Watch Wal-Mart Take Over America

1. Idil
   January 5th, 2009 at 8:29 pm

   Like a disease!

   Any ideas why there are so many on the coasts and the east, but not any on the west?

2. Ashlie
   January 5th, 2009 at 9:06 pm

   I guess because those areas are more scarcely populated...

3. Ashlie
   January 5th, 2009 at 9:07 pm

   *** I meant Less populated.

4. Adam D. Jones
   January 5th, 2009 at 9:11 pm

   You use the term "take over" while the link uses the phrase "watch Wal-Mart grow." I don't see anything negative about this. I don't make much money and depend on Wal-Mart because of their prices. It doesn't bother me to see them spread.

5. Gauldar
   January 5th, 2009 at 9:28 pm

   Hmm, I would have thought there to be more Walmarts in the bible belt areas. I guess they just pop up where ever there is money.

6. Paul in Boca
   January 5th, 2009 at 9:36 pm

   Wal Mart, the Evil Empire

7. Essie
   January 5th, 2009 at 9:45 pm

   and they didn't even include the many wal-marts in canada.. bahhh

8. AJ
   January 5th, 2009 at 9:49 pm

   I'll never shop at Wal-mart. I'm still mourning the loss of Gemco from the '80s.

   Never forget.

9. Katy
   January 5th, 2009 at 9:58 pm

   Anyone seen "Wall-E"? Thats what we're headed for

10. Rocky
    January 5th, 2009 at 9:58 pm

    I'm siding with Adam. Wal-Mart is an international success story, and there are a lot of lessons to be learned from their success. They offer goods at low prices. Isn't that a help to the poor? Aren't there at least a few good points to having Wal-Marts?

11. SenorMysterioso
    January 5th, 2009 at 9:58 pm

    The city council where I live, a large Denver Suburb, decided not to let Walmart build here but they went literally across the street to cross the city border. They are not technically in our city but may as well be because its our police that respond to the area and our maitenance crews that take care of the streets and drainage surrounding it. This is the third Super Walmart that has gone up in the other city in the last decade and I would not be surprised if they built another because they get a lot of money from Walmart in exchange for certain tax exemptions.

    In general I dont really care if Walmart builds. I was disappointed about the location of this one because they destroyed a BMX track in an open field that my friends and I spent an entire summer building about 18 years ago and has been used by kids ever since. Also about a dozen businesses that were on the same property are now gone.

    Since its been built there has already been an increase in crime in that neighbourhood, including on the Walmart premises.

    I dont shop there, not because of some moral judgement against Walmart but because I am not comfortable in Walmart and can afford to shop in a place that does not make me uncomfortable.

12. Larry
    January 5th, 2009 at 10:03 pm

    What did y'all think when the mom-n-pops were driven out by Seas, Montgomery Ward, James Cash Pennhy, Woolworths, Rexall, Safeway, Walgreens, and so forth.

    What IS IT with you lefties that you hate a successful business that provides value to its customers, takes care of its employees, and is first on the line when the community is in a jam?

13. Larry
    January 5th, 2009 at 10:07 pm

    For the prior commenter: Did Walmart destroy the BMX track, or did the city council?

    I can afford to shop anywhere I want and where I want to shop most often is Walmart--better fresh produce, better value on lots of other things. (I don't buy much meat there--I don't like theirs much.)

    And they take care of people like truck drivers who need a place to stop and sleep--lots of places don't allow anyplace for trucks to stop and rest.

14. Idil
    January 5th, 2009 at 10:15 pm

    I really like Walmart. Perfect for a college student. I don't understand what's worse about it than all those other places like Target, etc. I heard they dont treat their workers well, but in the US people have a choice where to work. And, really, they should deal with it, because there are much worse situations.

    I lived in Europe most of my life and wish there were something like it there. Saves sooo much money and so much time...

15. Dave
    January 5th, 2009 at 10:47 pm

    I'm sure you would've seen a similar spread with McDonald's or Starbucks, but no negativity about them. Personally, I avoid Walmart because the people that frequent the place creep me out (the ones in the blue vests more so than the people who shop there), but it's obvious that they're doing something right. The one exception I make is for some OTC meds; their generic 12-hr decongestant is about half the price of other drug stores.

16. Christophe
    January 5th, 2009 at 11:13 pm

    I'm amazed at the first five years rate of development (69-75). I wish I could see the business plan : either the ROI was insanely amazing or they came up with a huge financing solution (surely both).

17. JS
    January 5th, 2009 at 11:33 pm

    If Wal-Mart paid a living wage, a lot fewer people would be opposed to Wal-mart.

18. SparkS
    January 5th, 2009 at 11:38 pm

    Any company that is not union is fine with me. The unions have destroyed the U.S. auto industry. When the leftists cram the card check law down our throats as a payback to the unions they'll go after Walmart first, you watch. The law is nothing less than unionization by intimidation. So much for the secret ballot. Ain't it great?

    One thing that does bother me about WalMart is that 90% (my guess) of what they sell is made in China. So it's not so much the takeover of the U.S. by WalMart
    that worries me. It's the takeover by the Chinese.

    Gauldar "Hmm, I would have thought there to be more Walmarts in the bible belt areas....."

    What is it you are trying to say?

19. Sheldon
    January 5th, 2009 at 11:41 pm

    Good ole Missouri looks like we have the chicken pox.
    It's not completely right, though.
    We have four Wal-Marts in and out of the city limits of Columbia, and they only show one dot. Hmmmm.

