?mod=e2fb

To be honest, Wal-Mart is the reason that they took down K-Mart, which did things that Walmart doesn't want to do, and does them better than what Walmart did. First, Wal-Mart treated their employees like trash. Not with K-Mart. The cycle kept repeating till K-Mart started hemorrhaging money and losing shoppers...also, Wal-Mart was greedy after Sam Walton died, and it's still a despicable place 30 years later. They don't even need to try anymore...

TL:DR Walmart is too greedy and brought down things people loved.

I would like to visit the K-mart where employees' attitudes show that they like their jobs.  They trump even Wal-Mart employees in apparent misery, and that is nothing to be proud of.

Wal-Mart doesn't force anybody to work for them.

But they put the other potential employers out of business, so for low skilled labor in a small town there are a lot fewer places to work.

And fewer places to shop.  Any idiot with a garden knows the perils of monoculture.

[jakeroot]

Wal-Mart doesn't force anybody to work for them.

But they put the other potential employers out of business, so for low skilled labor in a small town there are a lot fewer places to work.

Is there actually any evidence of that? As far as I'm concerned, Wal-Mart's bring jobs to communities who have little other opportunity.

[cl94]

Wal-Mart doesn't force anybody to work for them.

But they put the other potential employers out of business, so for low skilled labor in a small town there are a lot fewer places to work.

Is there actually any evidence of that? As far as I'm concerned, Wal-Mart's bring jobs to communities who have little other opportunity.

Depends on the community. Cornell University did a study of shopping patterns when Walmart moved into Ithaca. Before Walmart opened, those who couldn't afford to shop at the high-priced local shops (i.e. the laborers at Cornell, etc.) went to Cortland or Syracuse once a month to shop at Ames, Kmart, or the closest Walmart. The main people who shopped at the Ithaca location were the same people who traveled far to get cheap goods and the local shops saw little to no decline in sales, because the people who shopped there wouldn't be caught dead in a Walmart. It ended up being a net benefit to Ithaca.

In other places, Walmart killed downtowns, but I wonder how much of that is due to the local places overcharging. If a store is the only place in town that sells something, they're probably going to charge more and pocket the extra profit because there's no competition. Do note that I shop local whenever possible, but on a grad student budget, Walmart often gives me the best bang for my buck. Target really isn't much better, either.

[vdeane]

When WalMart came to Potsdam, a lot of people were vehemently opposed and swore they would never shop there.  They all shop there now.  One of my professors said these people looked rather sheepish when he caught them at WalMart.

[cpzilliacus]

When WalMart came to Potsdam, a lot of people were vehemently opposed and swore they would never shop there.  They all shop there now.  One of my professors said these people looked rather sheepish when he caught them at WalMart.

Similarly, the opposition to WalMart stores in the District of Columbia has been strong and loud. But curiously, there were always plenty of D.C. registered vehicles in the parking lots of WalMart stores within easy driving distance of D.C.

[cl94]

When WalMart came to Potsdam, a lot of people were vehemently opposed and swore they would never shop there.  They all shop there now.  One of my professors said these people looked rather sheepish when he caught them at WalMart.

Similarly, the opposition to WalMart stores in the District of Columbia has been strong and loud. But curiously, there were always plenty of D.C. registered vehicles in the parking lots of WalMart stores within easy driving distance of D.C.

I wonder how much business the one on H Street gets. I meant to head over there to check it out myself when I was in town.

[Duke87]

Similarly, the opposition to WalMart stores in the District of Columbia has been strong and loud. But curiously, there were always plenty of D.C. registered vehicles in the parking lots of WalMart stores within easy driving distance of D.C.

But is it the same people? There's been plenty of strong and loud opposition to WalMart having stores within the limits of NYC (currently there are none), but there are also plenty of NYC residents who have no particular opposition to WalMart and will willingly go there if convenient.

When WalMart came to Potsdam, a lot of people were vehemently opposed and swore they would never shop there.  They all shop there now.  One of my professors said these people looked rather sheepish when he caught them at WalMart.

This is one of those things where peer pressure can be a very strong force. WalMart is oft-maligned for their obnoxious business practices, and in many social circles it is an established expectation that you are supposed to hate them. So either you actually hate them, you keep your mouth shut and nod your head in agreement with everyone saying they hate them, or you face harsh judgment for expressing a heretical opinion.

Because of this, many people are uncomfortable shopping at WalMart simply because they perceive it as taboo. And if other stores are easier to shop at anyway, it's easy to avoid doing so and maintain the taboo.

But then if a new WalMart opens up that is awfully convenient for these people to go to, they are going to be tempted to shop there. Inevitably, many of them will start shopping there because we as a society tend to put convenience before principle. This results in them getting desensitized to the idea, and subsequently it becomes socially acceptable.

[AlexandriaVA]

When WalMart came to Potsdam, a lot of people were vehemently opposed and swore they would never shop there.  They all shop there now.  One of my professors said these people looked rather sheepish when he caught them at WalMart.

Similarly, the opposition to WalMart stores in the District of Columbia has been strong and loud. But curiously, there were always plenty of D.C. registered vehicles in the parking lots of WalMart stores within easy driving distance of D.C.

The logic in your analysis makes my head hurt. In a city of 600K+, you could very well find a large group of people who oppose WalMart, along with a separate and unrelated group of people who shop at the Walmarts in VA and MD. Not say there isn't an overlap, but is that really the best you can come up with?

