Walmart Makes An Interesting Multi Faceted Case

Ledge,true of course.But in so many cases it's our money they are giving to walmart for useless junk.I don't have an answer or even an idea about what could be done about it.It's a shame so many works so hard and has to give a share of what they make to be wasted.That's the rub with most on taxes.I think most would pay taxes without regret if the money was not wasted in so many ways.I guess a fellow could say that money,a portion of it anyway,helps employ people which is good.
 
Originally Posted By: tnshootistOne of the ways waalmart hurts people is that people who don't have much money go to that store and shop.Then buy junk stuff they don't need.They would be much better off if they bought a potato but they buy some trinket that falls apart.Hard on the kids to do without when money is spent at walmart.Not the stores fault I know,but they know they are getting rich praying on the poor people.There is something morally wrong with that.It was a better country before walmart.


Sooooo.... Walmart is bad because people buy things they dont need there. And obviously the same people wouldnt buy things the dont need anywhere else if walmart wasnt around.


Sounds logical.

Walmart should make you fill out a financial background, run a credit check, and then supply you with a list of things you need. If what you want isnt on the list, you cant buy it.

Problem solved.
 
Originally Posted By: tnshootistOne of the ways waalmart hurts people is that people who don't have much money go to that store and shop.Then buy junk stuff they don't need.They would be much better off if they bought a potato but they buy some trinket that falls apart.Hard on the kids to do without when money is spent at walmart.Not the stores fault I know,but they know they are getting rich praying on the poor people.There is something morally wrong with that.It was a better country before walmart.

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Come on guys.You know what I was trying to say.I guess some don't remember life before walmart.I dont like the way walmart has made a ghost towns out of most small towns.I would rather not buy chinese products.It's not just walmart it's all the big junk stores.And you wonder what happened to quality American products and American manufacturing jobs?
 
Originally Posted By: tnshootistI dont like the way walmart has made a ghost towns out of most small towns.

I'm trying to think of one case where I know this to be true. I can't think of one.
 
I came from a town of around 13,000 residents in Iowa.We had hardware stores,clothing stores,paint stores,pharmacies,small box stores,etc,you get the idea.When walmart built,it closed up ALL of them.The only thing left downtown was a couple of restaurants,a theater,a couple of plumbers,several other service stores and two banks.Not a goast town,but close to it.Mom and pop stores that had been there serving the comunity for many years--GONE!
 
Quote:I guess some don't remember life before walmart.I dont like the way walmart has made a ghost towns out of most small towns....I'll agree fully, but in retrospect, I grew up in a fairly small Missouri river town (pop. 3500) and back in the late 40's and early 50s, we had nine small neighborhood Mom & Pop type grocery stores in different neighborhoods (most made home deliveries with teenage delivery boys on bicycles)...We did have a fairly large A&P grocery for 'unusual' items...

Then, in the late '50s, the larger chain stores (US Super, IGA) moved in and the smaller groceries close down eventually...Now, there is a Walmart SuperCenter there and already one of the larger groceries has closed...Many of our household hardware and clothing stores went out of business when the first Walmart (non-grocery) came in..

That's just the way of Capitalism, I guess,...Many of the local merchants closed with the comment that Walmart could sell at prices less than the merchants could buy at wholesale due to the volume contracts that Walmart secured...
 
Doggin visit Greeneville Tn,Morristown Tn.Erwin Tn Rogersville Tn.These are just a few within 40 miles of where I live.I am not interested in arguing the point with you.Your take on the matter is fine with me.Anyway,the vacant hardware stores make great lawyer offices.
 
Same thing here. We had several good clothing stores, hardware stores, an A&P Grocery store, two jewelry stores and other stores of various kinds. And our town was only around 5000 population total. A Walmart went in quite a few years ago, and those stores are all gone. We have a few different stores now, but most of our Main Street is vacant buildings waiting to be leased or sold.
 
One more from a town of 2000 in Iowa but died in the late 70's because of K-mart. I remember in the 60's and 70's stores in town stayed open till 8 on Thursday nights because everyone got paid on Friday. Streets were packed. That's a thing of the past. Sixty percent of main street was boarded up but an over zealous lib mayor got a big stimulus grant under zero and remodeled empty stores. Sign of the times.
 
