What to do about Wal-Mart?

When I was a kid Supermarkets were the big threat. Neighborhood corner grocers complained that the Supermarkets would put them out of business and they were right. But it wasn't the Supermarkets that put them out of business it was the small stores that didn't change to meet the challenge. We now have small neighborhood stores again and they are flourishing. We just call them by a different name... Convenience Stores. Years ago if the small stores had been able to see the future they would now be Convenience stores. The Supermarkets are now making the same claim, that a Super Wal-Mart would put them out of business. They have a choice. They can stay just as they are, and go out of business, or they can meet the challenge and make changes that would make customers come to them instead of the Super Wal-Mart.

I don't like big stores because they make me walk far to get the stuff I want. I used to shop at Tops but it took me a long time to shop because they purposely put the most used items in the far corners of the store to get me to walk by other stuff in the hope I would buy it. Fine tactic but it makes shopping an arduous task for me. Then after shopping I have to drag a full shopping cart an extremely long distance to my car because of the way they have the parking lot laid out. I shop at Green Hills in Nedrow. It is a longer drive but it takes me less time overall for two reasons.

There are lessons to be learned here.

What would it cost Tops? (By the way I'm only using Tops as an example because I'm familiar with them. I'm sure other stores have the same troubles/features as Tops.)

Lets look at the parking lot. Tops parking lot is laid out like spokes on a wheel . They also have a long distance from the store's front entrance to the first parking space. I haven't measured it but it seems like more than a hundred feet. Even then the first parking spaces are handicapped parking so non handicapped parking is perhaps two hundred feet from the door. Contrast that with Green Hills which has parking parallel to the building at the main entrance and the closest non handicapped parking is about 30 feet from the entrance. Quite a difference when you have to drag a cart through snow. Tops could make a simple change by making the parking parallel to the building and moving it closer, just paint the lines different in the lot.

Another way to get closer to the entrance is to have more entrances. They could do this by simply adding a roof along the front of the building that would cover the walkway on each side of the main door. This would have the effect of adding more entrances and in foul weather people would not need to park close to the door. Lets face it, look at any parking lot for any store anywhere in the US and you will see everybody tries to park close to the door. (This even happens at the gym where you would think people wouldn't mind the exercise.) Stores should see this as a message to put in more doors. A roof at least would let people walk along under it until they were in line with their car. Simple, cheap and effective. Putting in one more entrance would double everyone's chances of parking close to a door. By the way Green Hills closes it's second entrance during slow times and just uses the main entrance.

The third thing Tops could do is move things in the store so the most used items were in one area. This would defeat the impulse buy system they have now but if they wanted to compete with a Super Wal-Mart then they will have to change or go out of business.

Another idea is covered parking. Just a roof over part of the parking lot. In bad weather people would tend to go where they 'might' be able to park under a roof. Every time I go to the Carousel Center I park underground for that reason.

On a final note. I have heard the standard complaint stores make about a Super Wal-Mart. It goes something like this. "We can't compete with their low prices so keep them out." Another way of saying this is. "We want our customers to keep paying our high prices so keep them out." It is the customer, you and I, who will decide what we do with our money, not some government lackey who will or will not allow a Super Wal-Mart. If these businesses cannot compete and go out of business it will not be anyone's fault but their own. To compete businesses have to find weaknesses in their competitors that they can exploit to get customers to use them instead of their competitors. When a business is faced with a competitive challenge it is up to them to change, not you or I. For me Green Hills met the challenge of Tops and won my business. It is up to Tops to win my business back. If a Super Wal-Mart comes in then it is up to the businesses to meet that challenge. Some will, some won't and we the people will be the winners in the end.

Frank Hogg
1/4/3

PS: I don't like shopping at Wal-Mart because it is so big. I wouldn't shop at a Super Wal-Mart for the same reason. If a Super Wal-Mart does come in and these businesses do meet the challenge by improving services or becoming more competitive then we could ask them why they don't do this now? Why wait?

Someone said to me years ago that any news business that starts up is doing so because they think they have a better idea. We don't watch sports with one competitor. We reward excellence in all areas. We reward those businesses that do have a better idea and those that don't cease to exist. That IS a good thing.

I got on this rant after reading the following story in Time magazine online.

Can Wal-Mart Get Any Bigger?