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At the Walmart near me, there are 2 mom&pop stores, one is new, the other relocated there from not to far away. I spoke to the owners of both stores, and the relocated one said that business has never been better, that the influx of consumers to Walmart brought extra business to them. The new business also has a steady clientele. Both felt they had gotten excellent leases from Walmart, who owns the outbuildings.
And what happens to those Mom and Pops when Walmart decides that your city is no longer profitable, moves out and jacks up the lease? Nothing like having all of your eggs in one basket!
This is highly debatable and by far not the case in all locales. Walmart is notoriously predatory in the placement of its outlets.
It's not debatable in the case of Lafayette, Colorado. There was no downtown to destroy when Wal Mart moved in. Wal Mart revitialized the town.
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Health care is expensive, and again, should not be the burden of the private business community to provide IMO. Mom and Pops have far fewer resources than the big boys, naturally, but is this a reason to just hand in the towel, give it all up to the big boys and submit to their "corporate mono culture" dictatorship, heads bowed? Not in my book.
We don't have any type of univesal health care in this country. Most people get their health care through their employer.
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I've worked for many mom and pops up through the years, and with what I've gained from them, no benefit package at Walmart could ever replace. Mom and pops taught me enduring self-sufficiency skills and values to last three lifetimes. Mom and pops taught me to be independent, entrepreneurial and to think on my own. They taught me how to save and reuse, how to negotiate, and how to pick myself up and deal with the punishments of bad business decisions. They taught me the rewards of hard work and determination, to believe in my own ideas, and that it's ok to admit, "I can't work for anyone else." They taught me how to become a mom and pop, and in so many respects -- how to be free!
So now as a mom and pop, I provide MY OWN health insurance, and I don't need to trade in my independence and freedom for a blue vest, happy face button and fake smile to join the punch-clock slaves at Walmart. Not yet anyway! By killing the local economy, Walmart robs us all of the opportunities described above.
That's a very interesting take on it, to say the least. Most of the criticism about WM is that they don't provide adequate benefits, e.g. health insurance. As if other retailers do. If you can pay for your own, you must be doing pretty well. You have to put on a fake smile for most any people business. I have seen the docs I work for complain about a patient, then go in the room and act happy to see them.
If I can live without darkening the doorstep of ____-marts... anyone can. Perhaps I'm a little different in that I don't need to fill my garage and every imaginable storage space in my house with all the "essential" elements of life that Wal-mart provides...
Who can honestly say that the crap Wal-mart carries is ESSENTIAL to life??? Anyone?
Well, they carry food. They carry clothing. They carry diapers. They carry lightbulbs (probably not "essential", but very useful to have). They carry automobile necessities (oil, tires, batteries, etc.). I think you get the drift.
Do they carry a lot of things that aren't essential? Sure. So does Whole Foods, come to that. So do most stores, including Mom & Pop ones.
If I can live without darkening the doorstep of ____-marts... anyone can. Perhaps I'm a little different in that I don't need to fill my garage and every imaginable storage space in my house with all the "essential" elements of life that Wal-mart provides...
Who can honestly say that the crap Wal-mart carries is ESSENTIAL to life??? Anyone?
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Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady
Well, they carry food. They carry clothing. They carry diapers. They carry lightbulbs (probably not "essential", but very useful to have). They carry automobile necessities (oil, tires, batteries, etc.). I think you get the drift.
Do they carry a lot of things that aren't essential? Sure. So does Whole Foods, come to that. So do most stores, including Mom & Pop ones.
THL, I wish I could give you more rep, but I have to spread the love around. H***, yes. Today I went to Walgreen's to get some totally unnecessary to life graduation cards. That store is full of stuff that no one needs: make-up, dozens of different soaps and shampoos, flip-flops, etc, in addition to hundreds of OTC meds that are totally useless (that WM sells as well). I don't understand why some of the self-righteous poeple on this thread make Wal Mart out to be such an abomination. I think places like Victoria's Secret, Bath and Body Works, Claire's Boutique (where my kids like to shop), are far worse for selling useless junk. Target has loads of unnecessary items. I wonder if some of these people have ever been IN a Wal Mart.
I don't understand why some of the self-righteous poeple on this thread make Wal Mart out to be such an abomination.
Before this turns into a flame war, why are you resorting to name calling? Just because some don't share your love of big-box retailers is no reason to call them (us) "self righteous."
