I don't shop anywhere, my wife does. I usually don't want to go anywhere that is too crowded, and Wal-Mart fits into that category. However, studies have been done by people who are not Wal-Mart affiliated and it has been shown that families of four or more save anywhere from $900-1200 per year when shopping for groceries at Wal-Mart. I believe they did these studies in Tulsa (I am not anywhere near Tulsa).

I recently read the Wal-Mart Effect, which was not necessarily kind towards Wal-Mart, and it was stated that inflation rates don't consider Wal-Mart prices. If they did consider the Wal-Mart prices then it would skew the rate lower than what iti sother places was what was found. Like them or not, they are cheaper than other places and for most families the savings do add up.

Your prices would only mean something if compared to price hikes for those same items at other places. Again, it has been shown that people do save money there. Not to mention, it only stands to reason that people save money there since they keep going back.

Interesting to note, the book claimed that Wal-Marts operate on a 3% profit margin on average. They make so much because of quantity of sales - not mark-ups. Check out the book yourself, maybe the author has some hidden bias, but I didn't see it. I thought he was unflattering towards Wal-Mart in most of their practices.

That is beside the point. The comparison is only between Wal-Mart and the other stores that exist now. What about all of the stores that are out of business because of Wal-Mart? Prices may be cheaper at Wal-Mart when compared to other currently existing stores, but how does Wal-Mart’s prices compare to prices from 5 to 10 years ago?

Furthermore, any time Wal-Mart does away with a low price brand it raises its prices even if its prices on the remaining brands are lower than the same brands at other stores. Suppose one week you had a choice between brand A, which costs $1; brand B, which costs $1.10 and brand C, which costs $1.20. Then suppose Wal-Mart does away with brand A. Your cost just went up at least 10%.

I don't think it is besides the point. Shopping at Wal-Mart for groceries as oposed to other chain grocery stores has been shown to save families money. That is what is ultimately makes up the consumer's mind. I don't know how their prices would compare to stores from 5-10 years ago, but neither do you. I would assume that they were cheaper then as well since they took those other store's business.

One thing that Wal-Mart does that keeps prices so low is that they have their own brand of a particular item which is much cheaper than other brands (quality varies I am sure).

I am not maintaining that Wal-Mart has an overall good effect on communities. The book I referenced earlier actually stated that a study was done by U. of Missouri (? maybe Iowa) which showed that in some communities the county actually went up. I assume these were rural communities as I doubt Wal-Mart could effect a large urban area that much. They do, however, keep their prices lower than the competitors and they will continue to do well as long as they do that.

Wal-Mart maintains that since their profit margin is 3% that they can't afford to raise wages or benefits without losing a competitive advantage. I don't buy that. In 2005 Costco posted a 2% profit margin so it would seem that Wal-Mart could still give up a small part of the profit margin (and when dealing with those incredible numbers a small part of the margin would amount to a couple of billion at least) and still keep their competitive advantage.

Wal-Mart doesn't put anybody out of business. The people who shop there do.

That certainly cannot be the case in my part of the country. I buy very few grocery items from Wal-Mart beacause the product selection is bad and the prices are higher than other stores (not necessarily grocery stores).

Wal-Mart can buy enough products in the wholesale market to set their competitors’ retail prices. Wal-Mart’s retail prices can be lower than competitors’ wholesale prices. It’s cheaper for the competitors to buy some products at Wal-Mart and then try to resell them in their own stores than it is for them to buy products directly from wholesalers. This naturally attracts customers to Wal-Mart- but then the competitors leave the market- they are effectively put out of business by Wal-Mart.

If you don't like Wal-Mart then DON'T SHOP THERE and quit complaining about them.

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People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.
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So then that store is not much different than Wal-Mart. It's all about the MONEY whether it's a major corporation or even an individual. My particular point is that I could still buy from my local store if I were loyal, albeit at higher prices. It's my own greed or love of money that changes my loyalty. Yours too maybe, who knows? Bottom line is that Wal-Mart is offering low prices, we don't have to pay them.

I tend to think also that a big part of Wal-marts' negative image is that they are successful...and non-union.

I should have proofread. The sentence in bold makes no sense. It should read that "in some communities the poverty level of the county actually went up." This occurred after a few years of a Wal-Mart being built. These were in areas where there isn't much to choose from anyway and the poverty level was already higher than in many places.

Sorry for it making no sense earlier.

Where else can I shop, now that 15 other retailers are no longer around?