See? Now you know why I stay out of these things, and now YOU all should realize why you should be grateful that I seldom participate...LOL

Hi LoveItaly,
It's one thing to read in the paper about what is happening in communities all over the country, but thanks for sharing from your personal vantage point.

I think people shouldn't be so eager to lap up the marketing these companies use - about community and spirit and so forth. Wal-mart is so powerful and the world's largest retailer because their primary concern is the bottom line.

Okay, I'm going to admit. I shop at WalMart. And not just the WalMart by my house, but across the country when I travel. My team travels to various locations around the US and we jokingly refer to the "WalMart Index" when we talk about the various places we travel to.

But the point is, that although they carry pretty much the same merchandize, each WalMart has a different "feel". Some of them, I want to turn around and leave as soon as I enter the door because everyone, customers and employees, all seem anxious or grumpy. Others, such as the one near my house, always seem to have an upbeat, positive feel.

Oh, and KMart closed all its stores here in our part of the country but I had quit shopping there in favor of WalMart several years ago. Better quality, better prices, better availability.

I can afford to shop other places but WalMart gives me what I want and obviously gives other consumers what they want or they would not be so successful.

And, I could afford to pay more for things I now buy at WalMart. But I'd rather save those few bucks to spend on my next trip to Paris or London.

Pegg, you said "There was also an article in the Wall Street Journal many weeks back that talked about how big box retailers, like Wal-mart, grow out of their location and build an even bigger mega-center down the road. They leave behind these giant abandoned box structures. The problem is what happens to these spaces? Well the article says, these companies would rather leave these buildings as is, as eye sores, rather than renting/selling to potential competitors."

You hit on Exactly one of the reasons why I do not like Wal-Mart. The arrogant way in which they trample into communities and dump their sea of ashphalt around their boxes where ever they please. When some communities have objected to these mega monsters Wal-Mart sends in their army of lawyers to get what they want and almost always wins.

Contrary to their new TV commercials Wal-Mart does not care about the communities and people they throw themselves onto. Profits are "Always" their bottom line.

Oh dam- it .....I can't resist. Profit is NOT a dirty word. When I made a mention of coporate greed I was refering the to Enron's and their like and a few of the obscene pay and or severence packages give to some of the CEO's of said firms. I'm really startin' to like Elliot Spitzer.

Whenever I visit walmart I stand on line with hundreds of the "low-income" people who are stocking up on Halloween gimicks, CD's, boom boxes and other non-essential items. There is alot of extra spending money in their hands!

Bye now, I am going to my local grocery store where Mr. Perez asks me if I have had a nice day.

With four sons - three of whom are teenagers - were it not for Wal-Mart, we probably couldn't afford our trips overseas. And 'our' store is super friendly and helpful. There doesn't seem to be a lot of turnover in staff. We have our favorite cashiers, the produce guy will special order stuff for me, and the senior citizen greeters have been there as long as I can remember.

I don't know whether or not it is true, but I read somewhere that Europeans were put off by the "in your face smiling" brand of friendliness of Wal-Mart employees. The article said that the shoppers were particularly leery of someone else bagging their purchases. I think the store was in Germany. Can anyone verify this?

I don't know about Germany, but a few years back Safeway was doing the "friendly" thing. I thought I would go mad!!!!!! You couldn't even get through a isle without someone saying, "did you find everything? Can I help you find something?" I guess I'm just never happy...but it was horrible...I mean it wasn't a "Hi" when you entered the store, and people just being available when you needed them, it was in your face, all the time. They finally stopped doing it. It was just total over-kill. So, if this is going on in Germany, I'm not surprised that they are put off by it. It's nice to be nice, but enough is enough.