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WalMart is "Going Urban" with New Stores

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Started 1 year ago by Walker
Latest reply from vestanpance

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somertimeoh
Harrison West
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Every vendor supplying Fortune 500 companies gets bullied in to razor thin margins. I'd be happy if I had ANY margin on the majority of products I sell to a company most people on this board interact with numerous times a day. If you think this type of practice is unique to WalMart, you're mistaken. I don't shop at WalMart on a regular basis for many reasons, but it has less to do with them and more to do with me and my needs - close to home, small store so I can get in and out easy, etc. The reasons people use to publicly chastise them could be said about every Big Box retailer out there. WalMart just got the brunt of it because it's the biggest and has the most recognizable stereotypes attached.

I remember as a kid KMart was the crappy place and WalMart was the new, fancy place. My town still only has one Target so customer base is mostly just split based on geography. I'm sure there's just as much white trash floating around Target because it's in the older part of town.

There are multiple brandings of WalMart. In my parent's area they have these things called WalMart Neighborhood Markets. They are smaller and green instead of blue and the buildings look a lot more like the rendering than the standard cement block looking slab that everyone thinks of. They look like Whole Foods from the inside out.

It is a luxury to have choices about where to shop. Many people on government assistance need that money to spread as thin as possible. The allure of paying a quarter for a roll of TP vs a buck, $1.50 for milk vs $3, $2 for cereal vs $4, etc. means something.

Posted 1 year ago #
NEOBuckeye
Ohio At-Large
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osulew wrote >>
I'd go for an urban Target but not a Wal-Mart.

I'd also vote for Target over Wal-Mart. But home-grown, IMHO, trumps them both.

Posted 1 year ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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osulew wrote >>
I'd go for an urban Target but not a Wal-Mart.

Same here, though it's more about my own tastes in product selection, customer service, and personal preference more than any sort of big-box taboo associated with Wal-Mart. That being said, I'm sure I'd shop in a Downtown Wal-Mart from time to time if one were to set up there. The North Market doesn't sell diapers, and it's far from practical to buy them from CVS.

I think the most important factor in this story is that WalMart is willing to play nice with the requests of Downtown commissions and neighbors and other city officials. If they're willing to decrease their footprint, increase their wages, create a store that blends into the fabric of an urban environment and commit funding to local charities, I think that helps to negate a lot of the negative image that people have with Wal-Mart.

And while I don't have any data in front of me, or examples to point to, I have to imagine that a strategically placed Wal-Mart *might* have a positive impact on adjacent Downtown retailers. If foottraffic can be projected outward in some capacity and not internalized in a "park-your-car-go-in-wal-mart-go-back-out-to-your-car-nothing-else" configuration (the problem with the city center which devastated nearby retailers), we could end up with something that could spur additional small business development. I'd love to see a building that not only houses Wal-Mart, but additional small retail bays along their normally big blank exterior facade that can capture some of the foot traffic they're likely to draw.

Something worth considering anyway... if WalMart is looking to play ball...

Posted 1 year ago #
RoundTowner
Miranova
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thegenerallee wrote >>
I, for one, am against it. Ever since I saw a piece online about how Wal-Mart bullies companies into giving them products for lower prices I refuse to shop there. One documentary I recently watched showed how Wal-Mart makes a lot of promises to the community when planning to build then ultimately results in the small, family / locally owned businesses closing up shop because of Wal-Mart moving in. I don't look for reasons to dislike Wal-Mart but they're practically handing out reasons.
Support the USA people. Quit buying from a place that sells nothing but goods imported from factories in China.
@surber17 If you lived downtown what would you need that you couldn't find at one of the stores located downtown? It's got hardware stores, clothing stores, and loads of places to get food. Sure it may not be as cheap as Wal-Mart but for me I would rather pay a little bit more and support a local business. I'm not trying to force an opinion or say you should agree with me. Just throwing out some food for thought.
During the 1920's, Woolworths did the EXACT same thing, then Lazarus and Federated Dept stores had the same practices during their rein, its nothing new and will probably never go away.

