Tough Times For Retailers

[dawman]

WalMart is showing a profit still in the final days prior to Holiday shopping.
Usually their model is followed by others as they never show a loss....why?
They buy in such large volume that even a 5% mark-up would show a profit.
I took my boy for an early spree for games to WalMart and got him 2 new XBox games for 35 USD instead of 50 & 60 USD.
I think the idea of making a smaller profit to move more products is a sound model.
Hopefully the Greedy May Company folks will follow suit. I am getting tired of wearing Wrangler Jeans.

This early shopping tip also will help you avoid those endless Kenny G. Christmas songs that haunt one hours after shopping,
I heard there is a new disease out that strikes our larger population areas strewn with High Rise Towers galore. It's reffered to as Elevator rage.
It causes some people to go nutty and pull the emergency stop button, pry open the doors and climb out between floors, and rip open your shit popping all of the buttons as oxygen seems to be hard to get into the lungs from the excessive hyperventilation that occurs.
It seems as though being forced to listen to cheezy strings ( elevator music ) has a soothing effect, while Soprano sax melodies can cause rage in others.

Someday I shall get my revenge. I often think of how much fun it would be litsening to him play as I chase him around naked w/ a Bull Whip through the same Shopping centers I have been tortured in for years by his maggot gagging melodies.
That's my version of a High Plains Drifter.

Sorry, I am feeling the effects of the disease.

[sharc]

I can empathize with that Jimmy

I've often thought the same thing about Simon Cowell. Only that's more of an everyday thing ...and minus the nakedness

[Neutron]

I try to Avoid greedfest alltogether. Radio and TV stay off from November to Dec 26. headphones on when i have to get groceries.
I hate that ching ching ching sleigh bell/cash register sound every song and advertisement has. it is a mental prod for the herd.

and I never ever shop at walmart. walmart are one of the main reasons the economy is in trouble.
you can not have service industries all selling service to each other when nobody is actually producing anything.
nobody is producing anything because actual production was sent to china to keep the smiley face happy.
not to mention all the decent wage small business they drive out of every town they go near. then they leave a wasteland.
they are like locusts eating your country. walmart are traitors.

[dawman]

My Brother thought the same thing about WalMart years ago.
He's a Pro Fisherman and watched many small Mom & Pop Bait & Tackle stores go by the wayside.
But on the good side WalMart pays him a percentage of the 200 lb. test fishing line they sell as his sponsor made him a field promtional specialist. He's a really FAT BASTARD now and has his own line of Portable Ice Fishing Tents. However they won't sell those for him. He must rent space at the Conventions.
In all fairness, paricipants from American Idol should be able to tell Simon Cowell how they feel publicly after his comments. The ratings would hit the roof IMHO.
Maybe someday some rapper or Cowboy will do us all a favor, and just run over and begin flogging him live. I would pay a handsome fee for that TIVO replay.

[JoeKa]

yo Jimmy, nothing about Wrangler Jeans, imho. Wear whatever you fit in most comfortably and suffices your true needs. Nothing like having a good laugh at those who spend half a fortune every opther month just to wear what they "believe" is most fashionable just because some other people told them so... screw those wannabes.
btw, I think we still have a Walmart or two here in Munich, Bavaria. Or at least some related EU offshoot company. However, I'm not going there, but simply just because I have my five or so stores that fulfill all my needs and desires picked already. Two of them would be the local music shop, and the italian specialties import superstore. Yay for italian coffee, pasta and wine! hehe

[Shroomz~>]

I saw walmart coming to germany.
And I saw it going.
They simply had the wrong wares...for European 'consumers'

Walmart have bought out some major European retailers that are not likely to go bust & they're still trading under the original companies' name.

[dawman]

Yeah Bro',
I'll blow a wad of cash on aynthing that earns me money, but if it's durable goods like knock arounds, 12 bucks a pair is fine w/ me.
Funny thing about expensive wine, I always have a fine Gerwertztraminer at Thanksgiving, but my favorite Italain drink anytime wine is the good old cheap Chianti.
But when it comes to gear, no corners are cut, and true, it is an expensive habit I have, I enjoy it nightly and it earns me a paycheck.

And speaking of price slashing and the poor economy, I snagged a new PCM91 for 700 USD Shipped last week !!!
ebay is bristling w/ sore dick deals lately. I lost the bid initially as I believe it was rigged as many are. But during bidding usually friends can up the price and cause higher bidding. I simply bid what I could afford, and won it on a second chance offer. I was shocked, and so happy again to have a Lexicon.

