We commonly use Walmart as the example, or the poster child, to describe a company that comes into an area and community and kills off small and independent businesses. It is not the only company that has done that, but it is the one that accomplished it so very prominently. Local businesses could not compete with the prices or the variety of products, they lost customers and income, and had to close or sell their business. Small independent grocery stores, local pharmacies, clothing stores, toy stores, bookstores, and more; Many and most closed their doors after years or generations of being in business.
There have been many similar companies that tried to do exactly the same thing as Walmart managed to do, just not as effectively. Big chain stores like KMart and Target, those companies had essentially the same products for sale, by the same manufacturers and distributors, but at a significant mark-up on prices than were offered for the same or similar items at Walmart. The reason the prices at those other stores were higher was due to many factors, but mostly because of long term contracts and old business models. You would have to take a very extensive course on economics to understand all of the reasons.
Another company that did an earlier version of the Walmart model was Sears. When I was growing up it was Sears (or Sears & Roebuck) that was the one-stop place for most of what someone needed. It was a Department Store. People these days have forgotten that term, but it used to be very common in usage. Sears was by no means the only department store chain, but it was at one time the most known name for that type of store in my country.
Sears started off as a Mail Ordering Catalog company. People could request the Sears catalog to be sent to their homes and businesses, they’d read through it, find what they wanted, and could order those items by mail. It might surprise many, but catalog ordering by mail is still a flourishing business in our modern times. People receive the printed catalogs in the mail that they order from, have it shipped and delivered. Actually, many companies still do that in one form or another. Most allow people to order online from a website after viewing the catalog at home. Other similar companies are completely Internet based. The most well-known of these is a company named Amazon.
That’s right. Amazon is indeed a modern version of a mail ordering catalog company.
One feature that Walmart did that other Department Stores like Kmart and Target neglected to do was to include full grocery and fresh foods. This was by no means a new concept. In the past most big city Department Stores had some level of grocery products, however most people always have purchased their groceries from grocery stores in their own communities: People went to their local grocery stores, green grocers, butchers and delicatessens, bakeries, and fish markets.
In many countries around the world food shopping is still done that same way, with individually owned businesses having their own store, or in part of Co-Operation (Co-Op) in a larger building or specified shopping area or district. What happened to that in the United States was business owners decided that it would make better sense to centralize with other similar food businesses into one building and all of the stores would benefit from the same customer base. It would be easier and more convenient for the shopper and the individual businesses. Little did those small business owners realize the danger they put themselves in.
In the beginning the greengrocer would move into a set area within an established grocery store or department store. The baker would do the same. Butchers and Fishmongers moved into stalls within the store, all becoming part of the Co-Op. As time progressed those individually owned and operated businesses became integrated, bought out, or replaced by the primary store owner with their own after attaining the trade knowledge of those businesses and the customer bases. That is why when we go into a big chain grocery store there is a bakery department, deli department, fruit and vegetable department, and meat and fish department.
Those big chain grocery stores were the Walmarts-of-their-day. They swallowed up and forced small independent operation owners out of business. What companies like Barnes & Noble did to independent bookstores, they did to green grocers and butchers and bakers and fish-markets. It is what Microsoft and Google are doing to the software and computer markets.
Walmart is the end result of generations of centralizing diverse businesses under one corporate roof. It is by no means unique or original. If Sears could have done it, they’d have done it. If Target and Kmart had been able to accomplish it, they would have started doing the same business model as Walmart has without any hesitation. There are many reasons why those other companies failed to anticipate and stay ahead of Walmart, but the fact is that Walmart beat them to the finish line.
One of the reasons that Walmart succeeded so tremendously is due to us, we the people. Cheaper prices. More convenience. Careless and easy living, without it actually being carefree. We do worry about money, but without truly analyzing it. We’ve become less mindful of our own money, less careful, less concerned. We’ve become addicted to entertainments, to no effort to prepare foods, Starbucks coffee, going out to eat, and upgrading our smartphones and electronic devices (even when the current one works perfectly). We have less disposable income these days because we’ve already disposed of it.
Momentary
Our Society Has Become Too Tamed.
Future generations will look back in shame,
At the consequences that their fore-parents called upon themselves,
And what the world then became,
All for the sake of instant gratification.
Copyright May 2021 – M. W. Van Dyke
All Rights Reserved