Posted 1 year ago #
JoeMitchell

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as stated by somertimeoh, there is very little difference between target and walmart in terms of relationships with employees and suppliers/source of goods

Walmart has better employee benefits

Target gets a pass for being chic

They are both great places to purchase toiletries and socks

Posted 1 year ago #
Coy
Discovery District
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Uhg. I just threw up a little bit.

Walmart has pushed out a ton of small business around the country, monopolized their locations with an overabundance of chinese junk, then turned around and paid the workers a lousy wage.
They do their most damage in rural areas.
I one played a gig way down in West Virginia, and we passed a Walmart... not TWO MILES down the road... ANOTHER WALMART. And there was nothing else around but empty shells of buildings where a small downtown used to be.
My bandmates have similar stories about rural southern Ohio and how the Walmart moved in and the town was a mess a couple of years later.

My last experience with Walmart was a single purchase of tires for my truck.
I hadn't bought anything from the big W for a LONG time, and I figured, whet the heck, its tires right?
I went to the one in Reynoldsburg and they didn't balance them right. Next day, I went to the one on Morse Rd (by my work) and they told me they wouldn't balance them.. (bad hillbilly drawl) "well, you didn't buy them HERE now did you...".
I ended up having to drive the 20 miles to the original store to get it fixed.
I tried dealing with store management, and they were the most evasive and ignorant bunch of losers I have ever dealt with... They don't give an eff... they're WALMART.
I will NEVER, EVER go back.

Now, there are plenty of good folks working for Walmart, but how long is the cheap junk gonna flow, really? When it finally hits the fan, the bigger we allow this weed to get, the more its gonna leave a mess in its wake.
Is it smart to teach our people to constantly consume large amounts of low cost (due to chinese workers and their lousy pay/conditions) goods as a benefit for being American?
If we didn't have such a thirst for cheap crap, then maybe we'd still have manufacturing work in this country.
How bout we pay more for something made well BY Americans, so they can afford to shop somewhere else?

No Walmart downtown!

Get me a Trader Joe's instead!
THAT's a company that treats its people right!

Posted 1 year ago #
somertimeoh
Harrison West
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Visuals for you all - which goes with which?

Posted 1 year ago #
gramarye
In Exile
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Pretty sure the bottom picture is inside the Wal-Mart. I recognize the font, though not well enough to identify it by name and proceed to deride it as amateurish.

Posted 1 year ago #
CheeseFoodie
Harrison West
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+1 to Trader Joes! I can see Somer's point for the most part; however, the OH town I grew up in now has a Walmart supercenter, meaning no other choices and the historic downtown area is now basically a ghost town. I'm really not in favor of Walmart being anywhere downtown.

Posted 1 year ago #
gramarye
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RoundTowner wrote >>

thegenerallee wrote >>
I, for one, am against it. Ever since I saw a piece online about how Wal-Mart bullies companies into giving them products for lower prices I refuse to shop there. One documentary I recently watched showed how Wal-Mart makes a lot of promises to the community when planning to build then ultimately results in the small, family / locally owned businesses closing up shop because of Wal-Mart moving in. I don't look for reasons to dislike Wal-Mart but they're practically handing out reasons.
Support the USA people. Quit buying from a place that sells nothing but goods imported from factories in China.
@surber17 If you lived downtown what would you need that you couldn't find at one of the stores located downtown? It's got hardware stores, clothing stores, and loads of places to get food. Sure it may not be as cheap as Wal-Mart but for me I would rather pay a little bit more and support a local business. I'm not trying to force an opinion or say you should agree with me. Just throwing out some food for thought.

During the 1920's, Woolworths did the EXACT same thing, then Lazarus and Federated Dept stores had the same practices during their rein, its nothing new and will probably never go away.

I don't even understand the objections to this. Since when do manufacturers and distributors have some God-given right to be able to dictate terms to retailers?

Wal-Mart's business model involves "bullying" suppliers into selling for less so that Wal-Mart can turn around and sell the exact same products for less. In other words, some of the savings are retained by Wal-Mart as profit, but much is also passed on to the consumer. Wal-Mart's own profit margins are pretty thin. It's not exactly a great corporate secret that it's a volume seller.

