Doug Kanter wrote:

"RJ" wrote in message
m...


That's what's so odd: There IS no concept at Wal Mart. :-) If you
believe
there is, can you describe or name it?

A store with most of the mundane things you need day to day to run your
household. One stop to buy a wide variety of things. Open late, as
much as 24/7. How is that not a concept?

Any decent supermarket chain carries all those things.

They have plumbing supplies, tools, and clothing like WM?

They'll charge you a
bit more for Rubbermaid storage containers, but in return, they'll have
produce that wasn't driven over by the truck.

You have a real hard-on for Walmart.


Is many small towns, they WERE the demise of smaller stores. In large
markets, supermarkets did them in, unless they offered something
special.
Many still do.

I grew up in a time and place when the only shopping was the little
stores on Main Street. The predominant characteristics of shopping that
way were (1) limited choices, (2) high prices, (3) no returns (You have
a problem, see the manufacturer.) The discounters that came before
WalMart killed off main street.

I'm focusing on groceries for now.

Then we are talking at cross purposes.

Of course! But Wal Mart makes virtually no contribution, unless you
think
the presence of salsa and chips on their shelves has great meaning to
your
average Hispanic customer.

When a new supermarket chain builds new stores in a city where they
haven't been before, is that a contribution? Do you have to make a
contribution to compete?

I think you have to differentiate your store somehow, unless you put the
store in a place that's much more convenient than your competitors. I don't
know where you live, but if you're in the Northeast, visit www.wegmans.com,
and make a point of seeing one of their stores if possible. You'll say
"Oh...now I get it". Wherever they open a store, they succeed.

I've been in Wegmans. I've been in lots of other stores equally nice
across the country.

Well, today's news mentioned that in a WM store in Florida, a woman was
injured when she was trampelled by a crowd rushing to grab DVD players that
were on sale. I worry when consumers are so price-driven that quality (or
presence) or life becomes unimportant.

I thought you were discussing only food markets. You need to work on
focus a little.