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Walmart Supercentre stores in Victoria and on southern Vancouver Island


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#41 Bob Fugger

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Posted 30 October 2009 - 01:31 PM

I'm dying to buy this product:

http://www.walmart.c...uct_id=12569361


All kidding aside, this is way better than getting fleeced in your family's hour of need and having the mortician guilt you into the 'Trumpets at the Pearly Gates" package, complete with the releasing of doves and a foie gras & caviar wake.

#42 davek

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Posted 30 October 2009 - 08:29 PM

I'm dying to buy this product...


Just in time for Halloween!

#43 kuiper0x2

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Posted 26 November 2009 - 02:59 PM

According to a economic study commissioned by Wal-mart. Wal-mart saves the average American family $2500/year, whether they shop at Wal-mart or not. They study, which has stood up to much scrutiny, concluded that Wal-mart has a downward impact on prices economy wide and lowers prices across the board. Wal-mart makes almost everything cheaper for everyone.

However, other studies have shown that Wal-mart has a similar lowering effect on salaries.

#44 sebberry

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Posted 26 November 2009 - 03:22 PM

According to a economic study commissioned by Wal-mart. Wal-mart saves the average American family $2500/year, whether they shop at Wal-mart or not. They study, which has stood up to much scrutiny, concluded that Wal-mart has a downward impact on prices economy wide and lowers prices across the board. Wal-mart makes almost everything cheaper for everyone.

However, other studies have shown that Wal-mart has a similar lowering effect on salaries.


It's had a massive negative impact on manufacturers, suppliers and other retailers.

Let's say wal-mart buys a computer system to seel in their stores. They buy >1,000 at a time, direct from the manufacturer and distribute it using their own distribution network. Smart business move, you could ship laptops to stores in the same trucks as you ship tennis balls and groceries.

Now, let's say that I, as a small retailer of computers, cannot order direct from the manufacturer because I am only ordering 5 units at a time. I have to ring up my supplier in Vancouver, who rings up his supplier somewhere else who can get it from the manufacturer.

Many people are involved throughout my supply chain. There are employees at the suppliers office, the suppliers supplier's office, the couriers, etc... while this is an inefficient system, there's little choice but to use it.

Because of the wal-mart model (and other big-box retailers) I need to convince my supplier to drop the price on the item. My supplier then says "we can't, we have all these people to employ to get you the item, we must remain firm". Then many small stores begin to ask for the same deal. Suppliers, realizing that the wal-mart RETAIL price is LESS than a small store's WHOLESALE price, drop wages, shed employees, etc... to try and reduce the price. I still pay more than wal-mart retail but that's about as low as they can go.

Now, multiply this problem across all the smaller retailers and supply channels that are competing with the thousands of products available in a single wal-mart store and see how difficult it is to survive.

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#45 kuiper0x2

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Posted 26 November 2009 - 04:48 PM

I understand and wholeheartedly agree with you. Wal-mart very much receives benefits from their economies of scale and their efficient supply chain. The question is, is this good or bad?

It's obviously bad for competing retailers. However it may be good for a family of five trying to save up for a vacation or a college tuition.

In the past it used to take 50 farmers to grow what one farmer can now grow using newer machines and technology. Is Wal-mart simply bringing similar efficiencies to retail distribution?

Equally as important, are those efficiencies and resulting lower prices worth it? Do we want to live in a world where most shopping is done in a Wal-mart type environment? Where hard an individual simply can't own their own shops and mega corporations control the entire retail distribution channels?

#46 Bingo

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Posted 26 November 2009 - 07:25 PM

They are all expanding their grocery sections, but the prices seem to be similiar to that found in convenience stores. I prefer to support Thirfty Foods and Fairways, as they are local success stories.

#47 Mike K.

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Posted 26 November 2009 - 08:11 PM

They are all expanding their grocery sections, but the prices seem to be similiar to that found in convenience stores. I prefer to support Thirfty Foods and Fairways, as they are local success stories.


Wal-Mart's prices are much lower, in many instances, than those of convenience stores. Convenience stores charge a high premium on everything they sell and nothing in Wal-Mart sells for a premium.

One thing about Wal-Mart is their offerings are neither high quality nor is their selection of similar items high. Consider the amount of blenders they sell. They may have a few models with very low prices, but the selection and variability in quality hardly impacts the selection at a decent kitchenware store, which is where someone would go if they were in the market for a higher quality product.

Wal-Mart serves people who seek something on the cheap. Quality, craftsmanship and selection are not often motivators of their regular clientele.

