WalMart To Takeover Livonia Mall Site, Plans Detroit Store?

[DetroitDad]

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, is expanding its presence in Michigan with the building of several Metro Detroit stores, including confirmation of a new superstore in Novi.
The retailer also is building new stores in Southgate and Canton Township and has begun hiring employees for a new location on Seven Mile in Livonia that will open in August. Wal-Mart is looking for 300 to 500 full-time and part-time workers in a range of positions, from department managers to associates, said Mohamed Alhabiel, zone merchandise supervisor at Livonia's other Wal-Mart store on Plymouth Road.
"We are interested in Detroit, and we hope to grow there," said Wal-Mart spokesman Bill Wertz. "We feel urban markets have great potential for us because we're underrepresented in a lot of areas."


From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20100529/...#ixzz0pTegGwLI

I do not enjoy big box retailers, especially Walmart, but end up buying way to much of my stuff from them. I always feel so guilty though.... like I do after smoking a cigarette, or eating at McDonald's. Half the stuff I buy from Walmart breaks or is recalled in a few months, but my childhood best friend is employed there... maybe we should just be thankful for the jobs coming? Is this good or bad news?

I think I'll stick with Main Street Woodward. I like that atmosphere better, and am willing to pay a few extra cents for it. I hope they can coexist, if they have to, I guess.

[R8RBOB]

For the record, I like to refer Wal-Mart as China-Mart since most if not all their goods come from China.

[DetroitDad]

For the record, I like to refer Wal-Mart as China-Mart since most if not all their goods come from China.

Which reminds me of a story.

I was buying my daughter hangers and noticed the price was three times higher at Meijer than Walmart. Of course, the only difference between the two was that one was made in the USA and the other was made in China.

[CLAUDE G]

I sure hope as hell they don't decide to build at Michigan and Trumbull. If they do, it will be the last time I ever shop at Walmart again.

[rid0617]

I have been boycotting Walmart for over year. I'm old enough to remember the Walmart commercials saying if more than 3 are in line they'll open another register. Now you can stand 10 in line.

Disgusted I asked a manager if it would affect his bonus too much to schedule more cashiers. This morons suggestion was I try the self checkout. I asked him if he was working for free and of course he replied he wasn't.

I then asked him why should I work for free then and train for a part time job in the process. I now willingly pay more to stay out of big box corporate stores.

[313WX]

I always said a mini Wal-Mart SuperCenter would be very convenient in the old Target store at Bel-Air Centre. To put this idea into perspective, Wal-mart already said they plan on building smaller SuperCenters everywhere, and they currently have a very successful one in Tampa [[it's 99,000 sq. ft. and the old Target at Bel-Air is 101,000 sq. ft.). I pesonally would have preferred if they had got the old Builder Square, that way the location could have a garden center as well, but Cabinets To Go beat them to it & gutted the nusery.

The property should only need a bit of renovation and it gives them the opportunity to test our water with their feet first.

But the real knee-jerker in all of this is Wal-Mart just so happens to be "interested" in Detroit after Meijer announces they're opening a location in the city.

[gnome]

I've shopped at walmart three times. Once for a hurry up graduation gift, once for some much needed tp and once with Mom for a lifetime supply of plastic outdoor furniture that lasted a season.

Never say never, but I'll buy gas from BP before going WalMarting

[rooms222]

Meijer had an active disinterest in Detroit, even 5 or so years ago when one of the Meijer family was quoted in the Sunday Freep as saying the demographics were not right for a Detroit store.

Walmart has always expressed interest in a Detroit city store, but has been focused on conversions to Supercenters [[full-line groceries) from conventional stores until the last year or so. Also, Walmart had large gaps in the suburbs without a store that it was filling in as well.

Too bad that Walmart seems to not be building anymore Neighborhood Market stores. These stores have only the Grocery department in a smaller footprint. They built one right off of downtown Tampa that is very nice. Now Walmart is experimenting with a much smaller grocery-only store that has a slimmed down grocery selection.....

[Russix]

There will never be a big box store in Detroit unless the city subsidizes the loss from theft.

[jams]

What is Walmart? I've never been in one.

[English]

I stopped shopping at Wal-Mart halfway through grad school due to peer pressure, but it was hard. I loved paying less than $2 for a box of cereal. I get my prescriptions and gas from Meijer, but I've started to buy things that I used to get at either Wal-Mart or Meijer in bulk, or at local stores.

I think that Wal-Mart could do well in the city, but they'd have to budget for extra security. I agree that it shouldn't be built on the Corner [[Michigan and Trumbull.)

[luckycar]

Grad school peer pressure?English,it's commerce,some-what free enterprise and crony capitalism.Don't let your limo-lefty friends sway you from saving a few bucks on tissues.Wal-Mart should build several Supers in the city,and Meijers can go to hell.

[Zacha341]

Yeah, I loath going into a Walmart, reminds me of some kind of prep towards the government ration "your T21e allotment card now has 781 credits..." sustenance center of the future! Instead of bargain-land, this is were you will get your bi-monthy quotient as a reward for your taxed-to-death confiscated income in a post-collapsed currency america. LOL! I do have a dark mind at times!

Anyway, I try to go to Meijers [[not that they are that much better) or local stores in the city or burbs... Plus most Walmarts are messy with stuff all over the floor.

