7 ms·

I feel life Walmart did a good job forcing other retailers to up their game. They also certainly aren't the only retailers in town so it seems to me that compet

by tdb7893 10y ago

I feel life Walmart did a good job forcing other retailers to up their game. They also certainly aren't the only retailers in town so it seems to me that competition is alive and well in that space but I guess that might be different depending on where you live

bogomipz 10y ago
>"I feel life Walmart did a good job forcing other retailers to up their game." Can you explain how exactly?
- mattnewton 10y ago
  Up their game meaning, either go up market or go out of the buisiness maybe.
- tdb7893 10y ago
  Lower prices or go out of business. The problem is that many retailers just couldn't compete EDIT: Walmart is also more convenient than most other businesses because you can get everything in one place
- nightski 10y ago
  Do you think people went to Walmart "just because"? They avoided all those amazing local shops to go to Walmart because it was worse? There were many advantages of Walmart at the time. Perception of lower prices, much more convenient hours (many local shops closed at 5-6), better product selection with frequently updated stock, etc... I'm wondering if there aren't quite a few on HN that don't even know what a pre-Walmart world was like, especially in smaller cities/towns.
  - bogomipz 10y ago
    >"Do you think people went to Walmart "just because"? They avoided all those amazing local shops to go to Walmart because it was worse? I don't have a Walmart near me, I live in city where there isn't one, I actually don't know much about the Walmart experience. So its not really such an obvious question is it? >"I'm wondering if there aren't quite a few on HN that don't even know what a pre-Walmart world was like, especially in smaller cities/towns." Not only am I old enough to remember pre-Walmart but I'm also old enough to remember Pre-Internet. Your comments are both presumptuous and arrogant.
    - losteverything 10y ago
      In the pre Walmart days apparel was way more expensive, for example. Clothing a child for a season was difficult. Pants were over $20. Shirts 10-15 in sale. Jackets: 35 - $100+ You were lucky if they had your size in everything you wanted to buy. Meant going to several different stores. I was around for the opening of a new store in the late '60s early '70s: K-Mart. It has everything. So Meijer's had to compete and lower prices. This apparel example happened across all items Walmart stocked. The local store had to compete on price. We pay less now In absolute $$ on clothing than we did 30 years ago.
      - MisterBastahrd 10y ago
        Sure, if your taste in clothes is graphic t-shirts and ill-fitting work jeans. Quality clothing costs more than it used to, and it's harder to find locally because Walmart won't sell anything that they can't discount the hell out of.
        losteverything 10y ago
        If you go to Macy's for example you still can get apparel at the same price as Walmart (on sale). Carter's for children and infants is actually cheaper in the Carter's store than the Carter's sold at Walmart. Competition lowers prices and makes stores and manufactures find new ways to make things cheaper. All to the benefit of consumers. I look at my phone Bill to realize how ridiculous the pricing is. Pay $100 for two phones. Twenty five years ago a $40 phone bill would call for a family meeting. So as Walmart and others helped bring down lower prices other areas suck up the savings
        linkregister 10y ago
        You had 2 mobile phones 25 years ago, for $40 per month?
        losteverything 10y ago
  - pyre 10y ago
    > Do you think people went to Walmart "just because"? They avoided all those amazing local shops to go to Walmart because it was worse? There's no need to take this sort of tone. Asking how is a valid question, and the most generous reading of it assumes that the user wants a real answer, not that they are asking a rhetorical question.
    - nightski 10y ago
