TresSugar

Très Bizarre: Wedding at Wal-Mart!

TresSugar — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:00:00 -0700

Hanging flower baskets and seasonal foliage sound like elements of a beautiful wedding setting. They're also part of Wal-Mart's lawn and garden department. One couple, Robert Vickrey and Crystal Newsome, decided that they might as well get married at Wal-Mart's in-store garden!

The newlyweds, who both work at Wal-Mart, didn't mind being in the store on their day off. Crystal, the deli manager, met Robert, the grocery department manager, on the job. They were also happy to share their special day with both family and co-workers.

Perhaps Wal-Mart will soon get into the wedding-hosting business. They already have plenty of aisles!

Walmart Aiming to Please!

GiggleSugar — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 08:00:00 -0800

Now I really want that damn lamp! Extreme supply and demand works every time.

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Should Wal-Mart Censor Artists?

TresSugar — Fri, 22 May 2009 06:00:00 -0700

It seems fair for a store to make decisions about what it wants to sell. For example, if an owner of a small business opposes vulgarity, she might pass on selling CDs with explicit language.

When Wal-Mart, the largest record store in the country, refuses to sell an artist's record because it contains bad language and insists that it will do so only after the band has released an edited, "clean" version - this is de facto censorship, and, in my opinion, an abuse of corporate power.

Green Day's album "21st Century Breakdown" won't be sold in Wal-Mart because the band refused to edit it for language and content, and knowing their reputation, probably never will. Basically, Wal-Mart is preventing a large portion of an artist's audience from enjoying the artist's authentic work.

Do you think Wal-Mart should be allowed to dictate these standards to artists? Should Green Day suck it up and release a Wal-Mart friendly version?

Wal-Mart Warns Of Dem Win - Which Businesses Lean Right?

CitizenSugar — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 08:02:03 -0700

If the price is right, do you care if a store's politics might be Right as well? Wal-Mart has taken a break from rolling back prices, to roll out a campaign among their store managers nationwide to warn that if Democrats take power in November, a law change easing the way for workers to unionize, won't be far behind.

In the past few weeks, thousands of Wal-Mart managers have been called to mandatory meetings where, according to about a dozen workers who've attended the meetings, the corporate representatives are making it clear that a vote for Obama in November will be equal to letting unions in - sparking higher payroll and health costs.

One employee attending such a meeting said, "the meeting leader said, 'I am not telling you how to vote, but if the Democrats win, this bill will pass and you won't have a vote on whether you want a union. I am not a stupid person. They were telling me how to vote."

A Wal-Mart spokesman said, "if anyone representing Wal-Mart gave the impression we were telling associates how to vote, they were wrong and acting without approval." Adding that the meetings were designed to educate workers about the Employee Free Choice Act, which they think is a bad bill.

Is your shopping cart getting involved in the election too? To see other business that with possible ties to party politics, read more.

Stores and companies thought to have ties to the Republican party (for you to support or not, depending on your own proclivities) include:

Wendy's Hamburgers, Dominos Pizza, Olive Garden, Dell Computers, Curves Gym, UPS, Coors, Disney, Chevron, American Airlines and Outback Steakhouse.

I don't know about you, but the news makes me want a Bloomin' Onion now, 2,275 calories or not. To find out where corporate money goes, OpenSecrets lets you search by donor name, organization name, industry and more, so you can see where their money goes before you give them yours.

Do you think about the political affiliation of a company before you buy? Does Wal-Mart's information campaign just make for good business sense for them - or is it unfair pressure on employees to vote Republican?

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Family Demands Wal-Mart Pay For Death of Employee - Fair?

LibertySugar — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 03:00:25 -0800

The family of the Wal-Mart worker killed by a stampede of shoppers has filed a wrongful death lawsuit, claiming that Wal-Mart "created an atmosphere of competition and anxiety" that led to "crowd craze." Considering that a young man died in the Black Friday frenzy, that much seems true -but should Wal-Mart have to pay for that death?

The family thinks so, and in the lawsuit they argue that Wal-Mart "engaged in specific marketing and advertising techniques to specifically attract a large crowd and create an environment of frenzy and mayhem and was otherwise careless, reckless and negligent." The family also claims that the store did not provide reasonable security.

