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My guess is that they waited to run the local mom & pop craft store out of business before cutting back on the crafts selection.
I know the location I used to work at was upgraded from regular Wal-Mart to a Supercenter. The old floor plan gave crafts more room in a smaller space than the Supercenter layout seems to.
I think it's a nationwide thing that they are cutting back on their crafts. Both the Walmarts near me have been cutting back more and more in the last few years. Few Walmarts sell fabric anymore either (which is okay, really, their fabric was cheap, but obviously crap, but it was good for a beginning sewer like me).
I must say, I visited the Walmart in Manchester before 'Roo and I was amazed at how they stocked the store in anticipation of the fest. The large selection of fake tye dye t-shirts cracked me up and really spoke to me about how little they really understand the market.
5. Yes, it is true! Until the mid 90's Walmart wrote a non-voluntary life insurance policy on ever employee they hired. So you're overworked and underpaid, then you take every dime that you make and spend it to buy your necessities at Walmart, and finally when you kick the bucket, they make their last buck off of you.
Do you happen to know a more specific date than "mid 90s?"
I worked at my local Walmart back in high school, beginning in March of 1997.
Watching that cheer on the video just awakened some dormant post-traumatic stress in me.
I want to say '94-'95 but I can't exactly recall and I don't really have to time to look it up at the moment.
Also, for those of you who rely on walmart for low prices, just know that there ARE other options.
In my town, there is a DOLLAR GENERAL MARKET which is the size of a grocery store and half the store is even dedicated to groceries. This is where I do MOST of my shopping because their prices are comparable to walmart. It may be a brand you never heard of, but it is still good quality and generic just like "Equate". Stores are clean, prices are low, and you can still find brands you trust like Tide, Dawn, Pepsi, Covergirl, Energizer, and many, MANY more.
And the options don't stop there! Try stopping in at other places like Big Lots, Family Dollar, Sav-a-lot, Dollar Tree (new ones include groceries), Ross Dress for Less, and.... the internet for items you thought you could only buy at Walmart.
Honestly though, you have to give them props for letting everyone camp in their parking lot in Manchester the way they do.
/sure, they are going to make many dollars from festival people, but they could make nearly as much with some sort of "no bonnaroo camping" rule.
This is something we can thank Sam Walton for (he really wasn't an evil man, and like Bek said, much of what Walmart stands for today was not Walton's dream). Part of his vision from the beginning was that anyone who needed a place to sleep, for whatever reason, could do so in the parking lot of his stores, free of charge and with no hassles.
Not every Walmart store allows this these days, but most of them still do.
Here's a list of the stores that won't let you sleep in their parking lots. If you're ever on the road and need to pull over for a nap, any Walmart not on this list should* let you. www.freecampgrounds.com/walmart_nocamping.aspx
*I'm not guaranteeing they won't hassle you, but they're not supposed to.
I thought the parking lot stays were a company-wide policy originally intended with RVers in mind, although things quite possibly changed or I misremembered them in the first place. The logic behind it was that those who stay in your parking lot overnight are more likely to patronize your store in the morning. Letting someone stay in your parking lot doesn't contribute to your overhead costs or anything like that, so that policy basically adds a few extra sales at no expense to the company.
Oh, the useless information I learned from all those computer training lessons...
Post by nitetimeritetime on Jan 18, 2010 18:20:54 GMT -5
Yeah that sound right, kdogg. RVs and truckers were the intended target, but you don't have to be in an RV or truck to stay there. I'm sure the financial considerations you mentioned were a big part of it, but they could always have done what most stores do, and call the cops if you sleep in their parking lots, but Walton thought that was a bad idea. Just giving a little credit to the man whose company has turned into an international human rights violation.
I did some searching and couldn't seem to find any CBL videos.
CBLs were Computer-Based Lessons, more popularly known as Computer Brainwashing Lessons. You'd plug them into a computer in the back and have to watch videos and take quizzes at the end. Considering the measures they went to protect that data a dozen years ago, I'm not surprised I'm hard-pressed to find them online today...