Has the increase of large chain stores (such as Wal-Mart) been beneficial to consumers and their communities?

Answer 1

Lillanigyrl has spoken well and I agree with her.

Like it or not, the dynamics of business changes in America and it changes frequently. People curse Wal-Mart and other Big Box retailers because they damage the “little guy”.

The Mom and Pop stores weren’t just selling a product, they were selling a service as well. They extended credit to locals. They were knowledgeable in what they sold. They served you with a smile because the store was their life. 20 years ago, these things were nice. However, times have changed. Convenience and speed are what sells now. People don’t care about service with a smile anymore, they want to be able to buy everything they need in one stop and buy it for cheap. The “Mom and Pop” store is an outdated model.

The people who curse the Big Box retailers for driving the little guys out of business fail to realize they do the same thing themselves. Do these people ever stop to think about what the supermarket has done to the modern landscape? They drove the butchers out of business. They drove the fruit markets out of business. They drove the bakers out of business. The supermarkets were the original “Big Box” store and they are accepted by everyone (even the people who curse Wal-Mart).

Does the Big Box stores hurt or help an economy? For the most part, they do good. However, a fact of business is if someone does well, someone else is going to be hurt because of it (if Wal-Mart does well, the local stores go out of business. When the car makers did well, the horse carriage makers did bad. When McDonalds does well, Burger King suffers, etc…). Even though another business gets hurt, what does Wal-Mart bring to the table?

They save people money through low prices and by allowing people to do all their shopping in one stop rather than making 5 stops. They hire more people than the local shops do. The pay at Big Box stores tends to be low, but what how much were the Mom & Pop stores paying? A store where people come from other places to shop means more money funneled into the local economy. New buildings (both Big Box stores and the resulting restaurants, roads, and area stores that are built because of the Big Box stores) means construction workers, dirt movers, electricians, plumbers, and others have work. The products that Big Box stores sell need to be made so that provides a job to someone in a 3rd world country that wouldn’t be working otherwise (travel to China or a third world country…a job in a sweat shop is better than nothing at all. I’ve seen what unemployment does to an area in a poor country)

Personally, I think the people that bash Wal-Mart and similar stores are reluctant to accept change, yet change is the only thing that is inevitable in life.

Answer 2

This question could go either way. Those big chain stores creates jobs that employ the people of the community....they also have cheaper prices so people can actually afford to live...Yet at the same time what happens to the local businesses. The pet shops, music stores, clothing stores etc...They end up closing down eventually as people would rather go and purchase the cheaper items from the large chain store. The smaller hometown businesses cant actually make money lowering their prices as much as Wal-mart can. So it kind of works both ways.

Answer 3

Yes. They create jobs and with the buying power of Wal Mart they pass those discounts onto the consumer.

Answer 4

no wal mart hurts the little guy