TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: What Wal-Mart Knows About Customers' Habits

Re: What Wal-Mart Knows About Customers' Habits

dold@XReXXWhatX.usenet.us.com
Fri, 19 Nov 2004 18:49:42 UTC

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: that closely. There was a K-Mart in
> the complex where Walmart is located; Walmart drove them out of
> business two years ago. On the

In Napa, California, there was a very old KMart store in a "strip
mall" with a few other stores. The Lucky's grocery store closed when
Alpha Beta bought Lucky's, and they kept a store open a couple of
blocks away.

KMart wanted to expand, opening one of their newer Super-KMarts,
taking over the Lucky's space. Napa said no. They didn't want the
expansion. They wanted another store to move in to Lucky's.

KMart closed the store as too small and too old for their new network.
The other little shops closed without the major draws in the shopping
center.

Six months later, Walmart razed the entire strip mall and built a new
store that encompassed more square footage than the entire complex had
before, and they are the sole store in the complex.

Did Napa make a mistake, and decide to take an offer from Walmart?
Had they already received the offer from Walmart before KMart asked?

I was surprised that Walmart would put a store in Napa, since there
was already one in American Canyon, 14 miles away. Since then, they
have applied for a move of the American Canyon store to a larger
position 3 miles closer to Napa.

Other stores can stay in business, but only in little tiny niches. No
one can compete with Walmart. A new move by Walmart will leave
merchandise in the inventory of the supplier until it is sold. $60
billion will disappear from Walmart books. This would really be "just
in time". It would never belong to Walmart. It would be sold
directly from the distributor to the consumer at the Walmart checkout.

I think that is how Amazon.com operates with some of their suppliers,
but they don't have physical control of the item, it remains with the
distributor, who might route it elsewhere. In the Walmart case, it
wouldn't be available for other use by the distributor.

Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Distance between stores is not an issue
for Walmart. In addition to ours here, they have another one in
Coffeyville, and others throughout southeast Kansas. PAT]

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