Full-disclosure warning: there is no credible evidence that Walmart intends to stop selling fishing supplies in its stores. Having said that, in rural and small town America there is perhaps no more popular male pastime than fishing. Hunting may be marginally more manly, but looses in the popularity category for a number of reasons including, […]

Our co-blogger Robert Feinman passed in July. Jonathan has already posted a best of series taken from Robert’s more than 600 posts to The Writing On The Wal. But Robert wrote elsewhere as well and, for some time, I’ve enjoyed a Sunday morning tradition of reading the essays he posted to his personal blog. Beginning […]

I read The Atlantic story I posted about yesterday. Based on Cory Kummers words, I’d say he’s giving Walmart a C+/B- for its grocery aisles. I fault him for focusing so narrowly and not asking how Walmart helped to get us where we are today. From The Atlantic: In the grocery section of the Raynham […]

If you want to see and speak with a lot of people at any one time, you could a lot worse than standing in any Walmart parking lot as the anonymous Lexington did. Speaking with a lot of people, however, is not the same as speaking with a representative sample. Lexington, not surprisingly, found a […]

Cleveland is getting hammered by snow this morning, so I’m posting on the fly. I’ll read the entire Atlantic article at home and post more tomorrow. The Atlantic is a trusted publication, but I am skeptical. For now, here’s the accompanying video. Jeff Hess: Have Coffee Will Write.

Clearly the pharmacist at Todd Beathard’s Walmart had no George Bailey to watch over business. Should Beathard have been more careful? Have checked the label or even compared the pills against the picture in The Pill Book or an online source? Perhaps. Do you? Jeff Hess: Have Coffee Will Write.

How do you really feel about Walmart? Here’s your chance to express your true feelings — pro and con — about the world’s largest retailer. Write whatever you like in the comments section and engage your fellow readers in the conversation. Jeff Hess: Have Coffee Will Write.

I wrote yesterday about the Walmart VUDU deal. It took a New York minute for the skeptics to take a close look and begin to scratch their heads. I agree that Walmart has a pitiful track record with plans not involving discounts resulting from bullying its suppliers. From Financial Skeptic: Wal-Mart has done very well […]

Sam Walton may have famously followed the sage advice to put all your eggs in one basket and then watched that basket. He knew he had a formula for success based on the culture in rural and small town America. His children and successor’s however, don’t seem to understand how that works. From Bnet: Columbia […]

First there was John Rockefeller’s lurking Standard Oil octopus and later Sam Walton’s raging many-limbed retail monster. Reading the news this morning concerning Walmart’s expansion into online video with the purchase of Vudu (previously). I have a 21st century image of Walmart: the creepy Japanese anime tentacle monster. From Techland: It was made official Monday […]

In the Walmart Nation we have a patriotic duty to buy enough cheap plastic crap from China so that the terrorists don’t win. We took the red pill more than a year ago, but it doesn’t seem to be working. Maybe we need to stop relying on pharmaceuticals? From the BBC: China is facing a […]

…but this episode of Undercover Boss set at 7-11 definitely has some parallels. Give it a look and perhaps we can all discuss it in the comments below.

It certainly has been a long time since I’ve done a Walmart meat post. However, I think the Consumerist handles it quite well, so all you’ll get from me is a link.

From Radley Balko’s “Does Wal-Mart Make You Skinny?” at the Daily Beast: In the popular imagination, a big-box store such as Wal-Mart is more often seen as part of the problem than part of the solution: We associate Wal-Mart with large women in stretch pants, fat kids sucking down tubs of soda, and morbidly obese […]

Back on 12 February, I wrote about Walmarts’ teaming with Soap Opera creator Proctor & Gamble to give Hallmark Hall Of Fame movies some family friendly competition on prime time television. Now the two companies have agreed to produce a second show. From Reuters: “The Jensen Project” will be funded by P&G and air on […]