The Growth of Walmart

[Random Variable]

http://projects.flowingdata.com/walmart/

it reminds me of the movie War Games

 

[darkxshade]

wow, that was awesome

 

[Vehemence]

That shit's pretty cool.

Still not a lot (in relation) on the west....

 

[HardcoreRobot]

neato

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

So you're saying Walmart hates Nevada?

 

[mattocs]

Pretty cool. I used to hate Walmart...but then I realized how much I could save getting my groceries there...

I still don't buy my meat from Walmart. I go to the meat market for that...

 

[EvilYoda]

That was awesome. Like Missile Command played by a methhead.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Didn't realize it took that many years before it came to Ohio.

 

[BudAshes]

Too bad so little of what they sell is actually made in America.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: BudAshes
Too bad so little of what they sell is actually made in America.

Go purchase something else then, you can make your own choices. If need be, open up your own shop.

 

[Slew Foot]

I like Walmarts in relatively upscale areas, the ones in poorer areas are always filled with rednecks and illegal immigrants.

 

[darkxshade]

When is a Walmart going to pop up in Manhattan, New York.

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: BudAshes
Too bad so little of what they sell is actually made in America.

And you think Target is any better?

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: dNor
That shit's pretty cool.

Still not a lot (in relation) on the west....

Every corner east of the mississippi

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: darkxshade
When is a Walmart going to pop up in Manhattan, New York.

When Walmart pays New York City enough to allow thousands of small shop to dissapear overnight.

 

[BudAshes]

Originally posted by: vi edit

Originally posted by: BudAshes
Too bad so little of what they sell is actually made in America.

And you think Target is any better?

That seems like a completely random tangent, but to answer your question, no I dont think target is any better.

 

[imported_Lothar]

Originally posted by: BudAshes
Too bad so little of what they sell is actually made in America.

Why should I(or anyone else) give a crap where a product is made?

I don't care if it's made in Antarctica, Japan, or Thailand. If I like the product, I buy it.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: darkxshade
When is a Walmart going to pop up in Manhattan, New York.

When Walmart pays New York City enough to allow thousands of small shop to dissapear overnight.

Yeah, because competition is bad, right? :roll:

If you coddle non-competitive stores by keeping their competition out, you do nothing but screw the consumer.

 

[Queasy]

Would. You. Like. To. Play. A. Game?

 

[Modelworks]

It is not that Walmart has lots of stores. It is how they use their popularity to pressure manufacturers into making lower quality merchandise .
Read about Snapper and Walmart.

Full story at: http://www.fastcompany.com/mag.../102/open_snapper.html

The Man Who Said No to Wal-Mart
Every year, thousands of executives venture to Bentonville, Arkansas, hoping to get their products onto the shelves of the world's biggest retailer. But Jim Wier wanted Wal-Mart to stop selling his Snapper mowers.

hat struck Jim Wier first, as he entered the Wal-Mart vice president's office, was the seating area for visitors. "It was just some lawn chairs that some other peddler had left behind as samples." The vice president's office was furnished with a folding lawn chair and a chaise lounge.

And so Wier, the CEO of lawn-equipment maker Simplicity, dressed in a suit, took a seat on the chaise lounge. "I sat forward, of course, with my legs off to the side. If you've ever sat in a lawn chair, well, they are lower than regular chairs. And I was on the chaise. It was a bit intimidating. It was uncomfortable, and it was going to be an uncomfortable meeting."

It was a Wal-Mart moment that couldn't be scripted, or perhaps even imagined. A vice president responsible for billions of dollars' worth of business in the largest company in history has his visitors sit in mismatched, cast-off lawn chairs that Wal-Mart quite likely never had to pay for.

The vice president had a bigger surprise for Wier, though. Wal-Mart not only wanted to keep selling his lawn mowers, it wanted to sell lots more of them. Wal-Mart wanted to sell mowers nose-to-nose against Home Depot and Lowe's.

"Usually," says Wier, "I don't perspire easily." But perched on the edge of his chaise, "I felt my arms getting drippy."

Wier took a breath and said, "Let me tell you why it doesn't work."

Tens of thousands of executives make the pilgrimage to northwest Arkansas every year to woo Wal-Mart, marshaling whatever arguments, data, samples, and pure persuasive power they have in the hope of an order for their products, or an increase in their current order. Almost no matter what you're selling, the gravitational force of Wal-Mart's 3,811 U.S. "doorways" is irresistible. Very few people fly into Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport thinking about telling Wal-Mart no, or no more.

In 2002, Jim Wier's company, Simplicity, was buying Snapper, a complementary company with a 50-year heritage of making high-quality residential and commercial lawn equipment. Wier had studied his new acquisition enough to conclude that continuing to sell Snapper mowers through Wal-Mart stores was, as he put it, "incompatible with our strategy. And I felt I owed them a visit to tell them why we weren't going to continue to sell to them."

