Archive for December, 2010

FROM MAIN STREET TO WAL STREET…

Friday, December 31st, 2010

I’ve written before about how Walmart wants to make use of the vacant space within its over-built stores and so seeks out those who can run health clinics and other businesses, in essence creating rudimentary Wal Streets within its stores. The tax season, now upon us, provides an annual opportunity for Walmart to create 2,000 […]

SUPPLIERS QUESTION WALMART’S VISION…

Thursday, December 30th, 2010

More than 69 of the 139 (out of some 60,000) Walmart suppliers disagreed with the statement: Walmart’s senior leadership is aligned behind a strategic vision that is consistently communicated and well understood by the supplier community. To that I could say, “Big Whoop!” Those companies won’t stop selling to Walmart as long as the checks […]

WALMART WEDNESDAY: OPEN THREAD…

Wednesday, December 29th, 2010

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.

DOING THE NUMBERS ON ONLINE CHINA…

Wednesday, December 29th, 2010

Last week I noted that Walmart had bought into an online retailer in China and that the China’s middle class is larger than the entire population of the United States. 24/7 Wall St. runs the numbers even further: China is no longer a market, it’s The Market. China’s online retail market turned over about $49 […]

HOW SUSPICIOUS DID YOU ACT…?

Wednesday, December 29th, 2010

Sadly, I missed the call for this bit of guerrilla theatre, but here’s one intrepid suspicious actor who took to the aisles of a local Walmart and engaged in a variety of suspicious acts. No reports of black helicopters landing in the parking lot have been made. Just what do you have to do before […]

BUILDING A WALMART ON HIS STREET…

Tuesday, December 28th, 2010

The days between Christmas and New Year’s eve/day are notorious for little to no news as Americans recover from sugar and alcohol abuse on all sides of the journalism equation. Searching this morning I came across this post from early December. From They are Building a Wal-Mart on My Street: Anyway, so Ralph Bivins (no […]

SHE LOVES WALMART… IN NEW JERSEY…

Monday, December 27th, 2010

That’s the position taken by Brooklyn resident Shawneequa Clark, according to New York Times writer Elizabeth Harris. Clark doesn’t mind driving across the river to New Jersey to shop at Walmart, but her reasoning is more than a little cockeyed. From The New York Times: [I]nterviews with New Yorkers shopping here on a recent day […]

CORPORATE WELFARE GOOD… WORKERS BAD…

Monday, December 27th, 2010

Some of us in Ohio are bracing for the viking strategy of Governor-Elect John Kasich and his Republican minions as they slash and burn their way to a balanced budget that doesn’t inconvenience their Corporate and Wall Street masters. The reaction to a Make Walmart Carry Its Own Load bill is instructive. From Et Tu […]

WHEN DOES IT STOP BEING PARANOIA…?

Sunday, December 26th, 2010

I do think that Talaya Soria’s fears are over the line, I don’t think the Department of Homeland Security has the staff to monitor the phone calls of former Walmart employees rightly upset with Walmart’s partnering with DHS to enlist citizens in spying, but then. From FederalJack: Talaya Soria, a pastor’s wife living in California […]

SUNDAY MORNING WITH ROBERT FEINMAN…

Sunday, December 26th, 2010

Our co-blogger Robert Feinman passed in July 2009. 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. […]

WHEN DEPUTIES DETAIN A POLICEOFFICER…

Saturday, December 25th, 2010

The illegal detention of big-box store shoppers for failing to display their sales receipt for inspection after they have passed through a checkout and made their purchases is one of my favorite subjects. This recording shows how to deal with such thugs. From The Consumerist: A tipster has sent in an audio recording of himself […]

WHAT’S BIGGER THAN CHINA’S MIDDLE CLASS…?

Friday, December 24th, 2010

Nothing that I can think of, and certainly not our own middle class. There are more people in China’s middle class than there are in the entire population of the United States. Walmart is tapped out here, but not so on Asia’s east coast. From Reuters: Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world’s largest retailer, has invested […]

WALMART COVERING-UP INVENTORY LOSSES…?

Thursday, December 23rd, 2010

Walmart may be the most sued company in the world and that should concern investors, because it is their money, not Walmart’s, that gets paid out. Investors should be extra concerned because a new suit alleges that Walmart is cooking the stock books. From the Charlotte Observer: A Charlotte man is suing mega-retailer Wal-Mart, claiming […]

WALMART WEDNESDAY: OPEN THREAD…

Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010

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.

BIG BROTHER WALMART GETTING BIGGER…

Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010

I’ve written before about the massive amount of computing power and storage maintained by Walmart in its data bunker near Jane, Missouri. In the more than four years since I wrote the piece, I’m sure it’s grown. It’s about to get really bigger. From Consumer Goods Technology: Wal-Mart announces agreement to broaden its partnership with […]