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Walmart tried to move into a dilapidated mall in my neighborhood and everyone fought it and they couldnt. They moved a mile down the street to a slightly less

Walmart tried to move into a dilapidated mall in my neighborhood and everyone fought it and they couldnt. They moved a mile down the street to a slightly less wealthy neighborhood, in a dilapidated strip mall. Five years later, the strip mall with walmart is bustling with business and the other mall is still mostly empty. Wasted opportunity to get business into the township. Even though I generally wouldn't shop there, I have no issue with walmart, for exactly the reasons this author suggests I wouldn't

Afforess 13y ago
I agree. I tend to avoid Walmart due to its low quality on a lot of the store brand goods, but don't actually have any issues with how they run their business. They aren't exactly hiding that they are a low-cost retailer. If people have problems with the wages Walmart pays they should stop attacking Walmart and go deal with the people who actually set the minimum wages: your congress critter.
- cantankerous 13y ago
  For what it's worth, people do try that. Wal-Mart tends to show up and throw its weight around when this happens.
- Shivetya 13y ago
  Wal-Mart grocery sells many if not all the same name brands my local grocery stores do; Publix and Kroger for Atlanta metro. They just sell them so much cheaper I only buy at the others when I am lazy or there is a BOGO Going to any of my local Wal-Marts with grocery and it is the most crowded place of the store. While their clothing sections and miscellaneous house hold goods sections can be dodge the electronics section, automotive, and garden, sell many name brands I see elsewhere.
nsxwolf 13y ago
What you say cannot possibly be true. I have been told time and time again that the arrival of a Walmart always spells doom for adjacent businesses, and the people who told me that seemed very sure about themselves.
- look_lookatme 13y ago
  (I think your sarcasm is appropriate given the histrionics that surround Walmart) I've seen really impressive growth around a truly rural Supercenter opening but it's mostly been limited to chains that satellite the Walmart. Starbucks, Lowes, Jack in the Box, CiCis, Chilis and a handful of other shops that are nationally or regionally owned businesses that would have probably waited out opening in the area had the Supercenter been fought off. There is almost a symbiotic relationship between these concerns and a Walmart or Target super store that opens that is evident if you've ever been to the suburban southwest. I can't speak to the real economic impact of such a situation (maybe it's great!), but I do suspect that there are real cascading effects to small businesses in this scenario. Pizza places, chinese food places, your random donut shop, the lumber yard... they all take a hit. I don't know, maybe all these places were terrible in quality and service in the face of the efficiency of national chains, but it still seems intuitive that there is a wealth flight around this situation and one has to wonder if it's for better or worse. But to be honest, I don't know.
  - jbellis 13y ago
    "Using an instrumental variables approach to correct for both measurement error in entry dates and endogeneity of the timing of entry, I ﬁnd that Wal-Mart entry increases retail employment by 100 jobs in the year of entry. Half of this gain disappears over the next ﬁve years as other retail establishments exit and contract, leaving a long-run statistically signiﬁcant net gain of 50 jobs" http://faculty.smu.edu/millimet/classes/eco6352/papers/basker.pdf http://faculty.smu.edu/millimet/classes/eco6352/papers/baske...
    - cantankerous 13y ago
      Curious if there's any speaking to the wage differential between the gained jobs and the replaced jobs.
      - mbillie1 13y ago
        I am quite curious about this as well.

Afforess 13y ago

I agree. I tend to avoid Walmart due to its low quality on a lot of the store brand goods, but don't actually have any issues with how they run their business. They aren't exactly hiding that they are a low-cost retailer. If people have problems with the wages Walmart pays they should stop attacking Walmart and go deal with the people who actually set the minimum wages: your congress critter.

cantankerous 13y ago
For what it's worth, people do try that. Wal-Mart tends to show up and throw its weight around when this happens.
Shivetya 13y ago
Wal-Mart grocery sells many if not all the same name brands my local grocery stores do; Publix and Kroger for Atlanta metro. They just sell them so much cheaper I only buy at the others when I am lazy or there is a BOGO Going to any of my local Wal-Marts with grocery and it is the most crowded place of the store. While their clothing sections and miscellaneous house hold goods sections can be dodge the electronics section, automotive, and garden, sell many name brands I see elsewhere.

nsxwolf 13y ago

What you say cannot possibly be true. I have been told time and time again that the arrival of a Walmart always spells doom for adjacent businesses, and the people who told me that seemed very sure about themselves.

look_lookatme 13y ago
(I think your sarcasm is appropriate given the histrionics that surround Walmart) I've seen really impressive growth around a truly rural Supercenter opening but it's mostly been limited to chains that satellite the Walmart. Starbucks, Lowes, Jack in the Box, CiCis, Chilis and a handful of other shops that are nationally or regionally owned businesses that would have probably waited out opening in the area had the Supercenter been fought off. There is almost a symbiotic relationship between these concerns and a Walmart or Target super store that opens that is evident if you've ever been to the suburban southwest. I can't speak to the real economic impact of such a situation (maybe it's great!), but I do suspect that there are real cascading effects to small businesses in this scenario. Pizza places, chinese food places, your random donut shop, the lumber yard... they all take a hit. I don't know, maybe all these places were terrible in quality and service in the face of the efficiency of national chains, but it still seems intuitive that there is a wealth flight around this situation and one has to wonder if it's for better or worse. But to be honest, I don't know.
- jbellis 13y ago
  "Using an instrumental variables approach to correct for both measurement error in entry dates and endogeneity of the timing of entry, I ﬁnd that Wal-Mart entry increases retail employment by 100 jobs in the year of entry. Half of this gain disappears over the next ﬁve years as other retail establishments exit and contract, leaving a long-run statistically signiﬁcant net gain of 50 jobs" http://faculty.smu.edu/millimet/classes/eco6352/papers/basker.pdf http://faculty.smu.edu/millimet/classes/eco6352/papers/baske...
  - cantankerous 13y ago
    Curious if there's any speaking to the wage differential between the gained jobs and the replaced jobs.
    - mbillie1 13y ago
      I am quite curious about this as well.