Would America be better off without superstores and large retail chains?

[Padgett2]

I just bought four pieces of clothing at an up-scale store. It was a sale and I got them for a price similar to what Walmart would have. All I have to do is wait to winter to wear them. Two were from China, One from Indonesia and One from Taiwan.

It took just the same amount of shipping and warehousing to get them to the better store as it did to get to Walmart.

[Bellinghamite]

Originally Posted by Dingler

I am old enough to remember the good old days where there was few if any:

Mega-stores (Target, Walmart Home-depot, Lowes, Borders, etc)
Chain Restaurants (TGIF, Ruby Tuesdays, Bennigans, etc)
Huge Indoor Malls

My parents tell me those were the "good old days" Food was better at the restaurants, service better at the stores, people made more money in retail and were proud to be working there and people shopped Downtown.

Now days thousands of acres of woods and wetlands have been tore down for these huge long retail strips and mega stores. People have forgotten what good food is and are use to eating frozen food at these generic chain restaurants. It seems like a waste.

What do you think about the mega stores and chains taking over all restaruants and retail?

I agree with your parents. And it's high time the public sector stepped in an put a stop to this madness euphemistically called "growth."

[rowlett mom]

I don't see the problem with the big box stores. Most americans live in suburbia where it would be a problem to shop in the downtown area of the big city. The big box stores employe lots of people from the communities they are in, more than any small mom and pop retailer could dream of.
You can usually count on being able to find the products you are looking for on an consistant basis too. In most suburbs and cities even though the big box stores look similar, there are other retail outlets usually unique to the area that give that town its flavor. Would you count Whole Foods as a big box chain and if not why? They are everywhere now. I would not want to go back to mom and pop stores. I remember going grocery shopping with my grandmother in the south. There was one grocry store to choose from and it was awful. They knew they were the only game in town and did not try to improve the quality of the food they sold, nor the variety. There are more people now and they have to live someplace. Most people do not want to live in a densly populated area. Most people don't want to drive a long distance to get groceries. Thus you are going to have growth and sprawl.
My wish with sprawl is that more green space would be included with plans and it would be desirable instead of what was going on in the 60's and 70's.
Just dreaming here but it would be nice if more companies would allow telecommuting. That would certainly solve a lot of problems.

[rowlett mom]

another note, it would be great if these big box stores could be stocked with more american made products. I don't think the mom and pop stores are doing that very well either.

[Katlakat]

I understand having those type of stores outside of a large city where shopping is hard to do with traffic and skyscrapers. However, these chains are flooding and taking over the small communities now.

And why can't these things be American made? Everyone seems to be closing down and going overseas-its really sad. And our economy is suffering. Car lots closed in our area, two mom and pop stores closed, and of course, a Super Walmart is going up behind our only little grocery store in town. What is Wal mart going to do in these communities that are already depleting? When there is no one left to buy their merchandise because jobs have all gone?

I'm sure we'll find out, in our lifetime, very soon unfortunately. And I'm sure not everyone will be forced to work at Walmart-just to spend their paychecks giving it back to them. Everyone will leave town once the last of the businesses close.

[gardener34]

I also don't like that you go into a store and there is no floor help. This trend started about 10 years ago and it is terrible. When I worked retail every department had at least 1 or 2 people whose job it was to be floor help - help the customer with any questions. Not anymore.

For the meager salaries they are paying the retail help, the big box corps should be able to staff a few people to be customer service at least.... unless they do and these people are hiding in the stock rooms?

At least in the mom and pop hardware, there is always someone there to interface with. I shop there whenever possible... although alot of their stuff is made in china too. No escaping that, as that is another issue...

[Xpat]

I also miss the time when sales people knew something about the product they were selling, not to mention that you could usually get something serviced where you bought it. I think Sears and a few others are the only ones still doing business this way.