Walmart wrote the book on driving others out of business on the grand scale that they do, that's why Walmart gets so much flack. It's not just on the retail level that Walmart is so destructive to other businesses, but on the supply-chain side too. Please understand the consequences when Walmart drives long-standing American manufacturers out of business, laying off hundreds of people and bankrupting whole towns as a result. Maybe this isn't a problem for you, but it is for some of us. Just as easily as you called "us" self righteous, I could call you "uninformed," but I won't. We disagree, just leave it there. That said, you just might learn something here:
THL, I wish I could give you more rep, but I have to spread the love around. H***, yes. Today I went to Walgreen's to get some totally unnecessary to life graduation cards. That store is full of stuff that no one needs: make-up, dozens of different soaps and shampoos, flip-flops, etc, in addition to hundreds of OTC meds that are totally useless (that WM sells as well). I don't understand why some of the self-righteous poeple on this thread make Wal Mart out to be such an abomination. I think places like Victoria's Secret, Bath and Body Works, Claire's Boutique (where my kids like to shop), are far worse for selling useless junk. Target has loads of unnecessary items. I wonder if some of these people have ever been IN a Wal Mart.
You're right, there is no shortage of "garbage" out there in the stores. Walmart just puts a face on the problem. Because they are so aggressive in the sheer physical size of their stores and their locations (many locations close together in a city) and their ability to have such competitive prices, they are the place to go for many Americans.
Since they hold such influence over a large group of people, they could be leaders in responsible merchandising, but then I guess Walmart wouldn't be Walmart .
[quote=cre8;3856957] Moderator cut: edit: let's just let it go, no need to keep the argument going
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Originally Posted by mommabear2
It depends on what you are shopping for...
If I can live without darkening the doorstep of ____-marts... anyone can. Perhaps I'm a little different in that I don't need to fill my garage and every imaginable storage space in my house with all the "essential" elements of life that Wal-mart provides...
OK, so maybe some people can live without food, toilet paper, cleaning supplies and the like. To assume that the rest of us are "filling our garages and every imaginable space in our houses with Wal Mart merchandise" is self-righteous, among other things.
Last edited by riveree; 05-23-2008 at 09:45 PM..
Reason: Personal attacks are against the TOS
OK, so maybe some people can live without food, toilet paper, cleaning supplies and the like. To assume that the rest of us are "filling our garages and every imaginable space in our houses with Wal Mart merchandise" is self-righteous, among other things.
Moderator cut: edit: please don't fan the flames In my local walmart, there is a large pattern and fabric dept with the sewing machines to put it all together into clothes. It has food and the utensils to cook it with. It has sporting goods, electronics, a pharmacy, a bank, an opthamologist, clothes, groceries, and toys. I don't need to buy guns or Barbies for myself, but that doesn't mean that other folks don't consider those things necessary and non-frivolous.
+/- 85,000 sq ft. . Wal-mart manages to pack their stores in with +/- 85,000 sq ft of unnecessary items (you can't compare mom and pop stores/whole foods, it doesn't even come close) - (buying their new clothing is not essential - you could go to secondhand store for that... which, is green... buying new clothing made in China, not green). They cater to America's need to buy, buy, buy... (doesn't the USA have a 2% savings rate? The lowest of any industrialized nation - yup, we buy too many "essentials"). I mean, come on, mass consumerism (or endorsing it) is NOT green. There's greener choices for essentials.
I can see if one lives in the sticks that Wal-mart might be necessary. I'm sure there's some communities that they have helped, but when a company gets really big... their environmental impact gets bigger - more land is taken for buildings, more energy is used for basic operations, more products are produced to fill the shelves (which helps the economy of multiple countries BUT at the expense of the environment). I'm not saying we should boycott all big companies but by their very nature they consume more and pollute more - those of us who support these companies become part of the equation.
I like my mom and pop stores - are they green? Compared to Wal-mart... yes. For one, the stores I frequent carry food etc. that's locally manufactured, that's hard to do. Another reason, they consume less energy in day-to-day operations, they are in smaller buildings (how many bulldozers does it take to knock down/clear the area of a Wal-mart building).
Being green takes effort - that means: buying less, buying local, buying second hand, using less energy directly/indirectly, not purchasing/reduce purchasing products that are taxing on the environment, etc. - Wal-mart is not the embodiment of any of these things.
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Not yet anyway! By killing the local economy, Walmart robs us all of the opportunities described above.
We disagree, just leave it there. That said, you just might learn something here: 
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