I stopped shopping at Wal-Mart halfway through grad school due to peer pressure, but it was hard. I loved paying less than $2 for a box of cereal. I get my prescriptions and gas from Meijer, but I've started to buy things that I used to get at either Wal-Mart or Meijer in bulk, or at local stores.

I think that Wal-Mart could do well in the city, but they'd have to budget for extra security. I agree that it shouldn't be built on the Corner [[Michigan and Trumbull.)

[Zacha341]

Hah. The need for TP will put a person in all kinds of stores... regrettably.

I've shopped at walmart three times. Once for a hurry up graduation gift, once for some much needed tp and once with Mom for a lifetime supply of plastic outdoor furniture that lasted a season.

Never say never, but I'll buy gas from BP before going WalMarting

[n7hn]

Ive never bought from a Walmart....I dont like their way of doing business with their suppliers. Too much like a retail bully and It chips away at our standard of living. Plus the one time i went in one, it was like hanging in the welfare office. Im not fancy, but Im not spending my cash in that atmosphere.

[cman710]

I grew up in NYC, where there are no Walmarts and had no occasion to visit one when visiting elsewhere, so I did not actually even enter one until several years ago. I have only purchased something there a handful of times, and I often get annoyed at the fact that it is so hard to find anything there. That said, Walmart does have great prices, and for people who need to watch expenses because they lost their job or do not have one that pays very well, I cannot blame them for shopping there.

[Russix]

Fact: Walmart is the largest employer in Ohio.

[Zacha341]

Yep, that's the mass "distribution" feel of the place. They're in a win-win situation as a so-called private retailer or government distribution center. The conversion would require little adaptation !

Ive never bought from a Walmart....I dont like their way of doing business with their suppliers. Too much like a retail bully and It chips away at our standard of living. Plus the one time i went in one, it was like hanging in the welfare office. Im not fancy, but Im not spending my cash in that atmosphere.

[EMG]

If it isn't at Wal-Mart, I don't need it.

[Ray1936]

Must admit I feel a little guilty shopping at WalMart with all the "Made in China" crap. Last month I picked up a small table [["some assembly required") for our guest bedroom, and my eye just caught "Huecho in........". Didn't look any further, but I thought, well, 'made in Mexico' is a lot better than 'made in China', and paid for it.

Only when I got home did I notice the full statement. "Huecho in China".

[rbdetsport]

Must admit I feel a little guilty shopping at WalMart with all the "Made in China" crap. Last month I picked up a small table [["some assembly required") for our guest bedroom, and my eye just caught "Huecho in........". Didn't look any further, but I thought, well, 'made in Mexico' is a lot better than 'made in China', and paid for it.

Only when I got home did I notice the full statement. "Huecho in China".

That is hilarious.

[Bearinabox]

If it isn't at Wal-Mart, I don't need it.

All you need is love.

[Bella]

Four Detroit public high schools have decided classroom time should be used to train 60 students to work at Walmart. A new partnership gives participants 11 weeks of job-readiness training during the day and a Walmart job after school. Students earn 10 credits toward graduation…

Advocates say with Detroit’s unofficial unemployment rate nearing 50%, jobs at Walmart are a golden opportunity. Sean Vann, principal of the Frederick Douglass Academy for Young Men, has 30 students in the program. He told the Detroit Free Press he’s enthusiastic because along with earning money, since the schools are in the suburbs, the students will be around people from different cultures.

Donna Stern, a representative of the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration & Immigrant Rights And Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary [[BAMN) is outraged. “They’re going to train students to be subservient workers. This is not why parents send them to school.�

Unclear is whether Walmart will pay the minimum wage of $7.25 or the $4.25 per hour the Department of Labor allows for the first 90 days of employment of a minor. Paying the latter wage could be perceived as a money saver for Walmart, already viewed by many as the epitome of capitalism-gone-wild and dead-end employment.


More at link.
http://www.good.is/post/detroit-high...#ixzz0gZSkr0xc

[BShea]

Paying the latter wage could be perceived as a money saver for Walmart, already viewed by many as the epitome of capitalism-gone-wild and dead-end employment.

Did the people working at Walmart turn down better-paying jobs somewhere?

In the absence of Walmart, is there another employer for those people?

For all its flaws, Walmart provides goods at low prices to people who otherwise may not be able to afford those things. Walmart does things more efficient than other retailers, so it can provide them at much lower prices. But I certainly get the impression that some folks would love to see Walmart shutdown and shoppers be forced to pay higher prices in the name of some bizarre notion of social justice, or something.

A single parent making minimum wage should have to pay more for diapers and food because of someone's idea of economic justice for the mom-and-pop store that charges more. Brilliant.

Why do people hate the idea of competition so much? Walmart hates it. Mom and pop hate it. The anti-Walmart activists hate it -- because Walmart generally wins the competition battle. Of course, we've seen the alternative: centrally-planned economies with massive regulation and controls, such as the Soviet Union, red China, North Korea, Cuba, etc. And all of the people I've met from those places adore Walmart.

Just my two cents. And yes, I worked at a Walmart [[in the garage) many moons ago. I didn't feel exploited.

[iheartthed]

I bet you all shop at Sam's Club.