Posted 1 year ago #
somertimeoh
Harrison West
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Doesn't seem like any big box is really beating down the doors to get in to downtown Columbus right now, so all this I'd rather have _____ over _____ seems silly (even though I admit to saying it myself a few times when I thought things might be different).

When was the last time you saw a mom and pop clothing store downtown or anywhere for that matter? I'm not talking high end boutique stuff, a la TT or those fancy denim places. I'm talking a place to take your kids to get school clothes or a pair of jeans you can wash and not cry. Why isn't everyone lining up outside of Les Wexner's house asking for heads to roll. Psssst, I think most of that shit comes from China too. What about Best Buy and all the locally owned electronic stores that no longer exist? Pretty sure we're looking at China there too. Or Home Depot that took out everyone but Zettler's (though I bet most of his inventory isn't made in the USA either!!). How do you make one evil in your head, but not the rest?

I honestly believe this argument has about 10% to do with some sort of moral code and 90% to do with not wanting to mingle with the mullets and house shoes worn in public.

Posted 1 year ago #
somertimeoh
Harrison West
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gramarye wrote >>
Pretty sure the bottom picture is inside the Wal-Mart. I recognize the font, though not well enough to identify it by name and proceed to deride it as amateurish.

haha, as long as it's not papyrus I thought we were all good ;)

Posted 1 year ago #
JoeMitchell

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somertimeoh wrote >>
Doesn't seem like any big box is really beating down the doors to get in to downtown Columbus right now, so all this I'd rather have _____ over _____ seems silly (even though I admit to saying it myself a few times when I thought things might be different).
When was the last time you saw a mom and pop clothing store downtown or anywhere for that matter? I'm not talking high end boutique stuff, a la TT or those fancy denim places. I'm talking a place to take your kids to get school clothes or a pair of jeans you can wash and not cry. Why isn't everyone lining up outside of Les Wexner's house asking for heads to roll. Psssst, I think most of that shit comes from China too. What about Best Buy and all the locally owned electronic stores that no longer exist? Pretty sure we're looking at China there too. Or Home Depot that took out everyone but Zettler's (though I bet most of his inventory isn't made in the USA either!!). How do you make one evil in your head, but not the rest?
I honestly believe this argument has about 10% to do with some sort of moral code and 90% to do with not wanting to mingle with the mullets and house shoes worn in public.

ding, ding, ding; winner winner chicken dinner

Posted 1 year ago #
gramarye
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somertimeoh wrote >>
I honestly believe this argument has about 10% to do with some sort of moral code and 90% to do with not wanting to mingle with the mullets and house shoes worn in public.

That would be a justification for why someone would make the personal choice not to shop at Wal-Mart. It makes no sense at all as a justification for trying to drive Wal-Mart away entirely. Someone like that should want a Wal-Mart around so that the unwashed masses have somewhere else to shop while the enlightened urbanite pays the hefty premium to shop at Whole Foods and Trader Joe's and Williams-Sonoma.

Maybe they just don't want that kind of person in their neighborhood at all.

Posted 1 year ago #
gramarye
In Exile
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somertimeoh wrote >>

gramarye wrote >>
Pretty sure the bottom picture is inside the Wal-Mart. I recognize the font, though not well enough to identify it by name and proceed to deride it as amateurish.

haha, as long as it's not papyrus I thought we were all good ;)

Could be Comic Sans, too.

Also, in the Wal-Mart, there's a lot more open space--the aisles and the spacings between the displays are wider because they anticipate a higher sustained volume of foot traffic. I can't see how wide the aisle is on the top one, obviously, but the spacing between the displays and the bakery/deli counters along the walls is fairly wide on the bottom one.

Posted 1 year ago #
somertimeoh
Harrison West
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You're such a lawyer!! ;)

ETA: Wider aisles is a selling point for new Whole Foods locations. Just sayin', lol.