Selling Snapper lawn mowers at Wal-Mart wasn't just incompatible with Snapper's future--Wier thought it was hazardous to Snapper's health. Snapper is known in the outdoor-equipment business not for huge volume but for quality, reliability, durability. A well-maintained Snapper lawn mower will last decades; many customers buy the mowers as adults because their fathers used them when they were kids. But Snapper lawn mowers are not cheap, any more than a Viking range is cheap. The value isn't in the price, it's in the performance and the longevity.

You can buy a lawn mower at Wal-Mart for $99.96, and depending on the size and location of the store, there are slightly better models for every additional $20 bill you're willing to put down--priced at $122, $138, $154, $163, and $188. That's six models of lawn mowers below $200. Mind you, in some Wal-Marts you literally cannot see what you are buying; there are no display models, just lawn mowers in huge cardboard boxes.

 

[CptCrunch]

neat, love the random explosions of walmart stores in the early and late 80s

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: Modelworks
It is not that Walmart has lots of stores. It is how they use their popularity to pressure manufacturers into making lower quality merchandise .
Read about Snapper and Walmart.

The Man Who Said No to Wal-Mart
Every year, thousands of executives venture to Bentonville, Arkansas, hoping to get their products onto the shelves of the world's biggest retailer. But Jim Wier wanted Wal-Mart to stop selling his Snapper mowers.

hat struck Jim Wier first, as he entered the Wal-Mart vice president's office, was the seating area for visitors. "It was just some lawn chairs that some other peddler had left behind as samples." The vice president's office was furnished with a folding lawn chair and a chaise lounge.

And so Wier, the CEO of lawn-equipment maker Simplicity, dressed in a suit, took a seat on the chaise lounge. "I sat forward, of course, with my legs off to the side. If you've ever sat in a lawn chair, well, they are lower than regular chairs. And I was on the chaise. It was a bit intimidating. It was uncomfortable, and it was going to be an uncomfortable meeting."

It was a Wal-Mart moment that couldn't be scripted, or perhaps even imagined. A vice president responsible for billions of dollars' worth of business in the largest company in history has his visitors sit in mismatched, cast-off lawn chairs that Wal-Mart quite likely never had to pay for.

The vice president had a bigger surprise for Wier, though. Wal-Mart not only wanted to keep selling his lawn mowers, it wanted to sell lots more of them. Wal-Mart wanted to sell mowers nose-to-nose against Home Depot and Lowe's.

"Usually," says Wier, "I don't perspire easily." But perched on the edge of his chaise, "I felt my arms getting drippy."

Wier took a breath and said, "Let me tell you why it doesn't work."

Tens of thousands of executives make the pilgrimage to northwest Arkansas every year to woo Wal-Mart, marshaling whatever arguments, data, samples, and pure persuasive power they have in the hope of an order for their products, or an increase in their current order. Almost no matter what you're selling, the gravitational force of Wal-Mart's 3,811 U.S. "doorways" is irresistible. Very few people fly into Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport thinking about telling Wal-Mart no, or no more.

In 2002, Jim Wier's company, Simplicity, was buying Snapper, a complementary company with a 50-year heritage of making high-quality residential and commercial lawn equipment. Wier had studied his new acquisition enough to conclude that continuing to sell Snapper mowers through Wal-Mart stores was, as he put it, "incompatible with our strategy. And I felt I owed them a visit to tell them why we weren't going to continue to sell to them."

Selling Snapper lawn mowers at Wal-Mart wasn't just incompatible with Snapper's future--Wier thought it was hazardous to Snapper's health. Snapper is known in the outdoor-equipment business not for huge volume but for quality, reliability, durability. A well-maintained Snapper lawn mower will last decades; many customers buy the mowers as adults because their fathers used them when they were kids. But Snapper lawn mowers are not cheap, any more than a Viking range is cheap. The value isn't in the price, it's in the performance and the longevity.

You can buy a lawn mower at Wal-Mart for $99.96, and depending on the size and location of the store, there are slightly better models for every additional $20 bill you're willing to put down--priced at $122, $138, $154, $163, and $188. That's six models of lawn mowers below $200. Mind you, in some Wal-Marts you literally cannot see what you are buying; there are no display models, just lawn mowers in huge cardboard boxes.

So what? The success of Walmart obviously means they are selling what a large enough percentage of people want, at prices they want.

Why is it bad to sell cheaper lawn mowers at $99? Why is it bad to sell cheaper goods that the lower classes can afford? Should they be forced to do without because elitists don't like that walmart sells cheaper goods? Should they be forced to buy used equipment? Or is it just that you don't believe the poor should cut their lawns at all?

