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I think I fancy the peach one.
- Tony
I don't know how well Martha is doing for K-mart...
Actually K-Mart, filed Chapter 11, 18 months ago, and the store closings across the Country allowed K-Mart to fulfill their Chapter 11 financial obligations "ahead of schedule"..
K-Mart is now out of Chapter 11, and analysts believe they will be profitable again soon.
I for one, am glad to see a discount Mass Retailer come back from the ashes, and give Wal-Mart a go. I hate to think of the day, that Wal-Mart is our only choice for discount shopping.
Wal-Mart has killed independent retail stores and also the grocery business in many communities across the US. They have forever changed the landscape of the retail business!
What happened to the day, when you could go into any town of 10K-25K population, and shop at a true "Family owned" business? It's gone forever, thanks to Wal-Mart!
Our closest K-mart is still open, but is old & much smaller than the nearby Super Wal-Mart/Sam's Club mega-combo. Image really comes into play, I think. Wal-Mart has cultivated a "friendly, fun, cheap" image with heavy TV advertising. K-mart's image remains just "cheap" for a lot of people. Martha could still be the one to pull them out of their mess, if she can get out of her own.
It seems like WalMart should have just bought their building. It's in a great location, and they wouldn't have to rip up and pave a bunch of scenic wooded land on the edge of town.
Either way, once they build it I guess that's one more store on my do-not-shop list. Right along with their next-door-neighbor Home Depot, who chewed up a few nice acres of shrubbery themselves, last year.
It seems like WalMart should have just bought their building. It's in a great location, and they wouldn't have to rip up and pave a bunch of scenic wooded land on the edge of town.
As I understand it, their corporate policy is to locate themselves outside any existing business district regardless of availability. That way, as long as there's *something* at wal-mart you can't get anywhere else they make going down town the place that's out of your way, and get more sales than they otherwise would because people don't go *both* downtown *and* to Wal-mart. Part of their strategy for killing independent businesses.
Luckily for me, in the town I live in now there actually is some choice. We still have a decent downtown, even if most of the locally-owned stores are restaurant and luxury type things rather than places to get the necessities of life, two K-marts to the one Wal-mart, a Target, several independent hardware stores. And all of this probably due to the fact that half the town's population is college students.
That way, as long as there's *something* at wal-mart you can't get anywhere else...
There's also the fact that sometimes, you want two or three things *now*, not in 3-5 business days. Other times, there's value in having the object where you can touch it before you buy. For example, I need a new pair of sunglasses, and I'm very picky about how they fit. No web site can possibly give me enough information to know whether I'll love or hate a pair of glasses before I order, and mail-order returns are a pain. On the other hand, I can go into my local bike shop and try on a pair from a brand I've never heard of before, and discover that (a) they are a perfect fit and (b) apparently I don't get out enough, 'cause "Rudy Project" is apparently a big enough brand to command a heftier pice even than Bolle or Smith, even if I've never heard of them.
you want two or three things *now*, not in 3-5 business days
I have to wear heavy prescription glasses, so I'm not buying any sunglasses at Wal-Mart anyhow... ;)
But as for anything else? No. There is not a single thing at Wal-Mart that I can't either a.) get somewhere else, or b.) wait a few days for. Nothing at all... as evidenced by the fact that I have survived just fine without ever spending a penny in a Wal-Mart anywhere I've lived. :)
Then again, there are a lot of things I happily live without that other people cannot imagine foregoing... and vice versa. For instance, I order fresh-roasted organic whole bean coffee from the other side of the continent and brew my own beer, but I've never once bought beer in a can and I haven't had a can of soda in my refrigerator for years.
without ever spending a penny in a Wal-Mart anywhere I've lived.
I avoid Wal-mart myself as well, quite successfully since I moved to a place with a real grocery store (At least nine of them, actually). I'm more describing what I see as things that act in their favor with enough people to be useful marketing strategy rather than necessarily my own behavior. My own shopping is usually locally-owned businesses or on-line. Speaking of which, I need to order some more tea.