[noelbotevera]

I'd say that the title of this thread is karma after the death of Sam Walton. His greedy sons caused this, and now that they're beginning to lose some money, which they very much deserve. Now people oppose the brand and hate it...we pretty much have every right to spit on the thing.

[AlexandriaVA]

There aren't any Walmarts in "core" Northern Virginia (Arlington, Alexandria, and significant parts of Northern Virginia). With them abandoning their small-format retail, don't really know where they'd fit into the local retail scheme. Separately, Target has had a small-format store open in Rosslyn for a few months (in addition to their large-format stores in Potomac Yard, Bailey's X-roads, Seven Corners)

[SignGeek101]

They just built one very recently near where I live. It's not that far from another Wal-Mart in the area. Not sure why they even built it.

[froggie]

There aren't any Walmarts in "core" Northern Virginia (Arlington, Alexandria, and significant parts of Northern Virginia).

If by "core", you mean inside the Beltway, then no there aren't.  But there are two WalMarts along Route 1 in southeast Fairfax County (including a newer one at Penn Daw, less than 2 miles from the Beltway), plus another in Kingstowne.

[Pete from Boston]

For all the railing against Walmart that goes on, it's unfortunate that more of it is not directed at the generally dingy stores, gloomy air among the employees, and general lack of investment in a happy shopping experience. These are trade-offs that people without a lot of money should not have to make.

A few years ago, when I had finally been to maybe five Walmarts (they are a relatively recent phenomenon in this part of the country), I emailed the company and explained to them that the employees never seemed particularly happy.  I was told that they could only address my issue if I framed it in the form of a particular complaint regarding a particular incident at a particular store.

[1995hoo]

There aren't any Walmarts in "core" Northern Virginia (Arlington, Alexandria, and significant parts of Northern Virginia).

If by "core", you mean inside the Beltway, then no there aren't.  But there are two WalMarts along Route 1 in southeast Fairfax County (including a newer one at Penn Daw, less than 2 miles from the Beltway), plus another in Kingstowne.

That's about a half a mile from my house walking distance (maybe a mile by car due to street layout). It was already there when I moved to this house in 2001. I seldom go there, in part because it's always very crowded, but one thing I have always noticed, going all the way back to when I moved here, is a version of what cpzilliacus notes–there are always loads of cars parked there with DC and especially Maryland plates. I don't know whether or where there are Wal-Marts in PG County, but I suspect that's the origin of most of the Maryland-plated cars.

[froggie]

Only two inside or near the Beltway:  one off Branch Ave in Clinton, and other in Bladensburg.  But given the opening of the WalMart in Penn Daw about 4-5 years ago, I would expect most of the MD-plated folks are going there instead of Kingstowne now...

[oscar]

For all the railing against Walmart that goes on, it's unfortunate that more of it is not directed at the generally dingy stores, gloomy air among the employees, and general lack of investment in a happy shopping experience. These are trade-offs that people without a lot of money should not have to make.

So how much would prices go up, to provide a "happy shopping experience"?

People without a lot of money might forgo the "happy shopping experience" to save money, and they should not be lightly denied that option. So would some people like me, who have more money but would like to keep it that way. (Not that Wal-Marts are easy to get to where I live, inside I-495 in Virginia, so I usually shop there only when I'm already outside the Beltway for some other reason.)

Then again, shopping is something I do when I have to. It's not something I enjoy, even at the pricier stores.

[Brandon]

What's lost in this is that 102 of those 154 stores being close in the US were a convenience store/dollar store experiment called "Walmart Express".  Apparently Walmart decided that they shouldn't be in that particular business.  That means only 52 Walmarts of any kind (supercenter, standard, or neighborhood market) other than the experiment opened in 2011 are being closed in the US.

[jeffandnicole]

A lot is made of small businesses closing due to Wal-Mart. If everyone had great experiences with these small businesses, they would continue going to them even if they paid a little more, as so many people claim. Several years ago, 2 Wal-Mart's opened up in the town next to me. I can't think of a single small business that suffered in the general area. If anything, they succeeded due to the additional traffic.  Of the ones I frequent, they have very good customer service.

And that may be the key. I've seen small businesses where they treat you great, and others where the owners and employees are grumpy and don't want to spend the time to help you out. When other options come along, those grumpy owners become even grumpier.  The pleasant stores continue to do well.

[cl94]

Only two inside or near the Beltway:  one off Branch Ave in Clinton, and other in Bladensburg.  But given the opening of the WalMart in Penn Daw about 4-5 years ago, I would expect most of the MD-plated folks are going there instead of Kingstowne now...

There's one at H and 1st NW

[roadman65]

One thing I could sure say about Wal Mart, one store can effect the commute of many daily motorists as it can add so much traffic to the roads leading to and around the store.

In my neighborhood a Wal Mart Neighborhood Market opened a few years back and now because of this. we have a new signal that backs up traffic for at least two signal cycles.  Before the store opened the stretch of roadway around the store was completely free flowing.  Now with the signal in full operation, from the day it was installed and turned on causes a standstill for traffic where it used to flow at 40 mph or better.

Not to mention Orange County, Florida does not know how to time signals properly of to coordinate them all to work properly does not help either.  While the company that owns Wal Mart is making money, the rest of us are polluting the environment and having to add fifteen or more minutes to our daily commutes all because of a business decision by some people in a board room.