Everyone loves to save money. In the tough economic times of today, every dollar counts. For some families, saving twenty dollars a week can mean the difference between having food on the table or not. Whether out of necessity or just the thrill of getting a good deal, American families have been relying on “big box” retailers for inexpensive products for decades. There really is nothing quite like going into one store and being able to buy clothes, groceries, auto supplies, pet supplies and items for the home. An entire day’s worth of shopping can be done in one place at a fraction of the time, at very competitive prices. These same stores also hire hundreds of employees from the community and are thought to benefit the city and county greatly with their tax dollars.
It seems as though these retailers should be welcome with open arms when they look into building one of their mega-stores in America’s mid-sized communities. Closer inspection, however, should make citizens think twice before opening their communities to these corporations. Job loss, negative impact on the local economy and the low wages these stores pay are just a few reasons why big box retailers do more harm than good to the communities in which they locate.
A big box retailer is defined as a retail store that occupies an enormous amount of physical space and offers a variety of products to its customers. The term "big-box" is derived from the store's physical appearance. Located in large-scale buildings of more than 50,000 square feet, the store is usually plainly designed and often resembles a large box (Investopedia). Some of these stores, such as Wal-Mart, K-Mart and Target, provide consumers with a wide variety of goods. Others, deemed “cat...
... middle of paper ...
... if a community doesn’t have any businesses where people can work for a decent wage, where is that buck going to come from?
Works Cited
Big Box Tool Kit. “Five Myths About Big-Box Retail.” Institute for Local Self Reliance. 2009. Web. 27 Mar 2011.
Chambers, Susan. “Reviewing and Revising Wal-Mart’s Benefit Strategy.” Memo to Wal- Mart’s Board of Directors. 2006.
Civic Economics. “Andersonville Study of Retail Economics.” Oct 2004
Investopedia, terms. n.d. Web. 27 Mar 2011.
Neumark, David, Junfu Zhang, Stephen Ciccarella. “The Effects of Wal-Mart on Local Labor Markets.” Discussion Paper Series, Paper 2545, University of Bonn. Jan 2007
Ross, Thomas W. “Winners and Losers Under the Robinson-Patman Act.” Journal of Law and Economics. 1 Oct 1984, Vol. 27, No. 2: 243-271
Walmartfacts. Corporate Fact Sheet. Mar 2010. Web. 8 Apr 2011.
Walmart is bad for America, as some say. The Globalization essay that was handed out in class had many good points. It states that Walmart puts many smaller businesses out of service. A recent study by David Neumark of the University of California at Irvine and two associates at the Public Policy Institute of California, "The Effects of Wal-Mart on Local Labor Markets," uses sophisticated statistical analysis to estimate the effects on jobs and wages as Wal-Mart spread out from its original center in Arkansas. The authors find that retail employmen...
There is an evil company in Arkansas, some say. It's a discount store-a very, very big discount store-and it will do just about anything to get bigger. You've seen the headlines. Illegal immigrants mopping its floors. Workers locked inside overnight. A big gender discrimination suit. Wages low enough to make other companies' workers go on strike. And we know what it does to weaker su...
Wal-Mart represents the sickness of capitalism at its almost fully evolved state. As Jim Hightower said, "Why single out Wal-Mart? Because it's a hog. Despite the homespun image it cultivates in its ads, it operates with an arrogance and avarice that would make Enron blush and John D. Rockefeller envious. It's the world's biggest retail corporation and America's largest private employer; Sam Robson Walton, a member of the ruling family, is one of the richest people on earth. Wal-Mart and the Waltons got to the top the old-fashioned way: by roughing people up. Their low, low prices are the product of two ruthless commandments: Extract the last penny possible from human toil and squeeze the last dime from its thousands of suppliers, who are left with no profit margin unless they adopt the Wal-Mart model of using nonunion labor and shipping production to low-wage hellholes abroad." (The Nation, March 4th 2002 www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020304&s=hightower).
Wal-Mart, a "Big-Box Retailer" employs more than 2.1 million associates worldwide and has two-thousand seven-hundred stores in the United States with many more in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Central America, Chile, China, Germany, Japan, Korea, India, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the United Kingdom, making Wal-Mart the largest retailer in the world. "Wal-Mart accounts for upward of 30 percent of U.S. sales, and plans to more than double its sales within the next five years" (Lynn 29-36). Why is Wal-Mart so successful, and is Wal-Mart actually bad for America?
In general merchandise retailing, Wal-Mart’s primary competitors are Target and Kmart. Retail superstores such as Circuit City and Bed, Bath, and Beyond, also provide retail competition. A survey found that the majority of respondents favored Wal-Mart over stores like Target and Kmart. Respondents claimed Wal-Mart offered lower prices, better variety and selection, and good quality. The needs of consumers is an important economic feature in all competitive environments. What attributes (price, variety, quality, etc.) prompt buyers to choose one retailer over another is very important in the competitive landscape.