20. AJ
    January 6th, 2009 at 12:30 am

    I'm pretty sure what sunk the US auto industry was selling cars no one wants to buy, on top of very poor business practices. Unions rock. Bad management sucks.

21. SenorMysterioso
    January 6th, 2009 at 12:54 am

    Larry it was Walmart the plowed it down to build their store but the city that acquired the land to be used as a retail space. Its not like I had any real claim to that land, nor did any of the kids that used it but it was still a bummer to see years of hand built ramps dozed over in a day. I have two family members that work for Walmart, both of them hate it but its extra income and they could quit if they want to. Their biggest complaint is that Walmart does not give them enough hours to qualify as full time and get benefits.

22. Gabi
    January 6th, 2009 at 1:30 am

    During my internship, I lived in a place where Walmart wasn't conveniently accessible. After I got over my addiction to Walmart, I learned that there was a lot of crap I used to buy that I don't need. How many other people came in the store to buy some oven cleaner and walked out with a coffeemaker, new lipstick, four ill-fitting but cheap shirts and a couple 2 for $11 DVDs you will probably never watch? Perhaps I'm bitter towards Walmart (and malls) because I despise slow-moving people. Walmart should do like the escalators on the Metro and designate areas for those that walk and those that walk-so-slowly-they're-practically-standing.

    Unions have a good and bad side. They protect the workers rights by limiting the amount of hours per week the company forces you to take as well as ensuring you get paid comfortably and far better than what we non-union workers get. However, limiting worktime also limits the quality of the quantity of work we received from them. Also, it's much harder for me to find a new job since most paint shops are unionized. Such is life...

23. BenJCarter
    January 6th, 2009 at 3:17 am

    Spread like a virus... Or a good business model?

    Is business a bad thing?

    How much are you making off Neato's advertising?

24. ted
    January 6th, 2009 at 8:10 am

    Funny. Use a world map, and then only show US Wal-Marts.
    Myopic and slanted.

25. Gerry
    January 6th, 2009 at 9:02 am

    Spread like any other retailer.... Sears, JCPenny, whatever.

    I'm sick of the 'anti-Walmart' propaganda. They put a regional warehouse in here and the protesters started up immediately -- until the local news did some digging and found out that they paid BETTER than the other warehouses for the same jobs and had better benefits.

    It's the UNIONS behind the propaganda that are the real danger to the US, not Wal-Mart....

26. Stacy
    January 6th, 2009 at 9:04 am

    To be fair, I would have said the same thing about Starbucks. They are also infiltrating America at a ridiculous rate (despite the recent store closures). And I love Starbucks. Soooo... just clarifying.

27. nicleT
    January 6th, 2009 at 2:24 pm

    So "America" means USA?

28. notfromconcentrate
    January 6th, 2009 at 3:53 pm

    Will you anti capitalist Walmart haters please focus yourselves on a real problem like Government waste or something? If people didn't want to shop at Walmart, they would not spread. You are just railing against the free choice of millions of people all for a misguided psuedo political ideology that despises anything that doesn't fit with your urbane progressive snobbery. Shut up for god's sake.

29. Wes
    January 6th, 2009 at 6:49 pm

    "If people didn’t want to shop at Walmart, they would not spread."

    That is not entirely true. Many people would rather give their business to the so-called "mom and pop" shops, but such stores are, unfortunately, only open around 9-5, especially in smaller towns. People who work can't make it to those stores during those hours, so they're forced to do their shopping at Wal-Mart. Such is the reason Wal-Mart always does so well in small towns.

    Sad thing is, "Mom and Pop" can't afford to stay open 24 hours in order to compete.

30. Rocky Rook
    January 7th, 2009 at 11:07 am

    What a tremendous success story! As said before, a map like this could be made for Starbucks, McDonald's, the number of people who have a PC that runs Windows or Apple and on and one.

31. notfromconcentrate
    January 7th, 2009 at 4:37 pm

    "Many people would rather give their business to the so-called “mom and pop” shops, but such stores are, unfortunately, only open around 9-5."

    "Sad thing is, “Mom and Pop” can’t afford to stay open 24 hours in order to compete."

    Note to mom and pop: Change your hours and stay in business. I grew up in a small town with a walmart that has never been open for 24 hours. It's called competition. In high school, I worked for a locally owned grocer in the same town as a huge wallmart and our hours were 8-midnight. We did fine. In fact, that store, along with the local walmart, has grown. Capitalism is an amazing thing when you don't hate it.

32. sigh
    May 4th, 2009 at 11:43 pm

    Well, if you're going to take such a negative tone towards WalMart by calling it a virus, why don't you compare it to the spread of Obama's popularity. Talk about a fast spreading cancer. Graph that one!

33. Alexander Herrera
    October 20th, 2009 at 5:39 am

    Walmart is not the power house that every body thinks it is. first and foremost Walmart is a low price point product leader. That type of business model is not sustainable although it may appear that walmart is spreading like a virus. What you may not know is Walmart is having major problems with profit. Remember Newberrys,Zoody's,Woolworth,super K mart they too were low price point product leaders and did last a good 18 plus years. But guess what they all went bankrupt and gone forever.Pricing your product super low in any business is absolute stupidity PERIOD!! watch wait and see the walmart giant come crashing down!! the only store I feel may make it is Target for the simple reason that they price point is much higher than walmar's and the quality is much much better. And No I do not work their It's just what I gathered from my shopping experience.

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