Orvis + Wal-Mart = Angry local shopkeep

"Scott Seidman" wrote in message
. 1.4...
Greg Pavlov wrote in
:

On Fri, 23 Apr 2004 14:19:52 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:

Around here (Rochester NY), Wal Mart hasn't made much of a dent
in that category.

That's because Wegman's is in town, which is
probably the best there is in the supermarket
business, and Tops also competes very well.


Wegman's is great, but also not so great for the small business owner.
They compete with pharmacies, dry cleaners, video rental places, pet
stores, and some restaurants.

Scott

Pharmacies: Not any more. There's no such thing (around here) as a locally
owned pharmacy. I'm sure CVS, Rite Aid and Eckerd have no problem competing
with Wegman's.

Dry cleaners: That's an issue.

Video rental: No locally owned stores left. And, Wegman's is definitely NOT
the source of Blockbuster's problems. NetFlix - that's their competition.

Pet stores: No locally owned stores left, except for one whose main business
is tropical fish, and they're doing serious business, since nobody else in
town knows what they're talking about in that segment.

Restaurants: Don't be silly. :-)

"George Cleveland" wrote in message
...
On 23 Apr 2004 20:09:33 GMT, ojunk (George Adams)
wrote:

From: George Cleveland

Our town (Merrill, WI) is probably pretty typical. Before Walmart
moved in we had a couple department stores, a half dozen clothes
stores and other small businesses (cafes etc.) downtown.

After
Walmart we lost both of the department stores and most of the clothing
stores. The other small businesses regularly change owners as they
find it impossible to make enough money to stay in business in that
location.

Now we have several empty storefronts and a bunch of antique
shops who never seem to have anyone inside when I go in.

Development
in the town has shifted to the area around Wallyworld, with several
fast food places and motels being built in the last few years. It has
brought growth to some parts of the community but it seems to have
removed any sense of community from the growth, if you get my drift.


Just the opposite in the town of my birth, Ware, MA. They lost all the
department stores and all but one specialty clothing store by the early
nineties. The main street had several empty stores, and the restaurants,
auto
parts, and other surviving small businesses moved to the outskirts of
town.
Most of the locals shopped in Springfield, the nearest city. There was
only one
supermarket, part of an area chain, and they took full advantage of their
monopoly status.

Enter Wal-Mart. They built near the businesses that had moved south of
town,
and in time added a full grocery store. They provided much needed jobs,
and
widened the tax base. Business interest in the town increased, specialty
appliance and electronics shops opened on Main Street. The one remaining
specialty clothing shop flourished. Professionals moved their offices
into the
remaining empty storefronts. A new auto parts shop opened down the road,
and
another new one is opening this summer directly across the street from
W.M.
This isn't a bad idea, as folks looking for auto pats at W.M. are likely
to be
disappointed, and there will be a full service shop across the steet. In
addition, Home Depot has taken notice of what happened here, and will
likely be
building a new store on the W.M. property.

Conclusion is that W.M. can kill thriving small businesses, but if these
enterprises are already gone, a big box store can be a real boon to a
depressed
community.


And to be honest you won't find me mourning many of the businesses
that bit the bullet. We're a small city of 10,000. And its been about
10,000 since the 1930s. This lead to an extreme amount of social
in-brededness. Meaning... that if you went into one of the stores and
they either didn't know you or they thought you weren't "their sort of
people" they would treat you like ****. And they did. So it was with
mixed emotions that I watched them curl up and fail.

Good points, George and George.

Meanwhile it bears remembering that in many cases Wal-Mart merely delivered
the coup-de-grace to already floundering businesses. When I moved to
Stevens Point (more or less smack dab in the Middle of Wisconsin) 20 years
ago, I encountered a lot of people who more or less routinely drove a couple
of hours to Green Bay, Milwaukee, or Minneapolis to shop.......at the
malls......and at the big department stores......and at
supermarkets.......and at restaurants.....and theaters......etc. That great
whooshing sound that Wal-Mart, Home Depot, K-Mart and all the other big
chains picked up on before anyone else did? That was a vacuum....that which
nature......and business abhor.

It isn't Wal-Mart that's killing small business in America..........it's
capitalism......or a reasonable facsimile, anyway. Get used to it.

Wolfgang

"George Cleveland" wrote in message
...

Merrill is the county seat of Lincoln county. I can vouch for the
attorney offices. As far as bail bondsmen...I think they take chickens
and other produce in trade for prisoners at the county jail.

What's a prisonerway?

Wolfgang

In article ,
says...

"George Cleveland" wrote in message
...

Merrill is the county seat of Lincoln county. I can vouch for the
attorney offices. As far as bail bondsmen...I think they take chickens
and other produce in trade for prisoners at the county jail.

What's a prisonerway?


About the same as 30-40 roosters, on average.

Kevin

Our town is growing the way you hear about the Nevada explosion in growth,
but we had nothing except three groceries that supposedly competed with each
other and some small shops that charged so much for their products, that
everyone drove 60 miles to Reno for their shopping.
In came Wal-mart! then everyone followed , like Best Buy, Target, Home
Depot etc. Now we don't have to drive 60 miles to shop, and we get the best
prices available. It is amzing to see the differences between our local
groceries and Wal-Mart. It's okay to support the local merchants, but do
you want to pay 40% more?
None of our local shops has closed becasue of Wal-Mart yet, since they are
doing a good job adapting to a different market.
However, two local lumber yards, and one building supply closed after Home
Depot and Lowes moved in. The local business supply closed after Office
Depot and Staples moved. The local Radio Shack closed after Best buy moved
in.

