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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 advantag

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
        Lol. Uh. No. Landline.
      - praneshp 10y ago
        Just the inflation would make $40 something like $80 today, no?
      - arrosenberg 10y ago
        > Competition lowers prices and makes stores and manufactures find new ways to make things cheaper. All to the benefit of consumers. In the clothing industry this was mostly achieved by shipping manufacturing to Asia or Central America, and paying slave wages. It hasn't been great for the environment either.
- Kalium 10y ago
  In general, people chose to go to Walmart because the prices were better than those on offer nearby and the hours much more attractive. In short, Walmart is compelling on the points that a great many customers are sensitive to.
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
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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
        Lol. Uh. No. Landline.
    - praneshp 10y ago
      Just the inflation would make $40 something like $80 today, no?
    - arrosenberg 10y ago
      > Competition lowers prices and makes stores and manufactures find new ways to make things cheaper. All to the benefit of consumers. In the clothing industry this was mostly achieved by shipping manufacturing to Asia or Central America, and paying slave wages. It hasn't been great for the environment either.
Kalium 10y ago
In general, people chose to go to Walmart because the prices were better than those on offer nearby and the hours much more attractive. In short, Walmart is compelling on the points that a great many customers are sensitive to.

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]