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Wal-Mart: Chapter 3

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  • #31
    Re: Wal-Mart: Chapter 3

    I went down today, the first Saturday. Grainy phonecam photos collected here. I think that was the crowd they were worried about. Folks might have held back from the mid-week bow. Even so, they had a decent handle on things, from traffic control to crowd control. There was a lot of parking, though you might have had a longer walk than you would've liked. The aisles were crowded, but not too many "pile ups" (caused primarily by folks having spontaneous family reunions in mid shop).

    And it is a huge store. It felt a lot bigger inside than it looked outside, and it looks big on the outside already!



    As well as things flowed getting into and through the store, the registers were the major bottleneck. It was gridlock along the whole line of checkout stands, to the point where you couldn't find an actual "line." More a random crowd of folks facing generally the same way, trying not to (and sometimes failing) to cut in front of someone else. The store manager made his way through, listening to gripes and giving away free sodas.



    The prices, of course, were great. We went in with one thing on our list, and left with six, most of them costing noticably less than what we would've paid at Longs.

    The neatest thing I saw? The shopping cart escalator! It runs along the "up" escalator for humans, but it grabs your cart, holds it level, and drags it up to the top to meet you.



    Traffic wise, there are only two notable problems. One, as Mitchell noted, is jaywalkers. People are too lazy to go to the lights to get across Keeaumoku. Two, since they have a long mauka-bound left-turn lane with light at mid-block, they should eliminate left turns at Makaloa and Kanunu streets. There are no lights there, and traffic backs up quite deep whenever someone tries to turn at those intersections.

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    • #32
      Re: Wal-Mart: Chapter 3

      Originally posted by pzarquon
      I went down today, the first Saturday.
      I saw your photos over at BuzzNet. Looks like you had fun just being there and taking pictures too.

      Originally posted by pzarquon
      Traffic wise, there are only two notable problems. One, as Mitchell noted, is jaywalkers. People are too lazy to go to the lights to get across Keeaumoku. Two, since they have a long mauka-bound left-turn lane with light at mid-block, they should eliminate left turns at Makaloa and Kanunu streets. There are no lights there, and traffic backs up quite deep whenever someone tries to turn at those intersections.
      Yes. I was at Subway sandwiches this afternoon across from WalMart and two bozos ran across the street from there back to WalMart without walking to the crosswalk. I think this problem will continue even if they did put in a crosswalk in between the 2 intersections.

      As for the left turn lanes from keeaumoku to both Makaloa and Kanunu St., I'd be staunchly against that. The blessing that WalMart gave nearby residents was the controlled left turn signal on Keeaumoku/Kanunu to make it easy to go to Kanunu St. Before that there was no traffic light, and left turns were difficult even when the WalMart store was not there. Now with the slight increase in traffic those left turn signals are necessary.

      The city administration has already made this city too car hostile. Don't start doing it here.

      Further observations:

      1. Friends of mine have told me the best time to shop at WalMart is the early morning hours from 6 to about 9. There are not as many people there, so I would imagine the checkout line will not be very congested.

      2. I went to Ala Moana Shopping Center today. The place was packed. They had a sidewalk sale promotion going on there and all the shops along the way that I walked were busy. Longs was busy. So was Sears and several of those boutique shops that populate the center. I don't think the merchants have too much to fear from WalMart.

      3. Daiei seems to be a different story. I went there Thursday night and the place was quite sparse despite the parking lot looking full. The lines at the checkout were noticeably shorter. Today I went to Daiei at around 4:PM. It was a little busier but still not very long lines at the checkout stand.

      4. I notice a lot of people walking over from Ala Moana Center to and from WalMart. Many are tourists, but lots of locals too. Could it be that some people are parking their cars at Ala Moana and walking to WalMart?
      I'm still here. Are you?

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      • #33
        Re: Wal-Mart: Chapter 3

        Originally posted by mel
        As for the left turn lanes from keeaumoku to both Makaloa and Kanunu St., I'd be staunchly against that. The blessing that WalMart gave nearby residents was the controlled left turn signal on Keeaumoku/Kanunu to make it easy to go to Kanunu St. Before that there was no traffic light, and left turns were difficult even when the WalMart store was not there.
        Actually, I mis-typed. I meant people attempting mauka-bound left turns onto Makaloa and Rycroft streets. Note the "grand opening" traffic flow map. Left turns at those points are/were banned last week. When I was there yesterday, they were allowed. However, because of the increased makai-bound traffic flow, an entire light cycle at those two intersections could pass without a single mauka-bound person being able to turn left. This was a problem especially at the Rycroft intersection, which plugs up a relatively short block before Kapiolani. Having that short lane blocked up backed traffic up (1.) onto the ramp of the mall and (2.) turning left Diamond Head bound on Kapiolani.

        I went to Ala Moana Shopping Center today. The place was packed.
        That's where we ended up as well. Problems were somewhat compounded by the closure of the top deck of the new parking structure on the northwest corner (near Sears). Folks were circling for spaces everywhere!

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        • #34
          Re: Wal-Mart: Chapter 3

          Did anybody go to the Sam's Club at Keeaumoku opening? If you did, how does the merchandise compare to Costco?