Originally Posted By: tnshootistDoggin visit Greeneville Tn,Morristown Tn.Erwin Tn Rogersville Tn.These are just a few within 40 miles of where I live.I am not interested in arguing the point with you.Your take on the matter is fine with me.Anyway,the vacant hardware stores make great lawyer offices.

Shootist, I don't want to argue either and I'd love to visit those towns, but it's just not in the cards with this stinking economy.

But I can do a little research via google and I found this info about the 4 towns you mentioned.

Greeneville, Tn... Population in 2010: 15,062. Population change since 2000: -0.9%

Morristown, Tn... Population in 2010: 29,137. Population change since 2000: +16.7%

Erwin, Tn... Population in 2010: 6,097. Population change since 2000: +8.7%

Rogersville, Tn... Population in 2010: 4,420. Population change since 2000: +4.2%

With the exception of Greenevilles very small population decline, I'm not seeing any ghost towns developing.
 
Well maybe you and I have a different way of saying things then.I am not talking about people,I am talking about family business.For example the hardware store in Greeneville had been owned and operated by the same family from before Grandpas time until I was grown.They were one of the last holdouts downtown.When the elder passed they sold out because there just was no traffic down town anymore,Furniture store,jewelry store,theater,and others.All you would expect in a small town.These closures had long reaching effects.It split up the family business so they had to go separate ways to live.Their children never knew what a close family business was.It was a gathering place for farmers and town people alike so they talked with each other.And so on.You get the idea.Now multiply this by all the family business down town and their families and patrons.Now multiply this by every town that got a walmart or something like that.Business that was not taken over by big store had to move close to big store to get any traffic.This was one of the things that has led to what we have today.Disintegration of family,community,communication in a friendly place for people of different backgrounds and ideas to pass a few minutes with each other.It gos on to school closure and loss of community identity.Friendly though heated ball games.Loss of community,loss of ties,separation of groups of people.We always hear of family disintegration as one of the big problems of this country.This is just one of the things that helped that happen.Agree not all bad,but some important stuff has been lost.
 
Well said Shootist. The people don't leave town. You lose the mom and pop shops that Ma would save you some of her heirloom tomatos cause she knew you liked them. The hand made Christmas cards from the little old lady at the feed store. It means alot to me to spend my money where I can see 2 or 3 generations of people makin their business work. That is where my money goes eff Walmart.
 
I agree, Shootist. In our town we easily lost 15, but maybe 20 thriving small businesses that had been in business for years. Some of them for generations. I wish there was a way to go back in time to when things were simpler, and if someone worked hard he could make good money and never have to involve the government except in January to pay taxes. Some that started building and doing a terrible job at it after a few years did beautiful work and were building whole houses. Some people found an outcrop of stone on their property, went at it with a bulldozer, and found a stone quarry they ended up working for years. Now they have to have an engineer do a workup for a mining permit that costs $10,000 or more before they dig. Big government and big business did a real job on this country, and those days are gone forever. And our country is worse because of it.
 
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Originally Posted By: doggin coyotesOriginally Posted By: tnshootistDoggin visit Greeneville Tn,Morristown Tn.Erwin Tn Rogersville Tn.These are just a few within 40 miles of where I live.I am not interested in arguing the point with you.Your take on the matter is fine with me.Anyway,the vacant hardware stores make great lawyer offices.

Shootist, I don't want to argue either and I'd love to visit those towns, but it's just not in the cards with this stinking economy.

But I can do a little research via google and I found this info about the 4 towns you mentioned.

Greeneville, Tn... Population in 2010: 15,062. Population change since 2000: -0.9%

Morristown, Tn... Population in 2010: 29,137. Population change since 2000: +16.7%

Erwin, Tn... Population in 2010: 6,097. Population change since 2000: +8.7%

Rogersville, Tn... Population in 2010: 4,420. Population change since 2000: +4.2%

With the exception of Greenevilles very small population decline, I'm not seeing any ghost towns developing.



If these small towns are like the ones around here, the increases in population is because people are moving to the surrounding small towns to escape the "city" life. Then they commute 30 minutes to an hour every day to the larger cities in the area. They do their shopping, their eating out and everything in the "city". Not much of a country life, but they can say we live in "small town America".
 