      "Care to explain how" has a nasty tone where I come from. I'm from the Midwest and it's a common way to start a passive aggressive argument. I apologize if I over reacted to the parent. At the same time while I understand some of the negativity towards Walmart there were a lot of positives that came out of it's growth also.
      - linkregister 10y ago
        The original post was "Can you explain how exactly?" You misread the comment. The only confrontational word in that question was "exactly." It's a fair question because of many people who do remember the pre-Walmart times (their big expansion was in the late 90s-early 2000s). The going narrative at the time was that local businesses were destroyed and this was a tragedy. Additionally, Walmart was one of the first retailers to primarily buy products from Chinese manufacturers instead of sourcing American-made products (after the death of Sam Walton). There were frequent news stories about how a factory closed and all the laid-off workers got jobs at minimum wage at Walmart, selling the very goods they previously made. Several municipalities enacted "no-Walmart" legislation and zoning regulations. Even South Park made an episode about the phenomenon. Looking back, it might have been unfair to demonize Walmart for what was likely the rational decision to make in a competitive environment. But taken in context for the times, Walmart's growth in the late 1990s/early 2000s was controversial and frequently challenged.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
- Arizhel 10y ago
  I'm going to echo nightski's post here, with my own addition: return policies. Many of you probably don't remember what it was like in the bad old days of those quaint brick-and-mortar retailers before Walmart. You bought something, find out you already had one, or your wife just gone one, or you just didn't need it, and tried to take it back, and they basically just gave you the finger. That "wonderful" "personalized" service from mom-and-pop shops? Mostly myth. Some were good, but it was a crapshoot; many of them were the only such store in town, so prices were horrible and service was lousy. On top of that, operating hours were awful. Walmart changed all of that. They were open long hours, so you could go after work. You could return anything, for no reason at all, for a full refund. And prices were low, and consistent nationwide. And you didn't have to drive around to several different stores, maybe even in different towns, to get several different items.
  - bogomipz 10y ago
    >"Many of you probably don't remember what it was like in the bad old days of those quaint brick-and-mortar retailers before Walmart. You bought something, find out you already had one, or your wife just gone one, or you just didn't need it, and tried to take it back, and they basically just gave you the finger" Really they "basically gave you the finger"? Or maybe could it have been that they would to have to absorb that loss out of pocket because of their distributors policies? >" That "wonderful" "personalized" service from mom-and-pop shops? Mostly myth" That's a sweeping and completely unsubstantiated generalization. My own experience and history informs me differently. I'm sure I am not alone in that. But yes thank God for Walmart. I don't know how we functioned as a society before we were entitled to return our purchases months later for no reason at all or when stores closed at 9:00PM.
    - Arizhel 10y ago
      >Or maybe could it have been that they would to have to absorb that loss out of pocket because of their distributors policies? What loss? All they have to do is put it back on the shelf and sell it again. I'm not talking about perishable groceries here. >That's a sweeping and completely unsubstantiated generalization. My own experience and history informs me differently. I'm sure I am not alone in that. I think it's correct. My own experience and history informs me differently. I'm sure I am not alone in that, especially considering all the other comments in this thread. >or when stores closed at 9:00PM. This one is just plain wrong. Mom-and-pop stores closed at 5PM; they had "banker's hours". Why are you sticking up for the mom-and-pop stores so much anyway? Especially with such bogus arguments?

