"Brick-and-mortar retailers are being taken out the back and shot."

[marmar]

Wal-Mart Rubs Salt on Deepening Retail Wounds
by Wolf Richter • January 15, 2016


[font color="blue"]Brick-and-mortar retailers are being taken out the back and shot.[/font]

With impeccable timing – the very morning that the Commerce Department would report crummy retail sales – Wal-Mart Stores rubbed salt on the wound. It disclosed in an SEC filing that it was “committed to growing,” as CEO Doug McMillon put it, but was “being disciplined about it.”

Corporate speak for shutting 154 stores in the US – its 102 Walmart Express stores, 23 Neighborhood Markets, 12 Supercenters, 7 stores in Puerto Rico, 6 discount centers, 4 Sam’s Club stores – and 115 stores internationally, for a total of 269 stores.

So this will “impact” 10,000 “associates” in the US and 6,000 internationally. Those folks will be given “priority” for open positions at other stores. If that doesn’t work out, they’re on their own with 60 days’ pay and “if eligible, severance.” They’re going to be looking for jobs just when other retailers are also whittling down their headcount.

.....(snip).....

Retail sales were largely propped up by soaring auto sales. Motor vehicle and parts dealers, by far the largest category of retailers with $1.1 trillion in sales for the year, account for 21% of total retail sales. While flat for December, sales for the year soared 7%.

But electronics and appliance retailers weren’t so lucky. Their sales dropped 3.8% in December, after dismal holiday sales, and are down 2.4% for 2015. ......................(more)

http://wolfstreet.com/2016/01/15/wal-mart-store-closings-brick-and-mortar-retailers/

[Nye Bevan]

1. Why would I *ever* want to drive to a Walmart, look for something, and wait in line,

when I can just 1-click Amazon Prime and get the item in 2 days delivered free?

OK, I partially take it back. I did go to Walmart about 3 years ago when I wanted something literally that day. Other than that, why would anyone go there?

[madville]

22. Only time I go to Walmart

Is their "ship to store free" option on their website, there is a Supercenter a mile from my office, you just pick it up from the layaway counter. I just bought a collapsible camping cot from there for $23, the cheapest I could find it on Amazon Prime was $41.

It's not uncommon for it to be 30-40% cheaper than Amazon on some items, just have to walk in the store and retrieve it.

[Kilgore]

29. have you tried their free ship to home?

Its 60 miles round trip into town and and bunch of fuel. Walmart will ship for free if the order is over $50. We keep a running list of stuff we need and when it gets to $50, we order.

Interesting to get canned goods, auto supplies, camping stuff and socks all out of the same box.

[dixiegrrrrl]

30. I had no idea they did that...

Its 232 round trip to decent shopping where i live...not to mention all day trek and back, half of it on narrow country roads..so fun in the dark.
So I do a lot of online shopping.
Hmmmm....wonder how far they would ship.....our county/state has 10% sales tax, but Fl., next door, has none.....
hmmmmmm

[madville]

38. I'll have to check that out

It would be pretty awesome for the disabled and elderly also, maybe people that live in the country that don't have a car, lots of possibilities.

[TheBlackAdder]

27. That waiting in line is actually a business model they use.

.


Contractors for them told me years ago that they don't want the customers to get speedy service, else they might get accustomed to it. Their mentality is that the customers will tolerate a 3-person line for the sake of saving money. Their policy is to keep register lines 3 deep. Notice it next time.


I refuse to use Amazon due to the subsidies they get, tax breaks which put their social impact higher than Wal*Mart's.

Not only that, while good to their customers, they keep their employees in cold or hot warehouses, and business dealings seem to punish most mon&pops that try to deal with them. I'm not going into the details, as they are on the web.

[Jim Beard]

34. We need to keep these people from using workers from a CONTRACTER

[TheBlackAdder]

36. What's a contracter? nt

[demwing]

39. Because not everyone can afford Amazon Prime

Or the premium that Amazon works into their pricing to cover their free shipping - assuming the things you want are even included in the Amazon Prime deal.

AND you still end up with the same products you get from Walmart, at a higher price, and in a few days...

I know it's popular to bag on Walmart, but how, from a labor or economical standpoint, is Amazon any better?

[Hortensis]

2. Employees won't be getting jobs at local small businesses Walmart

pricing destroyed, or at the chain supermarkets that decided to withdraw their price competition for customers. At least lower gas prices will assist with long drives to new jobs. Most Ws closed are not in dense, robust neighborhoods.

[quickesst]

3. Here's what I don't get

How many hundreds if not thousands of posts have been made about people never wanting to shop at Walmart, fuck Walmart, Walmart sucks, piss on Walmart, and on and on ad nauseum. One would think from those hundreds if not thousands of anti Walmart posts, that there would be dancing in the street here with news of the closings. Celebrating the downfall of Walmart, but lamenting the employees loss of their jobs doesn't put food on the table, and doesn't pay the electric bill.
Sign me:
An unapologetic fellow retail working, walmart shopping, thankful for the income person.

