Do they have Walmarts in other countries besides China?

[Tone2TheBone]

China's a no brainer. But do they? In a way Walmart scares me. One world shopping. Yikes. Smells like facism to me. I do shop there though.

 

[Mark]

Dont know about China but I do know I was a fan of Wally world and the other Big Box stores, in the begining. Unfortunately all of them are guilty of slacking offf and providing terrible customer service and the merchandise quality and selection is starting to dwindle. We do shop costco they seem the have their act together to a point. Wallyworld.....well around here I avoid them as their stores around here are terribly missmanaged and often a mess. Its also becoming obvious they are killing local business .........ah but such is life in the 21 century.

 

[Tone2TheBone]

I was reading an article from MSN about the kinds of stuff they sell in the Walmarts in China. Here's the link...

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/StockInvestingTrading/ChinaWalMart_SeriesHome.aspx

I find that the quality of customer service depends on which Walmart you go to. There are a gagillion of them in the city and about 3 just outside of the city in smaller towns closer to my house. I usually go to the one south of us just because there are less people that go there and the store is kept up better and the customer service is much better. They also take other ad's discounts there without question. Some other stores won't do that. Having said that yeah I feel bad that they're taking over the world and local stores can't survive. That's part of what scares me. Once they take over completely they'll raise their prices you watch! As soon as they add banking and healthcare availability in their stores it's gonna be all over. We also go to places like Costco and Target but there are so many of these Walmarts all over that it's just more cost effective to drive to the nearest one for dogfood or beer. I do get my gas at Costco though as they're usually cheaper than the indian reservations.

 

[Lev]

I've never seen any in Europe

 

[Tone2TheBone]

I've never seen any in Europe

Not YET anyway. They're taking over man!

 

[sunvalleylaw]

I've never seen any in Europe

Hey, Lev, and the other Europeans, what is shopping for basics and etc. like in Europe? Are there big supermarkets for food everywhere, or is it more daily shopping at the local shops?

 

[Lev]

Well in Ireland and Britain the big food supermarkets have diversified into clothing, electrical, toys, DIY & gardening etc. So we are starting to follow the Wallmart model. Tesco for example started out just selling food but now it sells pretty much everything.

There's also definitely more suburban shopping malls and fewer people go to town centres to do their shopping. Local stores have really been feeling the pinch with many either closing down or being taken over by larger companies. I suppose it's a double edge sword, on the one hand it's a shame to see small businesses go to the wall but as consumers we do end up getting better deals from the larger companies - economies of scale and all that.

 

[Spudman]

Hey Tone
Why don't you shop your local Wally's instead of going all the way to China?

I had dinner with John Walton and his wife. They were very nice people and incredibly down to earth. Unfortunately John is now deceased. I don't think it's anyone's fault but Sam Walton's for what this corporation has done to the world. The smart thing to do, and it is the thing I do, is to choose to NOT shop at places that you don't agree with. I don't shop Walmart. If more of us used restraint and voted with our dollars then maybe these hog companies could feel the blade of the butcher once in a while. Only when we all stop being sheep and exercise our intellect will we make a difference.

Use less - buy less.

I'm not sure where all Walmart is located, but this is amusing.
http://www.encyclopediaofstupid.com/stupid/index.php/Wal-Mart

 

[Iago]

We have them in the biggest Brazilian cities. :/

 

[Mark]

So if you go to Walmart in China is everthing made in America

+1 to Spud I always vote with my $$ when and where possible.

 

[DaveO]

I'm with you Spud. I don't care for the wallyworld way of doing business. I respect that Sam had the vision and drive to build the company he did, but, I just won't shop there. My choice, YMMV.
Dave

 

[Fingers]

Certainly one in the UK...........Bristol, Cribbs Causway....side of the M5

 

[Tim]

Hey Tone
Why don't you shop your local Wally's instead of going all the way to China?

I had dinner with John Walton and his wife. They were very nice people and incredibly down to earth. Unfortunately John is now deceased. I don't think it's anyone's fault but Sam Walton's for what this corporation has done to the world. The smart thing to do, and it is the thing I do, is to choose to NOT shop at places that you don't agree with. I don't shop Walmart. If more of us used restraint and voted with our dollars then maybe these hog companies could feel the blade of the butcher once in a while. Only when we all stop being sheep and exercise our intellect will we make a difference.

