Wal-Mart to Open About 1,500 New Stores

[communist fanatic]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060208/ap_on_..._mart_expansion (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060208/ap_on_bi_ge/wal_mart_expansion)


Tue Feb 7, 10:04 PM ET



Wal-Mart Stores Inc. plans to open more than 1,500 stores in the United States in the coming years, on top of nearly 3,200 it already operates, the world's largest retailer said Tuesday.

John Menzer, the company's vice chairman and head of its domestic Wal-Mart stores division, said Wal-Mart was on schedule to meet an announced target of between 335 and 370 new U.S. store openings this year after 341 last year.

That number includes Wal-Mart discount stores, Supercenters that also have a full grocery section, smaller Neighborhood Markets and Sam's Club membership warehouses. Supercenters are the largest single group with 1,980 locations in the U.S. and the focus of future growth plans.

Menzer did not specify a timeline for the new stores. He also did not refer to zoning and permit fights that have erupted in some places where Wal-Mart wants to expand, including big markets such as California where the company has fewer locations than in its traditional bases in the South and Midwest.

"We are really focused on opening new stores right now. We see so many opportunities to open new stores that that's where our capital is going first," Menzer said during a Web cast from a financial conference hosted by Citigroup in Miami.

Wal-Mart opened 69 new stores and Sam's Clubs in January, a company record for one month, it announced last week.

Menzer said 1,800 of its existing Supercenters would be remodeled over the next 18 months to make them more inviting, adding touches such as faux wood floors, wider aisles and digital television display walls.

The remodeling program, which Menzer said would not require a large capital outlay, is part of a broader strategy to interest consumers who are already in the store for basics to buy more fashions, electronics, home furnishings and fancier foods.

Wal-Mart began working on the remodeling program last year, and formally unveiled it in October at its annual meeting with analysts.

As part of its growth plans, Wal-Mart also is experimenting with new formats for Supercenters to fit the big box structures into tighter urban neighborhoods. New styles will include multilevel stores and underground or above-store parking rather than a huge lot out front.

[Atlas Swallowed]

Welcome to Mc Wally world where every town and city looks exactly the same. Enjoy yourself purchasing all the cheap junk that are foreign slave laborers made for less than a living wage. We will save you more money no matter who suffers or dies, besides the Walton familly has not aquired enough billions yet.

Hate em' arggghhh!!!!!! smash hate smash Wal Mart :angry:

[Zero]

Yeah, they are trying to put a Wal Mart in my hometown =.=

[redstar2000]

Where do you shop for basic necessities if you don't shop at Wal-Mart? And how much do you pay?

It used to be that there were all kinds of "variety stores" like Woolworth's in almost any urban neighborhood. Places where you could buy bedding, clothing, shoes, small household tools and utensils, small appliances...just "little shit" that you needed.

All those places are gone now.

You want to purchase this stuff at an "upscale" department store or fancy "mall boutique"? Fine...if you have the money.

Some shop at "thrift stores" -- including myself -- but more often than not they don't have what you need.

So where do you go???

It's also occurred to me that all these Wal-Mart stores would make first-rate locations for the distribution of rationed necessities after the revolution.

So maybe Wal-Mart is, in the long run, doing us a favor.

http://www.websmileys.com/sm/cool/123.gif

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

I don't think so.

New York City has no Wal-mart, and some how, it still manages.

[violencia.Proletariat]

I agree with redstar on both issues, especially pre-made distribution points. I've thought about that on a number of occasions, the stores would just become wearhouses where you take what you need.

CDL, Nyc isnt like most of America. If I'm not mistaken NYC is the biggest city in America so that would make sense. But the rest of America isnt like that and we dont have that option. The only option to buy things that redstar mentioned are at wal-marts or targets.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

I know most of the U.S. isn't like New York. I also lived in Mass, and traveled alot throughout the midwest.

I personally know plenty of poor, working class people in rural Pennsylvania who fought tooth and nail against Wal Mart moving into their area, and have refused to buy a single thing there for years. So like I said, it's very possible to manage without Wal Mart.

[coda]

yeah, nyc has an active campaign to prevent Walmart from taking over the city.



http://walmartfreenyc.blogspot.com/

http://www.walmartfreenyc.com/pressclips.php

[redstar2000]

Originally posted by CompaneroDeLibertad
I personally know plenty of poor, working class people in rural Pennsylvania who fought tooth and nail against Wal Mart moving into their area, and have refused to buy a single thing there for years.

Then where do they shop?

Where do they buy all that "little shit" that they need?

Do they just "do without"?

Or perhaps shop "on line"? That is becoming a real alternative these days; Wal-Mart is actually more expensive to buy electronics from than buying on line.

Manhattan (or downtown San Francisco) is obviously very different...where you can buy almost anything 24/7/365 at hundreds of locations.

