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Help settle this arguement..

L

LuDaCriS66

Platinum Member
Okay, I've got a friend and she's from a smaller town and her parents own a small store. Basically, she firmly believes that big corporate stores like Wal-Mart are terrible for small towns like hers because they kill smaller businesses. Another friend argues that they're actually good because they benefit the towns economy more than the smaller stores do.

Who's right?
 
Big stores are good for normal consumers:
[*]they're cheap
[*]they boost a town's economy
[*]they provide jobs for locals
[*]they give people more variety and competition (which drives prices down)
[*]they can often 'clean up' a bad area of town

They're only bad for old-economy non-competitive businesses like mom-n-pop store owners. For most communities, Target and Wal-Mart are extremely beneficial.
 
your friend who has the family business being threatened by WalMart is right.

It's been played out all over this country, in small towns and rural communities especially. Small retailers have a hard enough time surviving as it is. Bring in any big retailer (there may be others, but WalMart seems to be the worst) that can cut prices to the bone, and the result is that the local businesses are killed off. The secondary result is that small local/regional manufacturers lose the retailers they supplied, and can't produce enough to supply WalMart (or cheap enough to compete with off-shore labor), so they die too. When the median income decreases, property values follow. And sales of cars, or major appliances drop off, too. See where it's going?

Check This Out

I've seen a town square go from a community hub to almost a ghost town, since WalMart built a store just off the main drag.

:|
 
Originally posted by: LuDaCriS66
Okay, I've got a friend and she's from a smaller town and her parents own a small store. Basically, she firmly believes that big corporate stores like Wal-Mart are terrible for small towns like hers because they kill smaller businesses. Another friend argues that they're actually good because they benefit the towns economy more than the smaller stores do.

Who's right?
Click to expand...

a big chain store helps all of the consumers in the small town with lower prices/less cost of their household goods, but obviously put the owners of small stores out of business

so it depends on who you mean/how many people are harmed/benefit

if you are looking for the most people affected to the posivitve, then big store/Wal-Mart coming into town is good

she just thinks its bad because her parents have to move on to a new business/new jobs , but less people are negatively affected for sure
 
They're both right.

Originally posted by: jumpr
Big stores are good for normal consumers:
[*]they're cheap
[*]they boost a town's economy
[*]they provide jobs for locals
[*]they give people more variety and competition (which drives prices down)
[*]they can often 'clean up' a bad area of town

They're only bad for old-economy non-competitive businesses like mom-n-pop store owners. For most communities, Target and Wal-Mart are extremely beneficial.
Click to expand...

Mega-corp stores provide goods at very good prices because of their logistics and effiency, but they are after all big corporations with no major stake in the community. Do you think BestBuy or Walmart cares about a specific little town? If things slow down or for whatever reason the stores are not doing well, the big corporations simply close the store and move it somewhere else - and don't care about their employees. They have no "vested interest" in the town or village. Mom and pop stores are usually run by families that live in the community, and thus have a vested interest. Thus, smaller family run stores that have ties to the community can sometimes also provide better insulation against "tough times" for smaller communities because they don't leave on a whim, they have more than just money invested.

As a consumer, you might want the lowest prices and the convenience of a large mega store, but don't forget that often it is very beneficial to also have mom and pop stores -- they provide other benefits that mega stores cannot provide.
 
Originally posted by: LuDaCriS66
Great arguements. It's just that my friend is so dead set against it but I understand with her being in that position.
Click to expand...

she is against the wal-mart because her family is directly negatively impacted. it is in her/their best interest to keep their business , it really isn't a situation/arguement that you can change her mind about, because self preservation is natural
 
If the residents of a town like to shop at Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart can do business in that town then let the damn town have a Wal-Mart. Why is it that people think that consumers shouldn't be able to choose where the hell they shop? The reason why the "mom & pop" stores go out of business is because their stuff is overpriced. Wal-Mart takes care of that and so the townfolk are happier to have lower prices on the stuff they buy.
 
Originally posted by: Hitman32
If the residents of a town like to shop at Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart can do business in that town then let the damn town have a Wal-Mart. Why is it that people think that consumers shouldn't be able to choose where the hell they shop? The reason why the "mom & pop" stores go out of business is because their stuff is overpriced. Wal-Mart takes care of that and so the townfolk are happier to have lower prices on the stuff they buy.
Click to expand...
The reason mom and pop shops go out of business is not because they are overpriced. Corporations like Walmart can go into a town and have a huge sale where the mom and pop shop can not compete. The companies can and have lowered their prices until the mom and pop shops are gone and then they can set their prices back up for an increased profit.
 
Originally posted by: minendo
The companies can and have lowered their prices until the mom and pop shops are gone and then they can set their prices back up for an increased profit.
Click to expand...

i don't think this part really happens, Wal-Mart and Target etc have fairly standard pricing

i can't accept that argument without some back up

i have shopped at walmarts all over the country and they are cheap
 
It definitely threatens their business, but those not involved with the small business will benefit from it as walmart DOES have some sweet prices.
 