Mallaby admits Wal-Mart can treat their employees and other retailers unfairly, but as a result everyone can share in the 50 billion in savings that American shoppers consume annually. The pay that employees get is the price they must pay for low priced merchandise. Because of the minimal pay to employees, Wal-Mart strengthens its’ consumer buying power. Giving the American shoppers the savings they need, Wal-Mart’s has ultimately been them successful. Wal-Mart has potentially wiped out the middle class as an employer, but the employees can now work and ...
Economic forces have driven grocery stores out of many cities in the past few years, either only leaving only a few, and in some cases none. Many of these people leaving in these rural urban areas do not own cars and b...
“So what’s wrong if the country has 158 neighborhood California Pizza Kitchens instead of one or two?” Virginia Postrel inquires in her In Praise of Chain Stores essay (Postrel 348). In rebuttal, I plan to answer her question with more reasons than one. However, the responses I intend to offer apply not only to the CPKs of America, but for all the national retailers, big box stores, chain stores, and the like. National retailers destroy the local character of small towns. Chain stores should be limited to only run in a few highly populated urban areas. Furthermore, the costs saved in the convenience and familiarity of chain stores do not outweigh the negative economic impact and damaging effects that they can have on a community’s well-being.
Dollar Tree’s acquisition of the Family Dollar stores will better equip them to compete with the leaders in the market such as Wal-Mart, Target, and Dollar General. The acquisition of Family Dollar establishes a new giant of the dollar-discount industry; Dollar Tree will expand significantly to 13,000 stores throughout the United States and Canada (DollarTree.com, 2015). This acquisition also increases Dollar Trees’ access to markets with lower incomes, increases their buying power and their ability to negotiate greater discounts from suppliers while still discovering ways to reduce
The goal for my ethnographic study is subjected to the study of the people of Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is a place that varies from city to city, but still attracts many of the same people. Everyone knows the weird people that wear ridiculous things to do their normal routine of shopping. That is why I have chosen to do my mini ethnography one day while shopping as an insider at the local Wal-Mart in Auburn, Alabama. Wal-Mart is a large center for shopping that attracts many different types of people, while creating an environment within itself.
The purpose of this presentation is to provide a comparative analysis of business activities of two well-known representatives of the US retail industry, Target and Walmart. My research is focused on a business strategy of these largest and most experienced American merchandising companies; particularly, on their activities in Canada. Based on the data collected from the various sources, I would like to detect, analyze, and demonstrate the obvious causes that have lead to a catastrophic failure of Target in its unsuccessful attempt to win a Canadian market.
The opposing side believe that local businesses are suffering due to “big box stores” and not being able to give as big of discounts or have as big of a selection of products. “People say, ‘Well, you lost your little stores,’ and that’s true. But it’s money-driven...if its $5 cheaper at one of the larger stores, we take advantage of it. I guess that’s human nature.” Carl R. Baldus Jr.
Walmart has had a long-standing presence in America society since the middle of the 20th century, seen as a place to get everything done, Walmart has become a fixation in our society. From grocery shopping, to changing your oil and even filing your annual tax returns, Walmart is always there, everyday. Started by Sam Walton in 1962, it began as a small operation catering to a small Arkansas community. It was started on principles very similar to small local businesses in small towns. Today Walmart has gotten a different, darker reputation. On the surface, Walmart may seem like the solution to everyday issues. Low-income families are attracted to the low prices, and people who work odd hours benefit greatly from the 24 hours a day that many Walmarts are open. Lately, Walmart has also managed to be publicly recognized as a store that sells many of today’s green products, including organic food, environmental conscious cleaning products, as well as, paper products made from recycled paper. However, underneath all this, Walmart has a different side. Exploitation of its workers is widespread amongst Walmarts who do not belong to a union, especially in the United States. Wal...
Walmart needed high levels of growth to continue to survive and saturation of domestic market. Global retail expansion has attracted many large-sized companies with targets to increase business profits and market share. Global expansion not only attracts large organizations but also small to medium-sized companies, companies new to international expansion, as well as those who are already expanding in the international arena. However, there are also well-known retailers who failed in their expansion in certain global markets due to regulatory, legal and cultural challenges, competition, and attempting to change local shopping behavior. The lower pricing strategy was their basic strategy to expand Walmart’s philosophy, “Every Day Low Price” to all parts of the world. The only challenge was the distribution system; the company had given in to union demands from the state-run. Walmart was not influenced. The marketing strategies still involved huge discounts and great values on all of their products, similar to strategies in their home country: maintaining low prices every day, especially middle-class customers, yet maintaining profits. They also suggested
On the other hand, most factors prove otherwise. The retail industry does not have high Economies of Scale to be exploited in general . Yet, it is impossible to run department stores like Metro on a small scale . A large retail space, inventory, and warehouse are necessary to host a specialized portfolio of brands and products to better attract both customers and suppliers. Heavy capital requirements and operational expen...