Wal-Mart: Hello and Goodbye

(Photo by Wt90401)

In a very real sense, Wal-Mart has been playing havoc with small-town America for years.

Moving in on Main Street stores, then undercutting what “Mom and Pop” have

successfully done for years, has been Wal-Mart’s preferred MO.

The wheels of karma may appear to grind slowly, but they do eventually turn back around.  And in Wal-Mart’s case, they’re turning right now at a dizzying pace.

Bloomberg reports that “Wal-Mart has been under increasing pressure lately as sales in the U.S. have failed to keep up with rising labor costs.”  In other words, what Wal-Mart has done to small-box stores, Amazon et. al. is now doing to big-box stores.

Therefore, Wal-Mart is rather abruptly closing many of its own smaller stores (small, of course, being a relative term).  This leaves numerous towns in a lurch. When big fish eat all the little fish and then move on, guess what?  No fish left for anyone.

Case in point:  Oriental, North Carolina.  This retirement community along the inter-coastal waterway had been long served by a family-run grocery called Town’n Country.  After Wal-Mart’s booming hello, this grocery was forced to close.  With Wal-Mart’s turnabout goodbye, routine shopping will now entail a 50-minute round trip.

Copyright January 25, 2016 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved