As the stockholders of Nutrisystem know, getting into Walmart is a very big deal for your company and your company’s financial future. But in no relationship does, or can, Walmart give a shit about its vendors, it always serves only its stockholders.

From NWI in Muenster, Indiana:

The corporate hand of Wal-Mart has come down on local little guys Valpo Velvet.

Catherine Brown said the discount store first notified her family, which owns and operates Valpo Velvet, early this year it was taking the ice cream out of its stores in Michigan City, Portage and Valparaiso. They were dropped from the Michigan City store in April and the Portage store in June. Wal-Mart began downsizing the displays at the Valparaiso store over Labor Day.

“Over Labor Day they took us out of the freezer door and moved us to an end cap,” Brown said. “They tried to say they were trying something new, and, if it did well, they might move us back to the door. I think that was false.”

After that, the cartons were put near the bananas. Next, the Browns were told they had to sell either quarts or half gallon because the store couldn’t accommodate both.

“We complied with everything they asked, but three week ago they just took us out. They came out with their own new Great Value brand of ice cream instead.”

Did Walmart do anything wrong here? No. Business is business. And all glory, specially any that comes from association with Walmart, is fleeting.

Jeff Hess: Have Coffee Will Write.

Share on Facebook

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 11th, 2009 at 0856 by Jeff Hess and is filed under Mom and Pops. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.