by tdb7893 10y ago

bogomipz 10y ago

>"I feel life Walmart did a good job forcing other retailers to up their game." Can you explain how exactly?

mattnewton 10y ago
Up their game meaning, either go up market or go out of the buisiness maybe.
tdb7893 10y ago
Lower prices or go out of business. The problem is that many retailers just couldn't compete EDIT: Walmart is also more convenient than most other businesses because you can get everything in one place
nightski 10y ago
Do you think people went to Walmart "just because"? They avoided all those amazing local shops to go to Walmart because it was worse? There were many advantages of Walmart at the time. Perception of lower prices, much more convenient hours (many local shops closed at 5-6), better product selection with frequently updated stock, etc... I'm wondering if there aren't quite a few on HN that don't even know what a pre-Walmart world was like, especially in smaller cities/towns.
- bogomipz 10y ago
  >"Do you think people went to Walmart "just because"? They avoided all those amazing local shops to go to Walmart because it was worse? I don't have a Walmart near me, I live in city where there isn't one, I actually don't know much about the Walmart experience. So its not really such an obvious question is it? >"I'm wondering if there aren't quite a few on HN that don't even know what a pre-Walmart world was like, especially in smaller cities/towns." Not only am I old enough to remember pre-Walmart but I'm also old enough to remember Pre-Internet. Your comments are both presumptuous and arrogant.
  - losteverything 10y ago
    In the pre Walmart days apparel was way more expensive, for example. Clothing a child for a season was difficult. Pants were over $20. Shirts 10-15 in sale. Jackets: 35 - $100+ You were lucky if they had your size in everything you wanted to buy. Meant going to several different stores. I was around for the opening of a new store in the late '60s early '70s: K-Mart. It has everything. So Meijer's had to compete and lower prices. This apparel example happened across all items Walmart stocked. The local store had to compete on price. We pay less now In absolute $$ on clothing than we did 30 years ago.
    - MisterBastahrd 10y ago
      Sure, if your taste in clothes is graphic t-shirts and ill-fitting work jeans. Quality clothing costs more than it used to, and it's harder to find locally because Walmart won't sell anything that they can't discount the hell out of.
      - losteverything 10y ago
        If you go to Macy's for example you still can get apparel at the same price as Walmart (on sale). Carter's for children and infants is actually cheaper in the Carter's store than the Carter's sold at Walmart. Competition lowers prices and makes stores and manufactures find new ways to make things cheaper. All to the benefit of consumers. I look at my phone Bill to realize how ridiculous the pricing is. Pay $100 for two phones. Twenty five years ago a $40 phone bill would call for a family meeting. So as Walmart and others helped bring down lower prices other areas suck up the savings
        linkregister 10y ago
        You had 2 mobile phones 25 years ago, for $40 per month?
        losteverything 10y ago
- pyre 10y ago
  > Do you think people went to Walmart "just because"? They avoided all those amazing local shops to go to Walmart because it was worse? There's no need to take this sort of tone. Asking how is a valid question, and the most generous reading of it assumes that the user wants a real answer, not that they are asking a rhetorical question.
  - nightski 10y ago
    "Care to explain how" has a nasty tone where I come from. I'm from the Midwest and it's a common way to start a passive aggressive argument. I apologize if I over reacted to the parent. At the same time while I understand some of the negativity towards Walmart there were a lot of positives that came out of it's growth also.
    - linkregister 10y ago
      The original post was "Can you explain how exactly?" You misread the comment. The only confrontational word in that question was "exactly." It's a fair question because of many people who do remember the pre-Walmart times (their big expansion was in the late 90s-early 2000s). The going narrative at the time was that local businesses were destroyed and this was a tragedy. Additionally, Walmart was one of the first retailers to primarily buy products from Chinese manufacturers instead of sourcing American-made products (after the death of Sam Walton). There were frequent news stories about how a factory closed and all the laid-off workers got jobs at minimum wage at Walmart, selling the very goods they previously made. Several municipalities enacted "no-Walmart" legislation and zoning regulations. Even South Park made an episode about the phenomenon. Looking back, it might have been unfair to demonize Walmart for what was likely the rational decision to make in a competitive environment. But taken in context for the times, Walmart's growth in the late 1990s/early 2000s was controversial and frequently challenged.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
Arizhel 10y ago
I'm going to echo nightski's post here, with my own addition: return policies. Many of you probably don't remember what it was like in the bad old days of those quaint brick-and-mortar retailers before Walmart. You bought something, find out you already had one, or your wife just gone one, or you just didn't need it, and tried to take it back, and they basically just gave you the finger. That "wonderful" "personalized" service from mom-and-pop shops? Mostly myth. Some were good, but it was a crapshoot; many of them were the only such store in town, so prices were horrible and service was lousy. On top of that, operating hours were awful. Walmart changed all of that. They were open long hours, so you could go after work. You could return anything, for no reason at all, for a full refund. And prices were low, and consistent nationwide. And you didn't have to drive around to several different stores, maybe even in different towns, to get several different items.
- bogomipz 10y ago
  >"Many of you probably don't remember what it was like in the bad old days of those quaint brick-and-mortar retailers before Walmart. You bought something, find out you already had one, or your wife just gone one, or you just didn't need it, and tried to take it back, and they basically just gave you the finger" Really they "basically gave you the finger"? Or maybe could it have been that they would to have to absorb that loss out of pocket because of their distributors policies? >" That "wonderful" "personalized" service from mom-and-pop shops? Mostly myth" That's a sweeping and completely unsubstantiated generalization. My own experience and history informs me differently. I'm sure I am not alone in that. But yes thank God for Walmart. I don't know how we functioned as a society before we were entitled to return our purchases months later for no reason at all or when stores closed at 9:00PM.
  - Arizhel 10y ago
    >Or maybe could it have been that they would to have to absorb that loss out of pocket because of their distributors policies? What loss? All they have to do is put it back on the shelf and sell it again. I'm not talking about perishable groceries here. >That's a sweeping and completely unsubstantiated generalization. My own experience and history informs me differently. I'm sure I am not alone in that. I think it's correct. My own experience and history informs me differently. I'm sure I am not alone in that, especially considering all the other comments in this thread. >or when stores closed at 9:00PM. This one is just plain wrong. Mom-and-pop stores closed at 5PM; they had "banker's hours". Why are you sticking up for the mom-and-pop stores so much anyway? Especially with such bogus arguments?