Wal-Mart cutting US store openings further

[OhioChick]

Source: Reuters

28 Oct, 2008, 0348 hrs IST, REUTERS

CHICAGO: Wal-Mart Stores Inc is slowing the pace of US store openings and cutting back on capital spending, as it seeks to boost sales at existing locations by remodeling stores and improving its merchandise selection.

The world's largest retailer also said on Monday that as the US economy reels from tighter credit, mounting job losses and falling home prices, it is attracting more higher-income shoppers.

Traffic at stores serving households with income above $65,000 has been growing much faster than at the chain as a whole, Wal-Mart U.S. President and Chief Executive OfficerEduardo Castro-Wright said at the retailer's annual analysts' meeting, which was broadcast over the Internet.

Wal-Mart's U.S. division plans to open 191 stores in the current fiscal year, which ends in early 2009, and 142 to 157 stores in the next fiscal year, Castro-Wright said. The company opened 218 US stores in fiscal 2008.


Read more: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/International_Business/Wal-Mart_cutting_US_store_openings/articleshow/3647913.cms

[Ian David]

1. Hopefully the Wal-Mart cancer will go into remisson. n/t

[Psephos]

22. Hopefully not, for all the people who shop there out of economic need n/t

[Phred42]

2. Excellent - maybe they will give up on the one we have been fighteing here

in N. IL

[Diane R]

3. I guess one good thing has finally come out of this recession.

[medeak]

4. YAY YAY!!!

Feel sorry for employees breathing plastic fumes all day....knocked me out entering store

[notadmblnd]

5. They closed the Auburn HIlls store here in Michigan and opened their new one in more upscale

Rochester Hills.

[Azlady]

6. Oh Yes! Hopefully that means they won't be building the one a local

town has been fighting over for years now! Yes!

geez, thats what the smell is! Went into a Wallyhole for the first time in 10 years, a couple of weeks ago... that's what that smell was! Thanks for clearing that one up!

[DeadManInc]

7. It wouldn't be a bad thing if they closed them all. They are nothing

but Chinese outlets anyways.

[OhioChick]

8. Exactly. n/t

[Crowman1979]

9. One step closer back to neighborhood stores.

The ones that are less than a mile from the house. They could modernize grocery stores as multi-floored w/parking decks and better access via public transit. All without producing desolate blocks of parking lots.

[nightrain]

10. good. I hate Wal-mart and NEVER EVER go there.

[mzmolly]

11. Gosh, you mean trickle down economics isn't working for anyone?

:P

[paparush]

12. Where will Sara Palin find work then?

[OhioChick]

14. Where she buys her clothes...

The Consignment Shop.

[Wednesdays]

13. Damn it to HELL!!!

I want to have as many places as possible where I can buy cheap plastic crap!! :argh:

[Omnibus]

15. Sam Walton was a shrewd businessman.

He had his bad points: he was ruthless, anti-union, and was a ballbreaker when dealing with his suppliers.

But he also wanted his stores to provide good customer service and low prices for the customers, and wanted to pay his workers a living wage.

It was only after he retired that the company started chasing the lowest common denominator and went to hell.

Any longtime Wal-Mart employee will tell you that the company was a lot better for the workers when "Mr. Sam" was in charge.


Don't get me wrong, a Wal-Mart with him in charge would still be a bad influence, but not nearly the global nexus of evil and catastrophe that it is today.

[iamthebandfanman]

16. youd think walmart would be thriving

in the current economic environment...

nobody has much money and everyone is looking for a bargain

[Ferret Annica]

17. JibJab's 'Big Box Mart'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKv6RcXa2UI

[dixiegrrrrl]

18. 6 mos ago a Super WM was announced for our village.

and a Wal-greens.

We already have an old Wal-Mart.

Maybe they won't build here now.

There are 3 Wal-Marts within a 40 miles radius of us, not counting our own.

Closest town of over 9,000 pop. is at least 90 miles away, so local shopping is a must.

[adam_hartung]

19. Wal-Mart is Locked-in, and slowly fading away

Wal-Mart Locked-in on its Success Formula 40 years ago. Since then competitors are finding ways to match its advantages, while coming up with superior offerings. Target, Kohl’s, etc. keep clipping away at old Wal-Mart advantages, styming Wal-Mart’s long-term U.S. growth in revenues and profits. So Wal-Mart is having to go defensive, cutting new store growth while spending to modernize existing stores just to keep up. Meanwhile, who says that people in India, China or Mexico want the Wal-Mart Success Formula? Who says a model based on importing low-cost products from developed countries and selling them in massive quantities via huge centralized stores makes sense in the developed countries? Trying to Defend & Extend its tired model is not likely to provide the growth or returns that Wal-Mart investors historically expected. Read more at http://www.ThePhoenixPrinciple.com

[ACTION BASTARD]

20. New York City rejects you again, and again and again.

New Yorkers has fought back giant apes, lizards, vampire infestations, zombie apocalypse and Wal-Mart. We can NOT be defeated you sprawling scumbags.

Get thee behind me Wal-Mart!

[blue_onyx]

21. They're planning to open more here in Detroit

We just got our first Wal-Mart Supercenter a little over a year ago. Wal-Mart really didn't have much of a presence here until around 2000, I think. We have more Meijers, Targets, and Kmarts. I guess Wal-Mart is making it's move in the Detroit area since the news today said they will open 6 new stores soon.