Wal-Mart on Keeaumoku

[kimo55]

Re: Wal-Mart on Keeaumoku

And to think, this topic got started with a seemingly humble 2 line post about burials on the WalMart property.

yea, helen's got da mana.
We gotta ask her:
Eh.
helen.
Work yo magic, girl!
Give us another 2 line firestarter!

[pzarquon]

Re: Wal-Mart on Keeaumoku

Hmmm...taking this a little too personally, huh?

Perhaps. "Shoppers" includes a lot of people, me, and as you note, you too! And we certainly "take the time to learn what's going on around them and in the world." So I'd like to think we're not so rare. Lots of stupid people shop at WalMart, but a lot of smart folks do, too. Hell, I like me some Pepsi, and even a simpleton like me knows that paying $0.89 for two liters instead of $1.19 for 20 ounces makes sense (and cents!).

If I want to be charitable (and I am) I donate and participate in community service. I didn't earn my paycheck to end up keeping a hole in the wall in business by paying more for goods there instead of a superstore where I can get it cheaper.

I thoroughly enjoyed your post, Craig. Even the line about cash-only operations struck a nerve. If I go to another "mom and pop" where they proudly post the Visa logo on their door but tell you inside that you have to spend $20 to use your card... Grr. And it's a good point that WalMart still makes money hand over fist without going for the easy money in some "sin industries." Right down to too much cleavage on magazine covers! (Then again, they also sell guns. Go figure!)

I wonder what this place would be like if I and the few conservatives here were to remove all of our posts, leave and never come back? [...] I am not going to do you or anyone around here any harm if I would suddenly disappear. You'd all be happier I presume.

Aw, Mel, you were doing so well! Seriously, man, you're certainly not the only fan of Walmart here. And your input has clearly helped make for a lively (and busy) discussion. Fighting the good fight, or agreeing to disagree, all make sense to me. But it's somewhat disappointing when you make comments like this.

Lots of people have said it before, and we'll say it again: differences are what make things interesting.

Lord knows, if you feel Republican values are in the right, the rest of us heathens aren't going to learn to play if you take your ball and go home! Catch up on work, get some rest (lord knows I should be in bed), and lace up for round two tomorrow.

[kimo55]

Re: Wal-Mart on Keeaumoku

"Do we need to add more color to our messages?"


emphatically not. In fact less, if it looks too cartoonish and distracting.

[Konaguy]

Re: Wal-Mart on Keeaumoku

Is there something wrong about hating big government? I don't think so.

Well your post proved my assumption was right on about you.
[And you said I was assuming things..gosh darn...]
It would drive you up the wall if the State of Hawaii relieved
the burden on small business and provided heathcare for workers.

Personally mandating health benefits to be provided by business
is a much better option than creating a bigger government bureaucracy
you hate or forcing more employees to go without health benefiits.

[mel]

Re: Wal-Mart on Keeaumoku

Well your post proved my assumption was right on about you.
[And you said I was assuming things..gosh darn...]

Why do conservatives like myself bother you so much? I thought liberals loved diversity.

[mel]

Re: Wal-Mart on Keeaumoku

I thoroughly enjoyed your post, Craig.

Ditto. I think Craig has nicely summed up this whole WalMart and business issue mess this topic has morphed into with his various posts.

you were doing so well! Seriously, man, you're certainly not the only fan of Walmart here. And your input has clearly helped make for a lively (and busy) discussion. Fighting the good fight, or agreeing to disagree, all make sense to me. But it's somewhat disappointing when you make comments like this.

Don't I have my free speech rights to make such comments? It doesn't mean I am actually going to follow-through with leaving unless for some strange reason I get hit by an oncoming bus or a bolt of lightning... in that case I won't even have a chance to say goodbye for real.

Lord knows, if you feel Republican values are in the right, the rest of us heathens aren't going to learn to play if you take your ball and go home!

But then again you all could be happy with no conservatives to kick around and form a nice little mutual admiration society and sing "Kumbaya" with each other through all of the message posts. A nice liberal online or even a real-world utopia, free of Republicans, free of WalMarts, big boxes, full of socialism, high taxes, BRTS, choo choo trains, no cars, no SUVs, huge inventories of plastic bottles to be recycled, monuments to the Clintons and Gore and all the other stuff liberals love. What a society you would all have. Happy happy joey joey....

[Konaguy]

Re: Wal-Mart on Keeaumoku

Why do conservatives like myself bother you so much? I thought liberals loved diversity.

I think I'll keep that to myself, for sake of the thread. I'm neither liberal
or conservative .BOTH the left and the right irriitate the crap out of me.

[Karen]

Re: Wal-Mart on Keeaumoku

Walmart is one of the affordable things about this island, & I am thankful they are here, as are many. I have no problem with the govt. telling them where they can, or cannot build a store, but just let them BE here. Walmart Mililani is supposed to be THE number one store of more than three thousand walmarts, in how much business they do, and this is because of it costing so dang much to live in Hawaii, that people buy everything they can, at Walmart. (I was told this by the hubby of a walmart manager in Connecticutt, about Mililani being the top store.)

