Wal-Mart War Room

[Miulang]

Re: Wal-Mart War Room

Over this past weekend, some 300 native indian protestors climbed partway up one of the 2 ancient pyramids that sit within view of the new WM store in Teotihuacan to protest the opening of the store.

They have about as much chance of stopping that opening as the Seahawks have to make the playoffs this year (at the rate they're going, anyway). I just hope the police practice restraint and let the protestors do their thing without bashing anybody's head in. For the indigenous indians, it marks the end of a way of life that they have known forever; for the other more recent settlers, it presents an opportunity (they think) to move up in life.

http://www.canada.com/news/world/sto...f-ea6fb0210c67

Miulang

[kimo55]

Re: Wal-Mart War Room

Ok, broke a rule of mine which dictates
Don't go to, or anywhere Walmart.
so, sad to say I went to walmart today.

observed:
initally, front entrance rug was trashed. all busup arready.
Dept on left; Hawaiian products and handcrafts.
ok, stuff je'like da kine at Longs.
nothing new here. Same price points.
Aloha shirts; Only one local brand. the rest of the aloha shirts were da fake kine from Thailand. junkalunk designs. (tourists might like 'em.)

Saw some cool lookin bamboo and palm tree motif tableware; plates, bowls etc.. but upon handling them saw they were light cheap plastic. aaagh!
MiniDv camera dept; only had a few models. Not much choice here. mo bettah li dat you go local store. savings? wot, maybe 20 bux per model...


did not notice much at all; any high quality brand name merchandise. This is the evolutionary stage we see wherein as reported on many walmart info web sites:
WM beats the manufacturer's price down til they can not make a profit or stay in business, and when the manuf. can't lower their costs any longer, WM creates a knock off in China (or sometimes India). heck, WM does their own knockoff anyway. The name brands help to pull some customers to the location, and the cheaper WM private label stuff goes home with the customer.

I noticed much China and India origin merchandise.
and the much ballyhooed LLOOOOWWW prices, nah. same as at Longs and Daiei.
(which is a Walmart target; they wanna buy them out.)

Oh wait what's this? "marykate'N'ashley clothing line. A name brand. ok; upon close inspection; looked like a cheap one time use china-made halloween costume quality level piece of cr... clothing...

the WM press release quote: "This new store means that for the first time in central Honolulu, we'll be able to offer customers what they've asked for -- quality merchandise, low prices and Wal-Mart's spirit of aloha."
this is a typical WM spin-doctor/marketing insult to merchants in the area who for years, have offered good quality stuff at good prices. and to add insult to injury, of course, the local merchants are dropping like da cockaroach on da wall hit wit da slippah.

Upon leaving the 4 story parking structure.
Cold design. Tight parking spaces, tight lanes.

People are honking. Hate to see that begin here. Noticed an ocular products and services shop x the street with a going outta business sign.
They been there on Keeaumoku for years.

Just don't like the idea of a huge monolithic mausoleum taking up a whole block in the heart of our Honolulu.
State shoulda created a mini Polynesian Cultural center kine o thing on this block. Or help subsidize a local vendor/maufacturer's shop/village in the old style.

Yes, the state is to blame. They believed the propaganda; Walmart will bring planny jobs to Hawaii. Lotta tax revenue. THAT is all the state cares about. Not the repercussions.

[Miulang]

Re: Wal-Mart War Room

The WM Teotihuacan store opened without fanfare or protest today. Part of the reason the opening was so quiet is because there was no official announcement of the opening. So now WM can put another notch into its multinational belt. Good job, WM.

http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?x225567298

BTW: Since the Prez has won re-election, one of the first people to offer their congratulations from outside the US was the head of the Outsourcing Office in India, who was probably rubbing his hands with glee, knowing that some of the 100,000 jobs that were cut from the US in the month of Oct. will for sure be headed for the shores of Bangalore.

Miulang

[kimo55]

Re: Wal-Mart War Room

Since the Prez has won re-election, one of the first people to offer their congratulations from outside the US was the head of the Outsourcing Office in India, who was probably rubbing his hands with glee, knowing that some of the 100,000 jobs that were cut from the US in the month of Oct. will for sure be headed for the shores of Bangalore.

