Doug Kanter wrote:

"RJ" wrote in message
...
Doug Kanter wrote:

I'm not disputing the fact that they sell a lot. I'm saying that for
many
products, they are NOT cheaper. They've just created an image. Tell me
this:
Faced with a 5 mile commercial strip packed with weekend traffic, are
you
going to go back and forth between WM and two supermarkets to determine
whether you're getting the best prices? Of course not. This is what WM
counts on.

That's what supermarkets counted on, too, when they added lots of 'store
within the store' operations to the basic foodstuffs. Going further
back, the supermarket counted on convenience to compete with delis,
bakeries, butchers, and the like.

And yet, many of these places still survive, some of them in highly unlikely
locations. They do so by offering something different, not just the same old
white bread.

Not nearly as many today as there were in, say, 1960 (per capita).