Walmart rocks! their buying power makes it possible for them to sell some items even BELOW what I can buy them at my military commissary for. For example, rubbing alcohol is approx. a dollar a bottle in Schofield commissary, but I think I paid 52 cents at walmart for it. Hawaii taxes us to death, so I am forced to shop where I get the BEST price.

[kimo55]

Re: Wal-Mart on Keeaumoku

Walmart rocks! their buying power makes it possible for them to sell some items even BELOW what I can buy them at my military commissary for.

Some items, they sell at or even below THEIR own cost. And for many vendors, Walmart demands that they (vendors) sell them some loss leader items at about 5 cents ABOVE the actual cost to the manufacturer. Wow. how can ANY one compete against that? and of course, how can most ANY consumer NOT be attracted to that!

For example, rubbing alcohol is approx. a dollar a bottle in Schofield commissary, but I think I paid 52 cents at walmart for it. Hawaii taxes us to death, so I am forced to shop where I get the BEST price.

yep it's a vicious cycle.

[kimo55]

Re: Wal-Mart on Keeaumoku

...their buying power makes it possible for them to sell some items even BELOW what I can buy them at my military commissary for.

.... and the military commissary is considered as veeerrry reasonable...

Walmart's should not even be classified as a retailer, since many of their items are directly manufactured by themselves! And most everything else is procured from manufacturers at very small profit margins for the retailer as well as for the manufacturer. So, legally, they are wholesalers and distributors which is funny; they occupy land that is zoned for retail and NOT wholesale business...

things that make ya go Hmmmm...

[pzarquon]

Re: Wal-Mart on Keeaumoku

So, legally, they are wholesalers and distributors which is funny; they occupy land that is zoned for retail and NOT wholesale business... things that make ya go Hmmmm...

That is indeed an interesting thought. Walmart moves enough stuff in bulk to smell like a wholesaler. In fact, Costco even more so -- though I think they do pretend to watch for customers who are turning around and reselling their stuff.

(I remember once a Costco cashier asking a guy if he was reselling. He looked at his three shopping carts filled with giant bags of potato chips and said, meekly, "Uh, no." Must've been one hell of a party!)

For zoning, though, what's the wholesale vs. retail distinction? Sure you can get stuff by the case, but then again, Walmart and Costco definitely cater direct to individual consumers. Their facilities are built to accommodate the teeming public. Besides, wouldn't they find their lives easierif they could spread out in "wholesale" districts built for warehouses and the like? As it is, half their headaches are trying to shoehorn their stores onto retail parcels.

Er. Though I guess it's not the ease they're after, but the customer traffic...

[kimo55]

Re: Wal-Mart on Keeaumoku

That is indeed an interesting thought. Walmart moves enough stuff in bulk to smell like a wholesaler. In fact, Costco even more so -- though I think they do pretend to watch for customers who are turning around and reselling their stuff.

Bought a box o burritos at H. kai costco.
thinkin yuuum. gonna pig out now, poolside, beer, burritos!
what else do ya need in life?
but realised after tasting them they were the very same cardboard and catmeat with kalkan sauce creations I pick up at that quikmart gas station near ena on Kalakaua! I do believe these box o burrs are designed for that purpose! resale!

FYI: bought the box sumpin like 5 bux for 12. At the station, buck and a half or so for the burr. ! Whew! i am in the wrong business!

[Miulang]

Re: Wal-Mart on Keeaumoku

Bought a box o burritos at H. kai costco.
thinkin yuuum. gonna pig out now, poolside, beer, burritos!
what else do ya need in life?
but realised after tasting them they were the very same cardboard and catmeat with kalkan sauce creations I pick up at that quikmart gas station near ena on Kalakaua! I do believe these box o burrs are designed for that purpose! resale!

FYI: bought the box sumpin like 5 bux for 12. At the station, buck and a half or so for the burr. ! Whew! i am in the wrong business!

When Costco was founded in Seattle back in the 1980's, it really truly was a warehouse store, open to businesses only who would buy their goods and then resell them. That's why up here, merchants who have a State sales tax ID can buy their stuff tax free and at an additional discount. Us "consumers" who pay $45 a year for the privilege of being a member, don't get the additional discount (unless we become premier members and cough up $60). Somewhere in the late 1980's the CEO of Costco decided to turn the privately held business into a public one. At that point (and also figuring that people wouldn't balk at paying a membership fee to "join" such an exclusive club and reap savings), they also opened the membership up to employees of member companies and hospital and school system employees. Now just about anybody who wants to fork over the membership fee every year can go shop at Costco.

One other interesting thing about Costco is the mix of products offered within a store can vary greatly by location...you guys get the manapua and char sui and we get the bagels and lox! (Actually we can sometimes get sushi platters too)

Miulang

[mel]

Re: Wal-Mart on Keeaumoku

Well, it looks like no one else has anything good or bad to say about WalMart. We are going to fall short of the 200 message count by this weekend.

[mel]

Re: Wal-Mart on Keeaumoku

A couple of benefits I can't wait for upon the opening of WalMart Keeaumoku is the fact that a new traffic light will be activated at the intersection of Kanunu St. and Keeaumoku St. Perhaps it will be easier to make left turns once that happens.

Another benefit will be the removal of the ugly utility poles and the burial of the utility cables underground along the WalMart way.