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Comment by oblib | Hacker News Reader

Wal-Mart is not the same as it was 20 years ago. They didn't do "groceries" back then and they tended to source some products from local businesses when possible. They had a local feel and devoted customer base. Not so much now though.

The "Super Wal-Mart" we have now is pretty boring, makes you walk across that entire giant store to get a quart of oil and a bag of chips, and then lets you choose between "Self-Checkout" or a really long line at the one or two cash registers they have open.

In places where an Aldi's has opened up they've put a serious dent in those Super Wal-Marts, and Costco just blows them away. Wal-Mart will have to do a lot more very soon to maintain same store sales numbers as those two competitors fill in the gaps.

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A lot of people forget that Wal-Mart and Sam's Club used to be the place to go to for Made in the USA stuff. They had an entire ad campaign about it, and American flags all over everything.

This was back when NAFTA was new and there was a lot of teeth-gnashing about factories just on the other side of the Mexican border taking American jobs†. Now China's factories have done to Mexico what Mexico did to American factories. (And IME, Africa is going to do to China what China did to Mexico.)

† https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maquiladora

Your second point is pretty disingenuous. Of course you have to walk across the entire store to get a quart of oil and a bag of chips. It's literally impossible to carry a variety of items in inventory without some items, mostly unrelated, being located far apart.

No, it's a valid observation. The new "Super Wal-Mart" is huge and has a ton of stuff I don't buy very often.

We still have the original store in town, and many folks here prefer it. My wife and most her friends are among them, and I've given the reasons why here but change the products to what I buy. One of their most common complaints is they have to walk all the way to the back of the store to get a gallon of milk.

That is one of the reasons those small "Dollar Stores" are being built everywhere around us. We have one now that's just a couple miles away and that's meant a lot less trips to town to the Wal-Marts for all of us. They also have real live cashiers working there.

In mine they replaced the friendly greeters with stone faced security guards. The self checkouts also remind you that they're watching your every move with a dialog you must accept before paying.

I assume this is based on local theft statistics. The one near where I grew up has receipt-checkers but the one near where I live now (nicer area) didn't have anything of the sort. Walked out after buying a bunch of big objects not in bags and nobody interrupted me.

This is in one of the wealthier neighborhoods in the Greater Toronto Area. Its not known for its crime, and this particular Walmart used to be much nicer before what I'm guessing is a new manager took over.

The security guards don't check your receipt or even talk to you. They just stare as you enter and leave. The old nice ladies they previously employed would always say Hello.

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