Originally posted by: minendo
Originally posted by: Hitman32
If the residents of a town like to shop at Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart can do business in that town then let the damn town have a Wal-Mart. Why is it that people think that consumers shouldn't be able to choose where the hell they shop? The reason why the "mom & pop" stores go out of business is because their stuff is overpriced. Wal-Mart takes care of that and so the townfolk are happier to have lower prices on the stuff they buy.
Click to expand...
The reason mom and pop shops go out of business is not because they are overpriced. Corporations like Walmart can go into a town and have a huge sale where the mom and pop shop can not compete. The companies can and have lowered their prices until the mom and pop shops are gone and then they can set their prices back up for an increased profit.
Click to expand...

You would think that it would work that way but it doesn't. The reason being: most of the items in the Wal-Mart have a fixed retail price. This retail price is nation wide price that is set by the wholesalers who sell to Wal-Mart. If Wal-Mart increased their prices to get more profits the companies would stop selling to them. Case in point: shortages during Christmas time. Remember toys like Tickle Me Elmo that had shortages during Xmas time? Well Wal-Mart and other stores would have LOVED to increase the price on those things and rake in some SERIOUS $$$$. But they aren't allowed to and so they just sold every single one and people were scalping them on eBay and in the classified ads etc.

 
Originally posted by: FoBoT
Originally posted by: minendo
The companies can and have lowered their prices until the mom and pop shops are gone and then they can set their prices back up for an increased profit.
Click to expand...

i don't think this part really happens, Wal-Mart and Target etc have fairly standard pricing

i can't accept that argument without some back up

i have shopped at walmarts all over the country and they are cheap
Click to expand...
I agree with FoBot. I have never been to a Walmart that didn't have at least competitive prices. If anything, Walmart has BETTER than competitive prices.

Walmart > *

Spac3d
Walmart stock owner
 
Originally posted by: FoBoT
Originally posted by: minendo
The companies can and have lowered their prices until the mom and pop shops are gone and then they can set their prices back up for an increased profit.
Click to expand...

i don't think this part really happens, Wal-Mart and Target etc have fairly standard pricing

i can't accept that argument without some back up

i have shopped at walmarts all over the country and they are cheap
Click to expand...
A few years back the new Walmart super center up in SB had a huge grand opening sale which lasted quite some time. I know many of their prices are standard, but these prices were slightly less than the prices at the regular Walmart only a few miles away in Niles, MI. Once Target and KMart started to suffer it seemed as though the prices went up to the same as the ones in Niles. I am just speaking from this experience I had so please don't take my argument for more than it is worth.

 
Originally posted by: Skoorb
It definitely threatens their business, but those not involved with the small business will benefit from it as walmart DOES have some sweet prices.
Click to expand...

That's just it - everyone IS involved with small business. You may be a few links away from it, but small businesses impact everyone, especially in smaller communities. As I mentioned in my earlier post, it's not just the smaller retailers who suffer, their suppliers do, too.

It might be one thing IF workers in other countries could be consumers of US-made goods, so that there really was a global exchange going on, but that's not the reality. Whatever product YOU make, or service you offer, is affected when American workers (retail or manufacturing) get laid off, or have to take jobs for lower pay.

If your manager lets you go one day, because they found someone that will do the job for 10% of what they're paying you, don't feel too bad - it's happened to lots of others. Maybe you can get a job as a greeter at WalMart, if there's not too much competition from all the other laid-off people.
 
They both are, but she is more right. Big corporations siphon money from smaller communities, while not contributing nearly as much. Walmart specifically targets smaller communities <=20,000, so they have an easier time becoming the only business in town.
 
Originally posted by: compudog
Originally posted by: Moonbeam
Walmart is a cancer that feeds off people's desire for short term cheep.
Click to expand...

Agreed.
Click to expand...

And Wal-Mart has a habit of biilding an extra Wal-Mart on the other side of town, and when it becomes apparent that it's a monopoly, they close one - and all the employees are given pink slips
rolleye.gif
.
 
Amen.

It ruins the excitement of being able to find something new and exciting in stores.
Try going to Europe and look at how rich their shopping experiences are.

Its similar to if you look at restaurants.

Chain restaurants (Fridays, Chilis, Applebees, etc) are a dime a dozen and most of them serve very similar food. I am not talking the high end chain restaurants (like nice steakhouses). But these places destroy local food restaurants because they have bigger budgets and can outmarket their experience better than locals. I am not saying if a local restaurant has bad food it should stay in business, but I am saying it makes it much more difficult for a new restaurant to open in a chain dominated market. My point: I think it is sad to see areas that are so dominated by chain restaurants that people don't even realize that most of these places serve the same re-hashed food. In the long run (years down the road) people won't know originality, all they will know is corporate marketing on what they should think is original.
 
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