Posted 1 year ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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Coy wrote >>
Walmart has pushed out a ton of small business around the country, monopolized their locations with an overabundance of chinese junk, then turned around and paid the workers a lousy wage.
They do their most damage in rural areas.

That doesn't necessarily mean that they'd have the same effect with a very different store model in an urban environment. I think it would at least be worth considering/studying.

somertimeoh wrote >>
Doesn't seem like any big box is really beating down the doors to get in to downtown Columbus right now, so all this I'd rather have _____ over _____ seems silly (even though I admit to saying it myself a few times when I thought things might be different).

Right, and that wasn't really my point with starting this thread. I do however think that if Walmart *is* currently beating down the doors to get into urban Chicago, then Columbus may be as close as 5 years down the road. Just something to think about.

Posted 1 year ago #
somertimeoh
Harrison West
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Oh I'm with ya, and I think everyone (hopefully?) would agree that if Wal-Mart were to come, that pretty rendering would be way better than the typical design :)

Posted 1 year ago #
CheeseFoodie
Harrison West
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I wouldn't consider Trader Joe's to be a "hefty premium" place, I shop there because of the quality and the low prices. Williams-Sonoma? I guess they do have some food-stuffs but not sure that's a good "shopping" fit for the "enlightened urbanites". And yes, not a ton of any types of stores looking to open a new joint downtown, but Grandview Yard, Parsons, Westland area, maybe.

Posted 1 year ago #
JoeMitchell

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Coy wrote >>
Uhg. I just threw up a little bit.
Walmart has pushed out a ton of small business around the country, monopolized their locations with an overabundance of chinese junk, then turned around and paid the workers a lousy wage.
They do their most damage in rural areas.
I one played a gig way down in West Virginia, and we passed a Walmart... not TWO MILES down the road... ANOTHER WALMART. And there was nothing else around but empty shells of buildings where a small downtown used to be.
My bandmates have similar stories about rural southern Ohio and how the Walmart moved in and the town was a mess a couple of years later.
My last experience with Walmart was a single purchase of tires for my truck.
I hadn't bought anything from the big W for a LONG time, and I figured, whet the heck, its tires right?
I went to the one in Reynoldsburg and they didn't balance them right. Next day, I went to the one on Morse Rd (by my work) and they told me they wouldn't balance them.. (bad hillbilly drawl) "well, you didn't buy them HERE now did you...".
I ended up having to drive the 20 miles to the original store to get it fixed.
I tried dealing with store management, and they were the most evasive and ignorant bunch of losers I have ever dealt with... They don't give an eff... they're WALMART.
I will NEVER, EVER go back.
Now, there are plenty of good folks working for Walmart, but how long is the cheap junk gonna flow, really? When it finally hits the fan, the bigger we allow this weed to get, the more its gonna leave a mess in its wake.
Is it smart to teach our people to constantly consume large amounts of low cost (due to chinese workers and their lousy pay/conditions) goods as a benefit for being American?
If we didn't have such a thirst for cheap crap, then maybe we'd still have manufacturing work in this country.
How bout we pay more for something made well BY Americans, so they can afford to shop somewhere else?
No Walmart downtown!
Get me a Trader Joe's instead!
THAT's a company that treats its people right!

I would never let Walmart touch my car. Tires are fairly critical to a car's performance/safety, but most people have the mindset "it's just tires", which besides brakes are only the most important part. One can actually get a better deal by ordering online and having them shipped to your local tech shop. If you have to get tires immediately DiscountTire I believe has the highest rating amongst the corporate/franchise tire shops.

I would never purchase a Walmart service, hope you didn't have them change fluids.

But if there is a better place to buy cat litter, toothpaste, hula hoop, bubbles, barbies, bbq tongs, charcoal, lawn fertilizer, automotive oil, (not filters however and change it yourself), tampons, toilet paper, laundry detergent, swimming diapers, batteries, and a replacement mop head at 05:30 please advise.

If I ever need a little kick in the pants, a boost in self esteem, some personal motivation, I take a stroll through Walmart, works like a charm.

Posted 1 year ago #