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#48 http

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Posted 26 November 2009 - 08:22 PM

I understand and wholeheartedly agree with you. Wal-mart very much receives benefits from their economies of scale and their efficient supply chain. The question is, is this good or bad?


It's bad. I rank Wal-Mart as more evil than call waiting.

The net effect is that consumers everywhere have less purchasing options. What products and brands are offered end up being dictated by one company.

A small-scale producer, can't compete with the prices of a large-scale producer on price. It doesn't generally matter how much better their product is, or how fastidious their QA team is, they won't get to sell to Wal-Mart. So, they try selling their stuff to the likes of sebberry, but sebberry is going out of business because they're attracted to the insanely low price at the Evil Empire. End result: no more small scale, moderate to high quality, producers.

I'm sure there's more to be said about this in regards to the population becoming more accepting of shoddy (but cheap) merchandise, but Wal-Mart's economies of scale are messing with what range of products get to market. I think that to survive, a retailer would have to stock ONLY high-caliber high-end products, marketed to those for whom the quality is the first concern, not the price.

I don't want to live in a world where the only tools I can buy are either Taiwanese cheese or MAC.

Caveat: I'm not a classically trained economist. I just know what I see in the stores.
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#49 Caramia

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Posted 27 November 2009 - 02:28 PM

And then there is this: http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/
Beware, if you click on this link, brain damage may occur.
Nowadays most people die of a sort of creeping common sense, and discover when it is too late that the only things one never regrets are one's mistakes.
Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900), The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891

#50 victorian fan

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Posted 27 November 2009 - 03:30 PM

^
shudder

#51 Bob Fugger

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Posted 27 November 2009 - 04:18 PM

^^Awesome. Straight up awesome. That is all.

#52 Caramia

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Posted 27 November 2009 - 04:40 PM

/snicker
Nowadays most people die of a sort of creeping common sense, and discover when it is too late that the only things one never regrets are one's mistakes.
Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900), The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891

#53 ptolomeus

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Posted 27 November 2009 - 06:45 PM

And then there is this: http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/
Beware, if you click on this link, brain damage may occur.

:o:eek:

#54 Mike K.

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Posted 27 November 2009 - 08:51 PM

And then there's Wal-Mart bingo.

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#55 http

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Posted 27 November 2009 - 09:29 PM

And then there is this: http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/
Beware, if you click on this link, brain damage may occur.



Dem, da lady she is the most serious about this thing warn. Ick. Happen frumpy groove to you too, and give key.
"Who are those slashdot people? They swept over like Mongol-Tartars." - F. E. Vladimirovna

#56 manuel

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Posted 28 November 2009 - 06:54 PM

ouch

#57 davek

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Posted 14 October 2010 - 08:30 PM

http://www.good.is/p...Main RSS Feed)'>Wal-Mart Goes Local

From the article:

In just a few years, locavores might find themselves shopping at a once unthinkable destination: Walmart. The retail behemoth announced new goals to dramatically increase its patronage of local and sustainable farms, according to a New York Times article on Thursday.

#58 Holden West

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Posted 14 October 2010 - 08:32 PM

It's amazing that VibrantVictoria's sister site SkyscraperPage allegedly has archives going back to 1896! Even more amazing is how long Victorians have been complaining about big box stores:

The Large Carton Shoppe is the Bane of my City's existence! Why just yesterday, I drove my Horse and Buggy past the Infernal New Large Carton Shoppe and was perplexed to find the Exterior of the Establishment crowded with Dozens of Large Carriages, each pulled by a Four-Mule team. Why the need for a Mule-Team when our city streets are so Finely and Smoothly Cobblestoned? Are they planning to venture Home via the Oregon Trail? I then spied the Customers loading up their Carriages with enormous crates of Ginger Beer and Pickled Eel--enough to feed a Battalion or even a Small Brigade!"


"Beaver, ahoy!""The bridge is like a magnet, attracting both pedestrians and over 30,000 vehicles daily who enjoy the views of Victoria's harbour. The skyline may change, but "Big Blue" as some call it, will always be there."
-City of Victoria website, 2009

#59 Dimitrios

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Posted 15 October 2010 - 03:38 PM

Dated but still interesting-

Costco vs. Wal-Mart:
http://www.seattlewe...the-people.php/

#60 Holden West

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Posted 02 December 2010 - 10:56 PM

When Victoria's Walmart opens it's doors tomorrow, they will not be locked again till Christmas Eve. 24 hour shopping, baby.
"Beaver, ahoy!""The bridge is like a magnet, attracting both pedestrians and over 30,000 vehicles daily who enjoy the views of Victoria's harbour. The skyline may change, but "Big Blue" as some call it, will always be there."
-City of Victoria website, 2009

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