Walmart - Good or Bad? (Chicago, Detroit: leasing, job market, school)

[smoking357]

Originally Posted by Humboldt1

My point is most people don't really know high quality baked goods.

How many people would know off the top of their head that some of the best bakeries are Longs (greenwood in),

Long's? In Southport? Dude. That is a homer, overrated Indy spot that was far exceeded by Krispy Kreme.

It's hard to find any decent baked goods in Indy. The best options are Fresh Market and Marsh.

[Avengerfire]

Why would anyone living in Chicago have to go all the way to Greenwood or Shelbyville, Indiana (south of Indianapolis) to find high quality baked goods? I am not doubting they are good, but good bakery products can be found anywhere.

[smoking357]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

Why would anyone living in Chicago have to go all the way to Greenwood or Shelbyville, Indiana (south of Indianapolis) to find high quality baked goods?

They wouldn't. Chicago has some excellent bakeries, certainly better than Indy.

Indy has no idea what a neighborhood bakery is.

[Humboldt1]

Smoking Gun and Avengerfire,

My point wasn't to compare Indy and Chicago bakeries, albeit Chicago has a ton. Indy does have good bakeries in small town south and east of it where I grew up but you have to know the area.

My point is that most people don't appreciate good baked goods.

Marsh is okay but only marginally better than the donuts I can get at Walmart or most IGAs. I went to Munising, MI in the UP and had great donuts at a Dean's Food Market (lard vs vegetable oil).

Most people are okay with processed food. This morning I met with a baker who sells baked goods to grocers around the midwest. His product uses no preservatives and typical loaf of bread has 5-6 ingredients. The stuff goes bad in a few days vs. weeks or months of some processed food.

He has trouble selling his bread in less affluent areas. Poor people generally are not willing to pay for quality when they can get a cheaper processed alternative that is nutritionally about the same.

My point is the average person does not appreciate the difference between a fresh donut at Deerfields vs a donut at Walmart that is made from frozen dough that is thawed and then fried. I must admit that when warm these can be quite good but I would still take a donut that is not from frozen dough.

Similarly, the bread at Subway is frozen, thawed, baked in an oven. It is not really fresh bread. The bread quality at Quiznos or Potbelly is actually higher in my opinion, though it is not straight out of the oven.

Everyone has different preferences but most people are okay with processed foods if they cost significantly less, which is generally the case, which is why most people are okay buying processed goods from your Walmarts, Meijers, etc.

[tonythetuna]

Will Walmart come to Lake View? Looks like they are trying to:

"In densely populated Lakeview, sources say, Wal-Mart has signed a letter of intent to lease space in a retail building known as Broadway at Surf, at 2840 N. Broadway. The center currently has two larger tenants, Bed Bath & Beyond and T. J. Maxx, as well as a Cost Plus World Market."

http://www.chicagorealestatedaily.co...#axzz17gBreJmz

[Chi-town Native]

and the race to the bottom continues!

I hope people are ready for the brave new world where your kids will be working as checkout clerks in their thirties and never leaving home...

[Steve Bagu]

Bought a Flat screen TV yesterday at Walmart.

Compared the prices and brands with those of Best Buy on the Internet via their link.

One brand had a lot of "Refurbished" Flat screens for sale at a reduced price. Smells like a problem in their quality/production line.

Many (unkown) brands by Best Buy. Those I passed on even with the lower price.

Decades ago bought a Sony TV that lasted me 28 yrs trouble free and still had a nice color screen when I gave it to a worker on my house.

Couple yrs ago bought a Sharp 32" TV that was made around the corner from me here in Baja Mex. The one I bought yesterday was a Sanyo 32" (this time Flat screen) that was also assembled here in Baja (TJ) I believe. Plugged it in and works just fine.

Did consider price and name brand so went with Walmart. Just my 2 Pesos worth.

[Chi-town Native]

Originally Posted by Steve Bagu

Bought a Flat screen TV yesterday at Walmart.

Compared the prices and brands with those of Best Buy on the Internet via their link.

And this is why the race to the bottom continues. All you're looking at is the purchase price, as opposed to the larger societal impact of having a chain store where the profits are going to the home company in Arkansas.

I bought a Sony HDTV & home theater system last year from Abt (lowest price on the Net, btw). Abt is now up in Niles, but I actually live around the corner from Mr. Abt's original store on Milwaukee Ave.

and I'll bet you $1000 that Wal Mart would never be able to provide the customer service I got from Abt when the home theater device went on the fritz - I wasted an hour trying to trouble shoot with some overseas customer service via Sony before calling Abt, who sent a driver to deinstall it the next week, and had it fixed and reinstalled a week later.

the old adage, "you get what you pay for" comes to mind.

[MannheimMadman]

Originally Posted by Chi-town Native

And this is why the race to the bottom continues. All you're looking at is the purchase price, as opposed to the larger societal impact of having a chain store where the profits are going to the home company in Arkansas.

I bought a Sony HDTV & home theater system last year from Abt (lowest price on the Net, btw). Abt is now up in Niles, but I actually live around the corner from Mr. Abt's original store on Milwaukee Ave.

and I'll bet you $1000 that Wal Mart would never be able to provide the customer service I got from Abt when the home theater device went on the fritz - I wasted an hour trying to trouble shoot with some overseas customer service via Sony before calling Abt, who sent a driver to deinstall it the next week, and had it fixed and reinstalled a week later.

the old adage, "you get what you pay for" comes to mind.

Some people don't care about quality or customer service. I mean, A LOT of people don't care.

I was working at Circuit City when it came crumbling down and became insolvent. In 2006, CC was the clear leader of volume of flat panel TV's sold in the nation. In one year, things started to unravel. All of the sudden, places like Target and *Walmart* started pushing electronics and TV's pretty heavily. I remember at Circuit City, so many potential tv customers were turning their noses at our quality products and telling us that they were going to by some Taiwanese brand from Walmart.

I agree that you get what you pay for, but some people just need something to watch NASCAR on, you know?

[Chi-town Native]

Originally Posted by MannheimMadman

Some people don't care about quality or customer service. I mean, A LOT of people don't care. ...

I agree that you get what you pay for, but some people just need something to watch NASCAR on, you know?

Yeah, but if over time more people can't afford the rent to have a place to watch the NASCAR, we're not really better off.

Publicly traded companies can be great at many things - but consideration of long-term societal impact isn't one of them.

I think all Wal-marts, Targets, etc should be required to show video feed of their manufacturer's factories/sweatshops.

My guess is the only reason Americans don't care is because they are too far removed from the sweatshops in China and India.