The most elitist part of the hate walmart bandwaggon is displayed right in this very thread: Walmart sucks because it's filled with redecks and minorities.

Wow... a store that becomes successful by offering better selection, prices and a higher quality of life than ever before to the poorest among us is bad because those poorest among us go there.

hmmmm....

 

[rudder]

Getting some of that stock in 1969 would have been nice.

 

[DaTT]

Originally posted by: rudder
Getting some of that stock in 1969 would have been nice.

QFT!

 

[PHiuR]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: Modelworks
It is not that Walmart has lots of stores. It is how they use their popularity to pressure manufacturers into making lower quality merchandise .
Read about Snapper and Walmart.

The Man Who Said No to Wal-Mart
Every year, thousands of executives venture to Bentonville, Arkansas, hoping to get their products onto the shelves of the world's biggest retailer. But Jim Wier wanted Wal-Mart to stop selling his Snapper mowers.

hat struck Jim Wier first, as he entered the Wal-Mart vice president's office, was the seating area for visitors. "It was just some lawn chairs that some other peddler had left behind as samples." The vice president's office was furnished with a folding lawn chair and a chaise lounge.

And so Wier, the CEO of lawn-equipment maker Simplicity, dressed in a suit, took a seat on the chaise lounge. "I sat forward, of course, with my legs off to the side. If you've ever sat in a lawn chair, well, they are lower than regular chairs. And I was on the chaise. It was a bit intimidating. It was uncomfortable, and it was going to be an uncomfortable meeting."

It was a Wal-Mart moment that couldn't be scripted, or perhaps even imagined. A vice president responsible for billions of dollars' worth of business in the largest company in history has his visitors sit in mismatched, cast-off lawn chairs that Wal-Mart quite likely never had to pay for.

The vice president had a bigger surprise for Wier, though. Wal-Mart not only wanted to keep selling his lawn mowers, it wanted to sell lots more of them. Wal-Mart wanted to sell mowers nose-to-nose against Home Depot and Lowe's.

"Usually," says Wier, "I don't perspire easily." But perched on the edge of his chaise, "I felt my arms getting drippy."

Wier took a breath and said, "Let me tell you why it doesn't work."

Tens of thousands of executives make the pilgrimage to northwest Arkansas every year to woo Wal-Mart, marshaling whatever arguments, data, samples, and pure persuasive power they have in the hope of an order for their products, or an increase in their current order. Almost no matter what you're selling, the gravitational force of Wal-Mart's 3,811 U.S. "doorways" is irresistible. Very few people fly into Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport thinking about telling Wal-Mart no, or no more.

In 2002, Jim Wier's company, Simplicity, was buying Snapper, a complementary company with a 50-year heritage of making high-quality residential and commercial lawn equipment. Wier had studied his new acquisition enough to conclude that continuing to sell Snapper mowers through Wal-Mart stores was, as he put it, "incompatible with our strategy. And I felt I owed them a visit to tell them why we weren't going to continue to sell to them."

Selling Snapper lawn mowers at Wal-Mart wasn't just incompatible with Snapper's future--Wier thought it was hazardous to Snapper's health. Snapper is known in the outdoor-equipment business not for huge volume but for quality, reliability, durability. A well-maintained Snapper lawn mower will last decades; many customers buy the mowers as adults because their fathers used them when they were kids. But Snapper lawn mowers are not cheap, any more than a Viking range is cheap. The value isn't in the price, it's in the performance and the longevity.

You can buy a lawn mower at Wal-Mart for $99.96, and depending on the size and location of the store, there are slightly better models for every additional $20 bill you're willing to put down--priced at $122, $138, $154, $163, and $188. That's six models of lawn mowers below $200. Mind you, in some Wal-Marts you literally cannot see what you are buying; there are no display models, just lawn mowers in huge cardboard boxes.

So what? The success of Walmart obviously means they are selling what a large enough percentage of people want, at prices they want.

Why is it bad to sell cheaper lawn mowers at $99? Why is it bad to sell cheaper goods that the lower classes can afford? Should they be forced to do without because elitists don't like that walmart sells cheaper goods? Should they be forced to buy used equipment? Or is it just that you don't believe the poor should cut their lawns at all?

The most elitist part of the hate walmart bandwaggon is displayed right in this very thread: Walmart sucks because it's filled with redecks and minorities.

Wow... a store that becomes successful by offering better selection, prices and a higher quality of life than ever before to the poorest among us is bad because those poorest among us go there.

hmmmm....

i don't feel like getting too deep into this, but wal-mart is part of the pollution and not the solution to poverty.