Regardless of who's ultimately responsible, it's unbelievably sad that a stampede caused by discounts resulted in a man's death.

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Wal-Mart Caters to Arab-American Shoppers

CitizenSugar — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 09:00:07 -0800

Dearborn, Michigan's Arab-American population is getting some special attention from an unlikely place: Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart's smiley-face, price-slashing reputation is definitely polarizing. But whether you love a bargain, or wave signs protesting its Goliath march through Main Street USA, its sheer size guarantees everyone has rolled back prices once or twice. It's everything to everyone.

In Dearborn, Michigan, with the largest concentration of Arabs outside of the Middle East, the big-box retailer is selling them a little bit of home. Stocking olive oil, falafel, and Egyptian mango juice, and Lebanese pop music, the store's 35 Arabic-speaking staff represents a big departure from Wal-Mart's usual one-size-fits-all approach to retail.

This store features one more important difference: an agreement with small, local businesses. To respect the existing businesses that already cater to the Arab-American population, Wal-Mart has agreed for instance, to charge a dime more for a pack of pita - and that one thin dime represents a world of change that shoppers can take to the bank.

Is a unique, neighborhood approach the wave of the retail future? Does it surprise you that Wal-Mart is in tune with the needs of the community?

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Supermercado de Wal-Mart Coming to Texas and Arizona

CitizenSugar — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 10:30:30 -0700

Bienvenido a Wal-Mart!

Retail giant Wal-Mart will soon open Hispanic-focused grocery stores in Texas and Arizona. The staff will be bilingual and the stores will feature tortilla bakeries, a larger selection of Spanish-language music and DVDs, and a wide assortment of Hispanic food.

Companies can't help but pounce on the potential in the Hispanic market. In addition to Wal-Mart's supermercado plans, Home Depot and Best Buy have launched Spanish-language websites.

Are you happy a huge retailer can adapt to a specific market, or would you rather see local stores appeal to the local tastes?

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Literally Watch Wal-Mart Take Over the United States . . .

CitizenSugar — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:30:08 -0700

Odd though it may be, I harbor a minor obsession with Wal-Mart. I've read this book which presents a pretty even-handed look at the somewhat stunning practices that Wally World (as my mother calls it) has pioneered to make them the retailing giant they are. Some of them, like making individual stores return cardboard boxes to the distributors or pay for them are pleasingly green in their business savviness. Save the planet, be cheap. Hey, if it works right?

And I've seen this movie, which paints the more heartbreaking human consequences of the drive to dominate the retail landscape - and that's where this riveting map from Flow Data comes in. I do so adore a map! This animated stunner starts in 1968 with the birth of the first store in Arkansas and grows progressively greener with every "rolled-back" price until Wal-Mart rules the entire world squashing everyone and everything in its path. More or less.

In other Wal-Mart related news, the store has recently pulled a controversial comic book from shelves, after complaints that it was racist. Maybe they don't have black hearts after all?

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Wal-Mart Worker Dies on a Very Black Friday

LibertySugar — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 00:01:00 -0800

A 34-year-old temporary holiday worker died under a stampede of 2,000 discount hungry Wal-Mart shoppers yesterday. Witnesses described crowds at the Long Island, NY, Wal-Mart as savages; shoppers busted down doors and cut each other in line. Other shoppers, including a pregnant woman, were rushed to the hospital.

Not every store saw a surge, violent or not, in shopping. In anticipation of lower than usual performance, retailers took a hit in the stock market, as company shares dipped on Friday. But regardless of tough economic times, foreign shoppers vacationing in the US came out in significant numbers to take advantage of bargains compounded by a favorable exchange rate. Some speculate that tourists could save the holiday shopping season this year.

Did you brave the stores yesterday for Black Friday, or are you waiting for less chaotic Cyber Monday?

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Wal-Mart Must Be Thrilled

GiggleSugar — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 09:30:00 -0700

I guess wisdom doesn't come with age. This 65-year old nimrod thought it'd be a good idea when greeting customers at Wal-Mart to hand them this computer-generated image of himself naked except for a trucker cap and ripped plastic Wal-Mart bag. He told them this was his uniform. Needless to say, his creativity was not rewarded--they gave him a different kind of sack. Wal-Mart's enemies probably think this is true to brand, though! Har har.

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