But consider my own situation after I fled New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina -- I had to replace everything pretty much. I ended up in southwestern Louisiana about 25 miles east of Beaumont, Texas. I needed clothes, bedding, a bathrobe, a microwave oven, a coffee-maker, extension cords and power strips...a whole bunch of "little shit". Where was I going to find this kind of stuff other than a Wal-Mart???

Drive to Beaumont? And visit half-a-dozen stores looking for this stuff? Or make one short trip and get everything I needed to "set up housekeeping" again?

I haven't been back since and see no reason to do so. But if I lived really close to Wal-Mart, I'd certainly shop for groceries there. Fortunately, I'm less than a block from a local super-market chain...and can get all my groceries there just by walking.

My furniture (such as it is :lol:) came from a thrift store...the furniture from Wal-Mart is notoriously shit.

But if I need shoes, I have no reasonable choice other than Wal-Mart...they only cost $15-20 and they're comfortable and durable.

One can certainly avoid any business as a "matter of principle"...I wouldn't have a dummyvision set (any brand) in my apartment if someone gave me one.

But I question the attitude of "moral superiority" that sometimes permeates these discussions. People have to buy their basic necessities from some corporation...and if they're close to a Wal-Mart, it simply makes sense for them to go there.

It's not a sign of "moral laxness".

At least not in my opinion. :P

http://www.websmileys.com/sm/cool/123.gif

[sapho]

The city of San Francisco has no WalMart. Walmart knows better than to come to S.F. :P

[Entrails Konfetti]

If any other businesses like Wal-Mart were in their position they'd be doing the same damned thing.

Thats imperialism folks.

[Atlas Swallowed]

Originally posted by [email protected] 9 2006, 12:25 AM
But I question the attitude of "moral superiority" that sometimes permeates these discussions. People have to buy their basic necessities from some corporation...and if they're close to a Wal-Mart, it simply makes sense for them to go there.
We all do business with corporations we loathe. Alot of us work for corporations we despise out of necessity. Wal Mart is one of the largest corporations in the world and responsible for alot of human misery worldwide. They should be a target of critisism and the Walton familly should be pulled out into the streets and clubbed to death. I agree though that sometimes you have to deal with the devil to survive. When the system is torn down that will be when Wal Mart and all corporations go. Nothing is going to stop me from hating them and all other crap franchises with a passion regardless.

[Seeker]

The good news is that if you can unionize a Wal-Mart, they will shut the store down.

So if you want them out of your town, contact your favored labor union, get yourself hired as a cashier or somthing, and start work on recruiting.

[enigma2517]

If any other businesses like Wal-Mart were in their position they'd be doing the same damned thing.

I agree, don't just hate the corporation, hate the system that it embodies.

I don't like Wal-Mart either but honestly whats the difference. If it helps people get by for the time being, then I don't see a reason why we shouldn't patronize it.

Most anti Wal-Mart stuff comes from small business owners and their complaints about how its ruining America.

Anything short of a revolution, Wal-Mart will continue to exploit people everywhere, no matter what. I don't really favor petty-bourgeoise or bourgeoise. Spend your time educating yourself and your peers and in the mean time do what you need to get by.

I have seen "Wal-Mart: High Cost of Low Price."

We shouldn't stop patronizing Wal-Mart (because that makes no difference and only makes our lives tougher). On the other hand, helping the local workers in your area unionize against Wal-Mart might be useful.

[deak]

Wal Mart having cheaper goods doesn't help the poor in the long run (quite the opposite), so Wal Mart is NOT a melevolant company that is helping poor folk get the shit they need. However it is a buisness that is helping create a class of undermployed folks who become their main customers. It is a place that perpetuates low wages nationwide (THEY ARE THE BIGGEST EMPLOYERS so they set the tone) thus making it so the consumer is addicted to their poorly made "CHEAP" (in all sences of the word) goods. IF wages increased with inflation, if stores such as Wal Mart were allowed to Unionize, and if folks had health care, they would not feel it so necessary to shop at Wal Mart.

Many cities have said no to Wal MArt, including Portland, Oregon and the city of Englewood California (quite a poor city).

One question: We all know that Wal Mart sells goods made in sweat shops, BUT is there any evidence that actually suggests that small buisinesses are less likely to sell goods made in sweat shops than Wal Mart? This seems to be an important piece of the equation. I mean if small buisnesses sell just as much sweat shopped goods, who's to say that we should be supporting THEM over Wal Mart? I mean of course there are other reasons to support local buisnesses, but I'm interested in this one point.

[PRC-UTE]

Would it be harder to organise one big union over dozens of different companies or through just one super chain like a walmart?

that was in fact one of Marx's predictions for what would create communism. As he and Engels put it, it would simplify things and make the situation where the bourgeoisie and proletariat face each other directly.