Miulang

India.
hmm.
Used to buy alotta stuff from India Imports there in Ala Moana center, I think they were where old navy is now.
Good hippie dippie junk back then. Now, India along with China supply sprawlmart with all their cheaply make stuff and plastic junk (but walmart passes the savings onto us!)
'course, don't think fer a moment the same wouldn't happen; if Kerry had won, one of the first people to offer their congratulations from outside the US would be the head of the Outsourcing Office in India.

[memorylane]

Re: Wal-Mart War Room

Awright keikis!! back to your corners!

[kimo55]

Re: Wal-Mart War Room

Awright keikis!! back to your corners!

Who's a keiki here?!
I'm kumu.
and why should we put our back to a corner?

[Miulang]

Re: Wal-Mart War Room

Heehee! Obviously Memorylane doesn't get that we're on the same side, Kimo. "kumu kumu nuku nuku a pua'a"

Miulang

[Mokihana]

Re: WalMart also strikes fear in Mexico

maybe; they send over these lil
trojan horses for us to have in our homes....

come ta think of it. really should look insai all of these nesting tikis!

Maybe Wal-Mart is a trojan horse. Waddya think?

[kimo55]

Re: WalMart also strikes fear in Mexico

Maybe Wal-Mart is a trojan horse. Waddya think?

ok, i'll bite.
How could walmart be a trojan horse?

[Miulang]

Re: WalMart also strikes fear in Mexico

ok, i'll bite.
How could walmart be a trojan horse?

It's got all these little yellow smiley faces hidden inside that are programmed to explode when critical mass is reached, so that soon we'll all be wearing little yellow smiley face masks?

BTW: Here's a good one: read somewhere the other day that WM is planning to build 10 Superstores in China next year. Wow. So the Chinese will also be able to buy low priced crap that they produce soon!!!! Or will they hold out and demand "quality" goods from India to stock the WM shelves in Beijing?

Miulang

[kimo55]

Re: WalMart also strikes fear in Mexico

read somewhere the other day that WM is planning to build 10 Superstores in China next year. Wow. So the Chinese will also be able to buy low priced crap that they produce soon!!!!
Miulang

ahhh the insidiousness and ego of walmart. for them to think the masses are that gullible! (trouble is, they are right...)
Just three blocks away, i shop at daiei. much better experience and they are one stop shopping. But to look for the cheapest most convenient shopping experience as a major goal in daily life is to sell your soul to hades.

Today's advtertiser is depressingly telling:
too many articles showing peoples want and need to for the above. here on the island, locals expressing their joy and happiness in having so many mainland style shopping choices. It is very depressing.

"....visited Wal-Mart for the first time Tuesday with his family. The downtown Honolulu residents complimented Wal-Mart — a 150,000-square-foot, mammoth store jam-packed with clothing, jewelry, toys, electronics, household goods, food, gardening supplies and more — for its one-stop-shopping convenience.

....offers hundreds of premium sunglasses by designers such as Chanel, Prada, Versace, Salvatore Ferragamo and Dolce & Gabbana. S....opened Oct. 27 at Ala Moana Center.
... offers footwear and accessories by designers such as Matisse, Mephisto, Reed Evins, Sacha London and Giuseppe Zanotti.
"This is excellent," said.... who works at an auto-service shop. He and his wife,....were impressed by the store's size.
Kailua resident.... was in Wal-Mart for the third time since it opened Oct. 13. "It's convenient because the other stores (in Kunia and Mililani on O'ahu) are all the way on the other side, and it's cheap."
Oh, is it, Sherlock!?
..... compared Hawai'i's newest stores to those in Chicago's famed shopping district, Michigan Avenue, which she recently visited. "It's nice to know that we have a lot of stores they have, and we're now on the map as a major shopping destination," she said.
ok. WHY is this "nice"?!

and now our queen of overdevelopment and shopping has something to say;
"Honolulu has been the center of retail in the luxury goods market for many years, said Stephany Sofos, a local real-estate consultant. Sofos noted that the Honolulu branches of Chanel and Hermes have ranked No. 2 in sales worldwide, next only to the companies' Paris stores. Retailers of all kinds, from luxury to discount, "have been banging around, looking for places here" to cater to both residential and vacationing consumers, Sofos said. "It's great for shoppers because anytime you have a smorgasboard of activities, it means you definitely have different opportunities to go shopping," she said.
Uh, yea, Steph; that IS the implication of "smorgasboard". But how can residents celebrate this mindless, thoughtless all consuming deification of mass consumerism?! Why do they not realize the end result and the cost of it all?
Why would we want to destroy our island lifestyle and make Honolulu another ugly suburb of the L.A. basin?!