[Warren Stupidity]

4. Well your Walmart did its best to destroy

all local and regional competitors, and did so replacing half decent retail jobs with really shitty ones. They are now the dominant retailer across the country. As they have their lunch eaten by Amazon it is difficult to have any sympathy for Walmart and the obscenely wealthy Waltons. Nobody is celebrating the loss of jobs, shitty or not, and Amazon's awful work environment has been well documented here. Few here are mourning Walmarts troubles either.

[1939]

5. Mom and Pop

didn't provide "half-decent retail jobs" in their stores. They paid as little as they could and often in cash "under the table". My first job was in a mom and pop store.

[quickesst]

7. It's (insert your name here) to say...

... it's "my walmart". It's also (insert your name here) to imply I said anything to anyone about celebrating the loss of jobs. I was specifically talking about celebrating the closings of the Walmart stores and lamenting the job losses at the same time. It doesn't do shit for the employees. Everyone knows, and is not happy with what walmart has done over the years but it is done, and wanting to reverse the trend may be a noble undertaking, but it will be a long haul to accomplish that. The employees cannot wait or survive while waiting for its fruition. Ask any employee of Walmart if they are happy that their store is closing and that they will lose their job. I would venture to say that the answer would be a resounding "NO". Given that, and the acceptance that my actions may benefit the Walmart conglomerate in a miniscule way, I stand with the employees.
1 additional note. I would be willing to bet that half of those here who deny ever shopping at Walmart are probably not being wholly truthful. Let the indignity begin.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

13. Maybe these idyllic retailers existed elsewhere,

But they sure as hell didn't in Southern California. Walmart (and Target) was a breath of fresh air compared to Fedco, Akron or Gemco.

[PasadenaTrudy]

15. I loved Akron!

Rattan furniture!

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

18. I thought it was intersting you could buy traffic signals at a store

I contemplated all sorts of ways I might improve the traffic in Santa Ana.

[PowerToThePeople]

9. I never shop at walmart

I try to shop local businesses, but do shop online if the markup is too high locally. You just have to be wary of cheap knockoff items, understand what is is you are wanting to purchase.

[quickesst]

10. I think you probably do...

.... but I don't know that for sure. That's the point of my statement concerning claims of Walmart boycotters. You might have an online conversation with a fellow DUer who claims to share your exact view, but might be standing in the middle of a Walmart doing it. I stand by my statement, and this is not a call for every individual who claims the high road to profess to it. Mine is simply an opinion that is neither provable or unprovable, but I do believe the odds fall in favor on my side. I openly admit that I shop at Walmart, but I doubt that there are but a few here who would do the same given the negativity toward those who do. No one wants to be classified as part of the "Evil Empire".

[PowerToThePeople]

11. You are wrong

quickesst
10. I think you probably do...

Walmart gets zero direct support from me. They should get zero direct support from you too, else you may be on the wrong message board.

[hughee99]

20. People who shop at walmart don't belong on this message board?

What about people that work there?

[quickesst]

24. I am not supporting Walmart directly....

.... I am supporting Walmart employees.......indirectly. Walmart's benefit is an unfortunate, and unavoidable consequence of my employee support. You may label me anti-democratic simply for the reason that I shop there, but then that would open the door for me to label you anti-worker, but I wouldn't do that


"They should get zero direct support from you too, else you may be on the wrong message board."

By your responses one would think that I was directing my original statements to you personally which if you will read carefully I am not. The only person you have to satisfy as to your noble intent is yourself, and I suppose, unlike you, I simply do not accept the word of every anonymous poster on the Internet, unless it supports my opinion, as gospel.
So, in closing, would you please tell me along with the millions of other democratic liberals who shop at Walmart, exactly which board I should be on? Thanks

[PowerToThePeople]

31. "which board I should be on?"

A right wing, union busting, employee impoverishing, outsourcing to lowest labour rates, killing good US jobs message board.

[quickesst]

35. Haha....

I could get just as nasty and personally insulting as you can, but I wont. I'll just laugh at you.

[SoCalDem]

12. My husband "won" a $50 Walmart gift card in a drawing

at his company Xmas party.. we gave it to my best friend..

We do not shop at walmart..even with free money

My friend does shop there, and was happy to have the card

[quickesst]

25. As would I

There is nothing wrong with not wanting to shop at Walmart as long as you believe it is the right thing for you to do. I do not deny the savings and convenience I get by shopping there, but I also believe that the employees who work there should not have to suffer at the expense of my ideals, which brings me to my opinion that if there were twice as many people as now who did not shop at Walmart, it would make little, if any difference to them.
I work part time at Home Depot which supplements my retirement to the point of at least being able to live somewhat comfortably, but if customers suddenly decided not to shop there anymore, I would be without the extra income, and things would be not so good for my wife and myself. I can just imagine what it would be like for those employees who rely solely on their incomes from such places as Walmart and Home Depot. Simply put, I have my reasons for shopping at those places and others have their reasons for not shopping there. I just don't believe either one is wrong.

[HereSince1628]

8. I try to avoid buying things that can't be fixed

The last thing that I bought in a Wal-Mart was a frying pan imported from Brazil, back in 2001. I still use it. Almost everyday. It's been an exception to most of the stuff I write below...