          Miulang

          http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/ar.../bz/bz08p.html
          "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

          Comment


          • #35
            Re: Wal-Mart: Chapter 3

            I forgot about the Sam's Club launch. I've never been in one, though they were giving away free 'day passes' when Wal-Mart opened. I was curious how parking control would work once it opened, given the way the superblock structure was designed. Sadly, I don't know how popular Sam's Club stores are in general... I come from a CostCo family.

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            • #36
              Re: Wal-Mart: Chapter 3

              I went on Thursday night to Sam's Club using those one day passes. I noticed that AA batteries are cheaper at Costco but the Sam's Club sells Everyready batteries at very close price for less batteries than the Kirkland brand.

              DVD selections, well Wal-Mart is better.

              And they have a food court but you need to be inside Sam's Club to get access to it.

              Comment


              • #37
                Re: Wal-Mart: Chapter 3

                Originally posted by Miulang
                Did anybody go to the Sam's Club at Keeaumoku opening? If you did, how does the merchandise compare to Costco?

                Miulang

                http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/ar.../bz/bz08p.html
                I forgot about it.

                Practically the whole class for my 1st period got those free passes, and I was was the few who didn't have mine (I actually forgot it at home).

                The school was near there too, so it was a good way to take a break, but alas, I didn't.

                I'll go to Wal-Mart sometime next week to get some excercise and to entertain my brain (it gets boring when you surf the internet at school for 3 hours).
                How'd I get so white and nerdy?

                Comment


                • #38
                  Re: Wal-Mart: Chapter 3

                  Curious minds want to know if the new Wal-Mart in Honolulu
                  is a Wal-Mart SuperCenter with full on groceries department
                  or just a run of a mill Wal-Mart.
                  Check out my blog on Kona issues :
                  The Kona Blog

                  Comment


                  • #39
                    Re: Wal-Mart: Chapter 3

                    I'm curious I heard that the Pearl City Sam's Club is supposed to close because the new one opened in town. Now I hear that both will remain open. Anyone know the story?

                    KalihiBoy

                    Comment


                    • #40
                      Re: Wal-Mart: Chapter 3

                      Originally posted by Aaron S
                      Curious minds want to know if the new Wal-Mart in Honolulu is a Wal-Mart SuperCenter with full on groceries department or just a run of a mill Wal-Mart.
                      The Wal-Mart has a limited selection of groceries mostly for breakfast, lunch or snacks. The Sam's Club however seems to have good portion of space set aside for the groceries.

                      Comment


                      • #41
                        Re: Wal-Mart: Chapter 3

                        Originally posted by Kalihiboy
                        I'm curious I heard that the Pearl City Sam's Club is supposed to close because the new one opened in town. Now I hear that both will remain open. Anyone know the story?

                        KalihiBoy
                        What about the proposed walmart by that sam's club (or was it moved to the honolulu one?) If there will be a wal mart there, then what about the one in Waipahu/Kunia?
                        How'd I get so white and nerdy?

                        Comment


                        • #42
                          Re: Wal-Mart: Chapter 3

                          Originally posted by helen
                          The Wal-Mart has a limited selection of groceries mostly for breakfast, lunch or snacks. The Sam's Club however seems to have good portion of space set aside for the groceries.
                          It sounds like that is a run of the mill Wal-Mart. I swear
                          I read in the past it would be a Wal-Mart SuperCenter...
                          But what in the neck do I know .
                          Check out my blog on Kona issues :
                          The Kona Blog

                          Comment


                          • #43
                            Re: Wal-Mart: Chapter 3

                            I suppose the Supercenter means it has a Sam's Club there as well. In any event I stopped in tonight to buy some stuff. Noticed that Sam's Club only opens to 8:30 pm on Monday to Saturday and at 6pm on Sunday.

                            Comment


                            • #44
                              Re: Wal-Mart: Chapter 3

                              Originally posted by helen
                              I suppose the Supercenter means it has a Sam's Club there as well. In any event I stopped in tonight to buy some stuff. Noticed that Sam's Club only opens to 8:30 pm on Monday to Saturday and at 6pm on Sunday.
                              No, Supercenter in WM parlance means they also have a real supermarket (one that would compete against the Safeways of the world). Most of the WMs out in the boonies have that component; the ones in urban areas probably don't because there are so many other alternatives for groceries. The Supercenters are the ones that are giving lots of urban communities the fits and the ones those communities are fighting against.

                              I think Sam's Club at Keeaumoku is still geared towards businesses, which is why the shopping hours are so restricted.

                              Miulang
                              "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

                              Comment


                              • #45
                                Re: Wal-Mart: Chapter 3

                                Wal-Mart and wal-Mart Supercenters are different beasts from Sam's Club.
                                Wal-Mart recently converted a Wal-Mart to a Wal-Mart Supercenter
                                north of Everett Washington at Quilceda Creek. I was able to see it when we
                                were up in WA last summer. Being in retail, it totally blew me away the
                                size of the grocery component of the store.


                                60-65% of the business at the new Sams Club on Oahu is going to be
                                from other businesses I read.
                                Check out my blog on Kona issues :
                                The Kona Blog

                                Comment

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