...the other nite, southpark had an ep on wallmart. I am normally very allergic to this show and its ilk, but scanning the channels, saw their depiction of walmart and hadda watch it. 'course, nachurrlly my I.Q. level dropped, no... plummeted.. greatly, while viewing this junk, but I had to see what their take was on it.

[kimo55]

Re: Wal-Mart War Room

Heehee! Obviously Memorylane doesn't get that we're on the same side, Kimo. "kumu kumu nuku nuku a pua'a"

Miulang

kumu kumu mo akamai den keiki or any walmaht shoppah apua'a

[Miulang]

Re: WalMart also strikes fear in Mexico

ahhh the insidiousness and ego of walmart. for them to think the masses are that gullible! (trouble is, they are right...)
Just three blocks away, i shop at daiei. much better experience and they are one stop shopping. But to look for the cheapest most convenient shopping experience as a major goal in daily life is to sell your soul to hades.

Here's sumptin else hardly anyone is aware of that's going to make NAFTA look like a women's afternoon tea: there's this little trade agreement called the "Free Trade Area of the Americas" (FTAA or FAFTA) that's due to be ratified by the end of this year and implemented in 2005. What the hell is FTAA and why should we care about it? Think of FTAA as the North and South American equivalent of the European Union (EU). It will include every country in North and South America except Cuba. It means that free trade will be open to all countries under the agreement. And if we think NAFTA sent many of our jobs to Mexico and Canada (on top of the high tech jobs going to Asia), we ain't seen nothing yet!

What's really troubling is the Administration has been one of the active sponsors of this pact, and yet there has been absolutely no input from the American public!

When this agreement is passed, many more of our manufacturing jobs will be outsourced to Mexico and points south, and before you know it, we'll just be a nation of consumers with a horrendous trade imbalance. This kind of trade agreement is notgood for the average American; it's only good for lining the pockets of big business who will be able to produce cheap goods "overseas" to sell back to us.

Do yourselves a favor and at least learn a little about the consequences of FTAA: http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/ftaa/

Miulang

BTW: All you chocoholics had better start stocking up on your favorite sweet. With all the unrest in Ivory Coast (one of the leading exporters of cocoa), the price of chocolates is going to skyrocket soon.

[kimo55]

Re: Wal-Mart War Room

"Wal-Mart/Sam's Club this week (11/13/04) announced the layoff of 90 workers..."

So, they actually aren't creating jobs as they said they definitely would.

"local retail consultant Stephany Sofos; "The bottom line is when you're dealing with shoppers today, it's all about convenience."

Doesn't Walmart/sam's club know enuff to cater to their spoiled clientele and NOT put a store on an upper level?!

Cuz it aint the low prices or cheap plastic junk imported from China that draws people, according to Sofos.
It's the convenience. Only the convenience. "It's ALL about convenience"

Don't they know enuff to hire and listen to retail consultants?!


"David Engle was fired by the Ke'eaumoku Sam's Club for falling short of membership sales goals left a job as a full-time cook to join Sam's Club this fall. Engle said he returned to Zippy's as a part-time cook after failing to land a job at Wal-Mart." "I thought I had a good job and that I could go a long way with the company," Engle said of Sam's Club."

another one bites the dust.

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/ar.../bz/bz07p.html

[Miulang]

Re: Wal-Mart War Room

Interesting little analysis of what WM is doing to further increase profits while driving down prices. Apparently, there will come a time soon when suppliers will "own" the products they place upon WM shelves and won't get paid until the item actually sells. WM can do this because they know, to the individual unit, where and when something is sold.

However, what I envision, under this new inventory scheme, is that you won't see the same kind of products on the shelves and those items that are on the shelves will hang around for a longer period of time. This is also going to cause some repercussions for the smaller suppliers who are counting on WM to front the money for the inventory.

http://www.corante.com/customer/arch...mart_knows.php

Miulang