So WalMart and ebay for me this year.

[braincell]

People who hate Walmart don't live in a rural area. Yes they put some mom and pop shops out of business but the mom and pop shops sucked. The prices were too high and the selection horrid. Walmart has almost everything you need. When you go to Walmart, it's like civilization. As a friend of mine put it, the reason he is still single is because women won't stay with you unless you live near a Walmart. The only town near me which is booming is the town with the Walmart. Businesses and homes are popping up like crazy around it.

If you hate Walmart, move to a rural area with a population of 2,000 and try to live without the Walmart. You would not last here!

[Shroomz~>]

Deleting posts with you Braincell (albeit with a delay)

[Shroomz~>]

dito....

[dawman]

Here's a really good developer w/ a good idea that has some great stuff.
Broadway Big Band, SISS strings, Muse, old Sonic Implants libraries, and great quality little DVI's for cheap.
One can download and test for free, many of these instruments. If you like, you buy them for dirt cheap.
I am starting to like the bad economy more and more everyday.

[Shroomz~>]

JV, here's a novel idea - what about trying to pull a non Scope users strings?

[Shroomz~>]

mmmm.. more deleting of posts???

Top quality JV

[braincell]

If you like a bad economy, I can see why you voted for Bush.

[siriusbliss]

Walmart moves in - American businesses disappear.
More Chinese-made junk for Americans to buy so that we can further-fund a Communist country that owns 40% of our national debt.

Good move. Slow motion erosion of American dream in exchange for convenience.

hmmmmmm....

G

[braincell]

If we are to stop buying Chinese products, the cost of living would go up for us and for the Chinese. It would be a no win situation. While the Chinese government does some bad things, so does ours! China is hardly an enemy of ours. I'm glad Chinese people enjoy a better standard of living than before I would like to see all people in the world have a better life. If you don't like the Chinese government, is that the fault of ordinary Chinese citizens who just want to earn a living? We buy these things out of choice. You complain that China is communist yet you are against free trade? The very foundation of our capitalist ideology? We don't have a pure democracy, we have representatives and few viable parties to pick from who are heavily influenced by wealthy corporations and their lobbyists.

[braincell]

Where do you get your information?

Shanghai is the largest city in China in terms of population and one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world, with over 20 million.


The Chinese economy has been growing at an outstanding rate. Nobody argues with this (you are the first one I have heard). If you don't think life is getting better for Chinese people, you are just not facing reality.

Do you have any Chinese friends who have been to China recently? I do. You are poorly informed and wrong.

[siriusbliss]

If we are to stop buying Chinese products, the cost of living would go up for us and for the Chinese. It would be a no win situation. While the Chinese government does some bad things, so does ours! China is hardly an enemy of ours. I'm glad Chinese people enjoy a better standard of living than before I would like to see all people in the world have a better life. If you don't like the Chinese government, is that the fault of ordinary Chinese citizens who just want to earn a living? We buy these things out of choice. You complain that China is communist yet you are against free trade? The very foundation of our capitalist ideology? We don't have a pure democracy, we have representatives and few viable parties to pick from who are heavily influenced by wealthy corporations and their lobbyists.

The Chinese government is still Communist and abuse of it's citizens is rampant. I've been there.
You're funding the Chinese military, which IS the government in a Communist society.
I'm not against free trade if it were free, but it's NOT free with China.
SOME of the Chinese enjoy a better standard of living, but it's definitely at the expense of the farmers and so-called 'lower class'.
China is now wrought with inflation and are also heading towards recession, so it's arbitrary whether prices of goods goes up, since trade tariffs and taxes consume the rest - which all feed the fat cats.

It's all an illusion occurring in slow motion so that no one realizes what's going on.

G

[braincell]

Currently China is growing but at a slower rate than before. To say it is heading for a recession is pure speculation. France avoided our recession exactly because it is a socialist country. Funny that I never hear any hate towards Vietnam, another communist country we trade with. We are normalizing relations with them and it's a good thing. I do not want to return to the cold war.

I don't like supporting the Chinese military any more than I like supporting our military. I highly resent my tax dollars being used to kill people and I fail to see why we have to be the police of the world.

[braincell]

If you talk to Chinese people as I have, you will find that they don't like everything about their government but they hate us telling them what to do. They still have pride in their country. It's not like they all feel oppressed like you think they do. Our cocky attitude is what makes Chinese people and people all over the world strongly dislike us.