Monday, June 16, 2008

The Wal-Mart Effect

In my town, stores are closing. I don't think Tallahassee is that effected by the credit crunch and the recession that we're in due to our dependency on government money, which is pretty stable. This means that the stores are closing because they're losing they're ability to make money here. All this might be due to Wal-Mart...

We all know that Wal-Mart is a godsend because of its cheap prices. Everything at Wal-Mart is cheap, that's why it's so successful at converting people. The problem with that is that other stores will lose business and competetion will be lost.

One of the most obvious signs out there for me is the struggling of Albertson's and Winn-Dixie. Recently, Publix (which is unaffected by Wal-Mart due to different demographics) bought up two local Albertson's. This really sucks for me because Albertson's is probably one of the only large stores that sells Basa fish. Winn-Dixie was also forced to close some of its stores in the Tallahassee area, therefore reducing competition.

Competition is part of the main idea of capitalism. Without competition, monopolies that threaten the free market will be created. All this prompted the anti-trust laws during the turn of the century (Think Standard Oil). Now, Wal-Mart is doing a terrific job expanding and getting rid of competition. I have to admit, I like Wal-Mart, but I just don't want to see my choices disappear from our town.

-runiteking1

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2 comments:

  1. If you don't like what it's doing, don't shop there. That's pretty much the only way to make your economic voice heard.

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  2. Wal-mart is very useful, but i dont think it will take over. there will always be non-comformists who will shop elsewhere. i say no fear.

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