4 or 5 years ago, Walmart came into my small town in Nebraska. Since then, we've had 4 business close; 3 chain stores smaller than Walmart and 1 family owned IGA.

The 3 chain stores were not family owned. They are midwest chain stores that sold the same stuff Walmart sells; Earl May garden store, and Pamida and Alco which were like tiny Walmarts and sold the same junk.

The family owned IGA was so overpriced that since they closed, a Fareway opened up practically across the street from Walmart and is doing very well. IGA was gouging the people in this town with prices 50% higher than in lincoln 45 miles away. The IGA owners opted to take the money and run, rather than compete with Walmart.

That IGA has since become a large Orsceln's farm store, and always has a full parking lot.

Most of the employees of IGA, Pamida, Alco, and Earl May went to work for Walmart making more money with some benefits, which they didn't have in their previous jobs.

Two restaurants, a hardware store, and a new bank have opened since Walmart started bringing in all the business to that end of town, in addition to the Orsceln's. A flooring company now occupies the old Earl May building. Fareway is open just down the street and occupies the old Pamida building. McDonalds remodeled and expanded. A new bbq restaurant opened in town. The small high priced grocer on the other end of town is still open and caters to people from the residential neighborhood who don't want to drive across town to Walmart, and they seem to be doing pretty good. An old dilapidated hotel was torn down and a very nice Walgreens opened up. They have cheaper milk, and Walmart honors the Walgreen milk prices.

Walmart has been good for this town, and hasn't hurt a single downtown business. They are all still open. In fact, Walmart brought in so much tax money that the town remodeled Main Street with brick walkways and retro lamp posts to give visitors a better experience while brousing the mom and pop stores.
 
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Originally Posted By: Ivers4 or 5 years ago, Walmart came into my small town in Nebraska. Since then, we've had 4 business close; 3 chain stores smaller than Walmart and 1 family owned IGA.

The 3 chain stores were not family owned. They are midwest chain stores that sold the same stuff Walmart sells; Earl May garden store, and Pamida and Alco which were like tiny Walmarts and sold the same junk.

The family owned IGA was so overpriced that since they closed, a Fareway opened up practically across the street from Walmart and is doing very well. IGA was gouging the people in this town with prices 50% higher than in lincoln 45 miles away. The IGA owners opted to take the money and run, rather than compete with Walmart.

That IGA has since become a large Orsceln's farm store, and always has a full parking lot.

Most of the employees of IGA, Pamida, Alco, and Earl May went to work for Walmart making more money with some benefits, which they didn't have in their previous jobs.

Two restaurants, a hardware store, and a new bank have opened since Walmart started bringing in all the business to that end of town, in addition to the Orsceln's. A flooring company now occupies the old Earl May building. Fareway is open just down the street and occupies the old Pamida building. McDonalds remodeled and expanded. A new bbq restaurant opened in town. The small high priced grocer on the other end of town is still open and caters to people from the residential neighborhood who don't want to drive across town to Walmart, and they seem to be doing pretty good. An old dilapidated hotel was torn down and a very nice Walgreens opened up. They have cheaper milk, and Walmart honors the Walgreen milk prices.

Walmart has been good for this town, and hasn't hurt a single downtown business. They are all still open. In fact, Walmart brought in so much tax money that the town remodeled Main Street with brick walkways and retro lamp posts to give visitors a better experience while brousing the mom and pop stores.

What Ivers wrote is pretty much what I've seen happen when a Walmart store opened in a community.

Love em or hate em, they have done more good than harm in all the communities I can think of where they've built a store.

How about malls? You fellas think malls help make ghost towns?
 
What many folks don't realize about Walmart is, Walmart tells it's vendors what it wants, and what it will pay for it. It is then the vendors' decision which corners to cut to try to meet Walmart's demands. Snapper lawnmower told them to go pound sand. They were not cutting corners to make an inferior product to compete against themselves, period. Was HUGE CONTRACT, they walked away from it.

Sue Bee Honey... Will not come down to Walmart's bottomline under the Sue Bee label. They will pack foreign or less palatable grades of honey under the Walmart label, they will pack honey made on the North American continent under the Sam's Club Label, but they won't pack Sue Bee Honey for them either.

Walmart does not simply buy junk folks, they demand it be built for them to buy.
 
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