Use less - buy less.

I'm not sure where all Walmart is located, but this is amusing.
http://www.encyclopediaofstupid.com/stupid/index.php/Wal-Mart

Ouch! Now that was a nice review. I never could figure out why he did not call the company Sam-Mart?

I heard a story about when old people are hired. Wally World makes them sign a life insurance policy. If they die, Wally World gets all the money and the living spouse gets nothing. A window took Wally World to court over this issue when her husband died. She claimed her husband did not know he signed a life insurance policy and a copy of the documentation could not be found at home. Her argument was that Wally World shoves so many papers to fill out in front of you; the potential employee just signs the paperwork without reading it, thus taking advantage of the older people. Since all the documentation was legal and in order, Wally World won the case but gave the window $200.00 out of the goodness of their hearts.

Anyway I hate the Wally World in St. Augustine. They hire very rude people and you are always standing in line waiting for a casher. I normally do not go to Wally World, but most of the independent store owners closed up when Wally World came to town. I try avoid Wally World as much as possible, but admit when I am in a hurry, I do go to Wally World.

 

[Justaguyin_nc]

The smart thing to do, and it is the thing I do, is to choose to NOT shop at places that you don't agree with. I don't shop Walmart.

Well Spuds, I never have had a problem at walmart in all my years going there..
your just special..
Actually, is this not just a big circle effect?
I can remember growing up MACY's was the monster.
You had Sears, woolworth, goldblatts, etc.. etc..
then came targets, kmarts, zayre etc..
Now Walmart rules the big chains..
There are much more people these days.. so bigger chains
Supply and demand.. bottom dollar wins on same product.
But through all of this, every small mom and pop store that has had a quality item unique to their
business at a fair price is probably still in business.
Those that cry the loudest and gone under probably did through economics more then anything.
Selling a cheap product at an inflatted price , which a larger chain can sell for less.
Also, look at all the stores that are surviving in malls.. your Old Navy's etc.. etc..
The items walmart sells, are sold at many chains and small shops.. at larger prices.
I cannot see paying for the same product at higher costs.
I can see going to other stores that offer me a better product at a reasonable cost.
Meats, clothing etc.. but your common light bulb, switch, paint, paper.. it's a no brainer
to shop wal-mart.
As far as walmart themselves. They are huge, make a big dollar and use hired help at low wages.
Hey, thats the American way of life also. It is up to those working for walmart to band together
and get a Union in there. Walmart's prices will rise. Profit margin drop and another new name
will become the new "wally world"
it's all echo...no..mics....

 

[guitartist]

I live in Atlanta and until very recently there haven't been any WalMarts in the city, just in the suburbs here. Recently however one opened very close to where I work. I don't agree with all their business practices, but I must admit I've done some shopping there (its just so darn close).

 

[zeusse]

My wife lives in Walmart but I just hide when she asks me to go shopping with her I'm brutal with a shopping cart in my hands its like the demolition derby to me

 

[marnold]

I have to laugh when people talk about mom-and-pop stores as if they were the halcyon days or something. I live in a small town, 1/2 hour from the closest big city. Every store in town is a mom-and-pop place. These stores are indicative of why Wal-Mart could rise to prominence. Window displays are the same as they were in 1975. Stock is not rotated. Pay and benefits are no better there than at Wally-World.

Case in point: we have two hardware stores in town. At one point I needed some hose clamps. Neither place had them. I talked with them about ordering more. After several visits and more than a week passing, there still wasn't any in stock. Another time I needed a particular, but still common, wrench. Neither place had it. The one place showed no interest in getting it. The other was the place that took more than two weeks to get freaking hose clamps in.

Up here there is no competition and the area is so sparsely populated that the closest thing we have to Wal-Mart is a Pamida (a poor man's ShopKo) 10 miles away. These shops are under no pressure at all to provide lower prices or better service, so they do neither.

 

[pie_man_25]

China's a no brainer. But do they? In a way Walmart scares me. One world shopping. Yikes. Smells like facism to me. I do shop there though.

just don't get guitars there, just make one out of a kleenex box and rubber bands, its higher quality.