The problem with the stuff from most of the discount big-boxes is they sell stuff that doesn't make economic sense to fix.

My experience with the big boxes, including Wal-Mart, is they don't sell much that can be fixed. And the throw-away economy that their cheap stuff encourages, runs the folks that fix things right outta town.

But much of the stuff that's so cheap to buy that it can be shipped around the world and still beat the price of repairing the broken stuff you've got is mostly junk.

I'll admit that some stuff, especially electronic stuff is built of basically irreparable components too costly to replace when they fail components. So, if you want that stuff, you've got to accept that it's basically junk waiting to happen which is to say when a piece of silicon inside fails.

As a nation we've come to greatly appreciate being consumers of junk and retailers gladly sell it to us. If you need or want something that's going to be more easily replaced than fixed, the big box stores are where to go.

[ileus]

17. No one does...

All electronics are disposable.


I'll crack the case on higher end TV's (powersupply dies most) or replace capacitors on CPU motherboards on some consumer products.

You have to buy real high end anything before it's worthwhile for most folks to actually take the time to repair. I like repairing things most folks toss out.

People that buy items at walturd aren't going to take the time to repair....only replace.

[Kaleva]

14. WalMart is opening about as many stores as it plans to close

"Domestically, Walmart intends to open 50 to 60 Supercenters and 85 to 95 Neighborhood Markets in Fiscal 2017, which begins Feb. 1. In the same period, Sam’s Club plans to open in seven to 10 new locations. Internationally, Walmart intends to open between 200 and 240 stores during the coming year."

http://news.walmart.com/news-archive/2016/01/15/walmart-continues-sharpened-focus-on-portfolio-management

[PasadenaTrudy]

16. No Walmarts by me...

I think the closest one is in DTLA in Chinatown, and it is closing. We have plenty of Targets though. I hate going out in the crowds to shop, so Amazon Prime is my homie

[olddots]

19. I will never buy anything on Amazon

never bought anything thru mail order also .The big box store has ruined America and is spreading it's 1 %er greed everywhere .
Call me tragically hip ( I never turn on my phone )

[Mendocino]

21. Say no to Amazon and Paypal

People like Jeff Bezos and Peter Theil are just right wing shills that funnel profits to all sorts of objectionable causes or run businesses with low regard for the welfare of their employees. Theil of Paypal helped finance the activities of James O' Keefe of ACORN infamy.

[Jim Beard]

23. I admit I went to walmart quit a lot when the first opened

I was broke and I could not have been able to afford the internet if it was available.

They sold good stuff cheap

Now they sell crap at the same price.

They beat manufactures to produce cheaper until the products are garbage. Storage containers are one example.

[Warpy]

26. It's not online sales that are killing them, it's low wages

People who are paid adequately would pay for the convenience of popping into a bricks and mortar store and walking out with what they wanted, instant gratification rather than a week of waiting for delivery. With low wages, there is low demand and a lot of those bricks and mortar places are gone (remember Comp USA? There was a path worn between my house and their door) and those that remain are far less convenient for most people to get to. E retailers are just taking up the slack.

If retailers want better business, they'd better start to lobby Congress for better wages.

[drthais]

28. our town just had a big smackdown with WalMart....

and this is Louisiana....

there is a SuperCenter already, but Walmart wanted to open one of their FreshMarket (grocery only) stores
RIGHT NEXT to our beloved independent grocery - and wanted a zoning variance so they could build something much larger than was permitted in our zoning laws - and, right smack in front of a residential neighborhood.

Hundreds of locals came out to the Planning and Zoning meetings and City Council meetings to say (vehemently) that we did NOT want this in our town.

In the end, the City Council denied the zoning change - this went on for the better part of a year,
I was so relieved when this decision came down....god, but their lawyer was smarmy

and WalMart is closing one of its JUST OPENED Fresh Market stores in a town only 20 miles away (they were only open long enough to close down the only independent grocery in that town).

Screw them I say

[Jim Beard]

33. Yes, I have seen the same tactic used myself

but the mayor was a Realtor in a conservative town.

They just had to have a beautiful 8 hole NIGHT golf course. It was built up from flat land to small hills and lots of greenery. It was really pleasant at night. WalMart and the city pressured the widowed owner until she sold. They got it built it, but it floods the parking lot every it rained.

I forgot to mentioned that they closed a non grocery WALMART 5 blocks down the street.

[Jim Beard]

32. If you really want to punish WalMart and Amazon

contact your representatives and get them to re-institute the FAIR TRADE Laws.

The Manufacturer set the price that each and every retailer could sell that item for. Its repeal killed off all the small town clothing and variety stores and soon almost all of them were gone from small towns.

[JI7]

37. FUCK WALMART

their entire business strategy was to offer cheaper things and put others out of business and then offer crap in their crappy stores where they treat employees like shit.

one of the reasons they were doing well was the lack of options that many people who lived in the area had.

but now with the internet that is changing things .

walmart can't blame the internet for offering a crappy product.