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"George Adams" wrote in message
...
From: George Cleveland

Our town (Merrill, WI) is probably pretty typical. Before Walmart
moved in we had a couple department stores, a half dozen clothes
stores and other small businesses (cafes etc.) downtown.

After
Walmart we lost both of the department stores and most of the clothing
stores. The other small businesses regularly change owners as they
find it impossible to make enough money to stay in business in that
location.

Now we have several empty storefronts and a bunch of antique
shops who never seem to have anyone inside when I go in.

Development
in the town has shifted to the area around Wallyworld, with several
fast food places and motels being built in the last few years. It has
brought growth to some parts of the community but it seems to have
removed any sense of community from the growth, if you get my drift.


Just the opposite in the town of my birth, Ware, MA. They lost all the
department stores and all but one specialty clothing store by the early
nineties. The main street had several empty stores, and the restaurants,
auto
parts, and other surviving small businesses moved to the outskirts of
town.
Most of the locals shopped in Springfield, the nearest city. There was
only one
supermarket, part of an area chain, and they took full advantage of their
monopoly status.

Enter Wal-Mart. They built near the businesses that had moved south of
town,
and in time added a full grocery store. They provided much needed jobs,
and
widened the tax base. Business interest in the town increased, specialty
appliance and electronics shops opened on Main Street. The one remaining
specialty clothing shop flourished. Professionals moved their offices into
the
remaining empty storefronts. A new auto parts shop opened down the road,
and
another new one is opening this summer directly across the street from
W.M.
This isn't a bad idea, as folks looking for auto pats at W.M. are likely
to be
disappointed, and there will be a full service shop across the steet. In
addition, Home Depot has taken notice of what happened here, and will
likely be
building a new store on the W.M. property.

Conclusion is that W.M. can kill thriving small businesses, but if these
enterprises are already gone, a big box store can be a real boon to a
depressed
community.




George Adams

"All good fishermen stay young until they die, for fishing is the only
dream of
youth that doth not grow stale with age."
---- J.W Muller



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Don't blame Wal-Mart for K-Mart and Rit-Aids problems. The entire chain of
K-Mart went into bankruptcy because management didn't know what they wanted
to do. Rit-Aid, eventhough it was started by two large drug companies,
continuously teeters on the edge of bankruptcy because drugs are a very
small part of their business, and they haven't yet firues out how to compete
against Target, K-Mart and Wal-Mart with non-drug items. In many ways they
are just a small Wal-Mart. and are competing with the locally owned drug
stores that were here for years.


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"Jeff Taylor" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
...
In article ,
says...

I don't believe I've ever been in a Wal-mart before (I just assumed
it was like a giant K-mart) since there isn't one anywhere nearby. If
people dislike them so much, why do they shop there?
- Ken

Your correct, they are a large K-mart. In part, WM has become a one stop
shop, they carry most everything the average person needs at a reasonable
price (quality is another issue). I see many people drive in for an oil
change, do their odds and ends shopping and pickup the groceries required
for the week. Personally, not my bag. It comes down to convenience.
I am not so sure "most" people don't see what WM does. They moved in and
the
K-mart and Rite Aid down the block both went out of business....

JT




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I don't know what the RIGHT WAY is but that almost every item is cheaper in
Wal-Mart than in our 3 local super-markets. Too bad Wal-Mart can't get
their veggie and fruit section up to par!

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"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...
"slenon" wrote in message
om...
????? So are they going to put Orvis labels on their Hodgeman stuff,
or
just
start up a whole new production facility for Walmart?

And, your typical Wal Mart customer won't know or care, either.

Damned low-lifes. I wish they'd just get outta town.
Tim

Based upon a recent forerunner of this discussion on another forum,
Orvis
intends to market only their entry level items via WalMart. Even that
is
bad enough in my estimation.


As for the "typical customer," I avoid the place like plague so I no
longer
have any idea who might be typical. But a guess would include all the
poor
*******s who've been downsized, outsourced, laid off, and underpaid to
the
point where they can't afford to shop where they might prefer.

Actually, I wasn't referring to someone's economic position or job status.
The store attracts customers who find ONE thing cheaper there than
elsewhere, and blindly assume that EVERYTHING is cheaper. Groceries are a
perfect example. Anyone who follows their grocery bills the RIGHT way will
find that they're not saving anything, at least anyplace there's decent
competition. Around here (Rochester NY), Wal Mart hasn't made much of a
dent
in that category.




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"Kevin Vang" wrote in message
...
In article ,
says...

"George Cleveland" wrote in message
...

Merrill is the county seat of Lincoln county. I can vouch for the
attorney offices. As far as bail bondsmen...I think they take chickens
and other produce in trade for prisoners at the county jail.

What's a prisonerway?


About the same as 30-40 roosters, on average.

You forgot, "if you feed them right".

Wolfgang
you just GOTTA love this place!

"slenon" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
SNIP
*******s who've been downsized, outsourced, laid off, and underpaid to the
point where they can't afford to shop where they might prefer.

--
Stev Lenon 91B20 '68-'69


Ah yes, what a wonderful idea, get rid of all these ignorant poor *******s,
and we will all have a better life. Come on, somebody who fly-fishes just
can not be that stupid?

Try and think a little bit my friend, there but for the grace of who knows
what, go you. Continuing in this vein, will almost ensure that you are a
lousy angler as well.

Ah well, skin and noses notwithstanding, I still feel sorry for a lot of
people.

TL
MC

"Doug Kanter" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...

You think its a game?

The main way to keep poor people poor is to keep them ignorant, and make
them pay more for basic essentials. The scheme works very well.

Which is why you are well off, even though you are not only prejudiced, but
stupid to boot.

Don´t you think at all before you post?

TL
MC