Why so few Wal-mart/Target in LA? (Burbank: buy, prices)

[genjy]

There's a 24hr Walmart a few miles from my place. It's my "emergency" store when I need like napkins or a toothbrush or something at 1AM.

Apparently, a lot of people feel the same because the store is pretty busy even at odd AM hours.

The Target down the road closes at 11PM, but it's not nearly as useful and convenient as the 24hr Walmart.

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by Chicano3000X

Does't wall mart take jobs and kills businesses? All the while making jobs but treating their employees like complete ****?

All the while, homogenizing the country to the point of making every town look exactly the same, forcing longstanding local small businesses that actually cater to their specific communities to close, and the people suddenly out of work often having to accept a crap job with crap benefits just to stay afloat. What may be convenient for some is a demoralizing deathblow to the American Dream for many others.

Might as well paint the town beige.

[moonsparkle]

Those small local stores everyone likes so much usually close at 5pm as well.

[mrsltd]

Originally Posted by Pacifico

Not many Targets: Good. Not many Walmarts: Priceless. We're better off w/o that walmart mentality. The mindless suburban drones of middle America and the south can keep them. It's more than a one stop shop, it's a way of life for many and can become 'trap' or vortex, if you will, for lots of good ppl out there.

You mean those good people that are 'mindless suburban drones'?

Sounds to me like having these stores makes life a bit easier for people, especially for people with families and/or on a budget.

Not sure what you mean by a way of life or a trap! They're STORES, for crying out loud!

And there's competition out there for them, too.

Anyway....

[mrsltd]

Originally Posted by BarcelonaFan

....my god do ya'll love Ralphs of what! I guess this your answer to our Krogers back home.

I go to Ralph's at times, but there's a Vons within walking distance of my apartment and my mainstay over the past eight years has been Stater Bros. (they're great) but lately have been shopping the 99 cent only store and Big Lots. The first has refrigerated and frozen food, and the other has food selections as well.

Figure if I can save money by getting food that's or is virtually the same as at the "name brand" stores, why not?

[nickdahammer]

Yes, yes and yes. I have nothing against people who shop there, but I stay away. It's a race to the bottom, in my mind. The 'benefits' they offer are so good that many employees end up at County for medical care. Drain on us taxpayers, just so that WMart can undercut their suppliers down to the bone? No thanks. That said, I like their new emphasis on going 'green'.

Ever since the chain markets moved out of my immediate area (Mt Washington/Highland Park), I find myself finding just about everything at the Ralphs, downtown. I hate giving adjacent cities my money if I can help it.

Originally Posted by Chicano3000X

Does't wall mart take jobs and kills businesses? All the while making jobs but treating their employees like complete ****?

[moonsparkle]

Like all big companies where per-hour workers constitute the majority, the executives are interested in massive profit, but underpay the people who actually work there.

Most companies want this permanent "buffer zone" of profit. EVERY walmart I've ever been to, no matter how busy and regardless of what city, never has more than 5 checkout lanes in use when they have other 40.

They could profit less & pay workers more, or hire more workers and speed up the checkout process. Then certain executives might only make 10million instead of 15million. This is true for almost any company with a majority percent of people who working for that particular company earning a low hourly wage.

This is obviously an entirely different topic, but I think corporate greed is the biggest problem and contributes to the poor economy. The only people who seem to understand this are rich, liberal, Hollywood celebrities (as they are branded by the rest of the country who hate their viewpoints but still watch their movies).

[BarcelonaFan]

The only people who seem to understand this are rich, liberal, Hollywood celebrities (as they are branded by the rest of the country who hate their viewpoints but still watch their movies).

Rich liberal Hollywood celebs steal most of their material from leftist workers writing in obscure rags or professors.

Consciousness trickles up, my friend, not down. People at the bottom who wake up and write in their local progressive paper and what not. The real ideas are in working class neighborhoods not Tinseltown.

[readymade]

I heard they're opening a Wal-Mart in Burbank (practically next to the Target where The Great Indoors used to be). Ugh. I would never go to one for all those "boring" political reasons. I buy almost everything (except food, and even some of that if it's not perishable) on Amazon. It's almost always cheaper than anywhere else.

[Spikett]

Cheap food - Trader Joe's - they are everywhere and have quality products

Cheap furniture/housewares - Ikea - several locations and very hard to beat