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Thread ID: 83800	2007-10-13 23:46:00	Wal-Mart On The Skids?	SurferJoe46 (51)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
601146	2007-10-13 23:46:00	The Wal-Mart era, the retailer's time of overwhelming business and social influence in America, is drawing to a close . LINK ( . moneycentral . msn . com/Investing/Extra/TheEndOfTheWalMartEra . aspx?GT1=10522" target="_blank">articles . moneycentral . msn . com) Sorry for the MSN link guys . I personally think Wal-Mart has been ruthless and mean in the retail market, although it kept inflation to a gentle roar here in the US . They killed competition and mom-n-pop stores and individuals who had been in business for decades with a single head-lop . With cheap Chinese goods (bads?) on the shelves, seconds and blems and bad seams and poor quality it makes me wonder who is getting the good stuff?	SurferJoe46 (51)
601147	2007-10-13 23:51:00	Not us, Our version stocks even worse crap.	Metla (12)
601148	2007-10-13 23:52:00	www.jibjab.com	somebody (208)
601149	2007-10-14 07:11:00	I personally think Wal-Mart has been ruthless and mean in the retail market, They killed competition and mom-n-pop stores and individuals who had been in business for decades with a single head-lop . Nope . They just opened the doors . All you lot went in and bought stuff off them instead of going to the mom and pop stores . Otherwise they would have gone broke .	pctek (84)
601150	2007-10-14 15:45:00	Nope . They just opened the doors . All you lot went in and bought stuff off them instead of going to the mom and pop stores . Otherwise they would have gone broke . C'mon, PC . . . it's CANDY and a Disneyland atmosphere that gets the looky-loos into the place . Just one trip into the sanctum gets people hooked . . . lots of sparkle, low prices . . even to the point of loss-leaders that the store has to make up on by holding a higher profit margin on some staple like bread/milk/eggs etc . I bought a Sandisk Sansa c240 there for $49 . 95 when it sells everywhere else for $79 . 95 . Did Wal-Mart lose money? Nope . . . they made it up on the cd's and foodstuffs that I bought in other departments . . if not that trip, the subsequent trips to Wally-World . Even if they just broke even on me, there were thousands of others they made $$ off . Did I feel personally treated? Nope . I was flashed, amazed, inundated and checked-out with maybe a corporate-required smile and shuffled to my car thru a security door with RF detectors to minimize "shrinkage" and went home to enjoy my purchases . On the other hand, I go to a few mom-n-pops and they know my name, greet me, make sure that I find what I want and am offered items that might do the job better or for less money and told to return anything that doesn't fit my need . It wasn't a dog and pony show . . . I was treated to personal care and felt better about it . Get this: If I can't find what I need at that store, the merchant isn't afraid to tell me where it might be available . . even if it's a competitor's store . Not that Wal-Mart didn't have the same return-of-goods policy in place . . . I just have to ASSUME that it does as no-one told me . . . they didn't even know or want to know my name . They just want my money . On to and about the quality of the stuff I see in Wal-Mart, Target, K-Mart et al . 1) seams that aren't lockstitched 2) patterns that run crooked in the prints or weave 3) color differences from different sized piles of the same article 4) mis-sized items 5) threads hanging out of seams in shoes and "leather-like" goods 6) odd-named and strange misspelled brand names that look like the real thing 7) Made In China Now . . I can understand number 7, but all the rest leaves me to wonder "if these are the best goods that these stores are proffering, then who's getting the better goods . . the FIRSTS and non-blems and non-imperfects? Where can I buy a shirt at a decent price that has the same pattern on the right side as the left and I don't have to stand slightly twisted to one side to look level? Where are the stacks of 32x33 slacks all the same size sold? What store has real brand names? What store has "Made in (insert country of interest here)" items for sale, supporting the local artisans and designers and manufacturers?	SurferJoe46 (51)
601151	2007-10-14 16:47:00	I really hope Wal-Mart does go bankrupt... They are ruining America's small business economy and forcing those who wish to become entrepreneurs to settle, and work in someone else's already established business... Good riddence to wal-mart... or as I like to say Wal-Marx, always corporate greed, always and joe, in response to your post... It's the stupidity of humans that think a flashy banner is something good, people are too stupid, that from an observing point of view, we all look like a bunch of dumb animals, which truly supports the Charles Darwin theory of evolution.	DigitalMessiah (7649)
601152	2007-10-14 17:18:00	Wal-Mart, Warehouse, K-Mart ... People will go where they can get what they want cheaply. Why should someone spend $5 extra for a name-brand item when they can go to one of the above stores and get something of slightly lesser quality, cheaper? Some people can't afford the name brands, so have to shop at the above stores, but most people are simply just too tight	Myth (110)
601153	2007-10-14 17:23:00	Perhaps most people need to stop mooching off our government with welfare checks, and get a job, Most of you aren't in america, most of you probably have never been to america, but I live there, I was born here, and this country is going to hell in a hand basket, with immigrants polluting our country, our government raising taxes, our president a complete idiot. Things don't go well for us, I will however say, as for now, Wal-Mart is great for the poor folk, but the poor folk need to get off their bums	DigitalMessiah (7649)
601154	2007-10-14 17:58:00	Even if Wal-Mart went bust, one of the other big-box retailers would just pick up the slack where they left off. Target, K-Mart, Costco, etc. etc.	somebody (208)
601155	2007-10-14 21:04:00	Wal-Mart, Warehouse, K-Mart ... Why should someone spend $5 extra for a name-brand item when they can go to one of the above stores and get something of slightly lesser quality, cheaper? Some people can't afford the name brands, so have to shop at the above stores, but most people are simply just too tight Some people don't think. At all. $5? $30? Big deal. They walk off all pleased because they got a "bargain". Too bad if its cheap and nasty crap. Buy another one. Which if they thought about it, isn't economical. How long did your grandparents and parents keep things for? Compared with you? They don't think what happens to the local stores. They don't think what happens to local manufacturing. Or to the jobs all that provided. Hell no, just buy, buy, buy. Most of it you don't even need it anyway. I still have a CRT TV. I still have a CRT monitor. I don't need widescreen plasma LCD whatever. Take a look at the "essential" crap you are supposed to need nowdays. Patio heaters for instance. Whats that about? Hurrying along global warming? Its cold, go inside. BBQs that look like industrial kitchen appliances. Whats wrong with a few bricks and a bundle of wood? So don't whinge and moan about these stores taking over when you are the reason they succeeded.	pctek (84)
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