Wal-Mart's hire a vet pledge

Wal-Mart pledges to hire 100,000-plus veterans
Excerpt:

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer and the nation's largest private employer, is making a pledge to hire every recently discharged veteran who wants a job.

The plan is set to be announced as part of an address delivered in New York on Tuesday at the annual retail industry convention by Bill Simon, president and CEO of Wal-Mart's namesake U.S. business.

Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville, Ark., says it projects it will hire more than 100,000 veterans in the next five years.

Honorably discharged veterans will have a "place to go", says Wal-Mart's Simon, according to prepared text supplied by the discounter. The hiring pledge, which will begin on Memorial Day, covers veterans within 12 months of leaving active duty. Most of the jobs will be in Wal-Mart's stores or its Sam's club locations. Some will be in the company's distribution centers.

"Let's be clear; hiring a veteran can be one of the best decisions any of us can make," Simon plans to say in his address to retailers gathered on the third day of the four-day National Retail Federation convention. "Veterans have a record of performance under pressure. They're quick learners, and they're team players. These are leaders with discipline, training, and a passion for service. There is a seriousness and sense of purpose that the military instills, and we need it today more than ever."

Wal-Mart says it believes it is already the large private employer of veterans in the country. The company says that it has spoken to the White House about its commitment, and said the First Lady Michelle Obama's team has already expressed an interest in working with Wal-Mart and with the rest of the business community.

Comment: Image source. One of America's great companies. I applaud them! I'm a WMT investor.

Why Is Walmart Evil?

pics on Sodahead Why Is Walmart Evil, But Amazon Isn't? Excerpt:

Fairness dictates that if Walmart is going to be criticized for the bad things it does, then it should also be praised for the good it brings. Walmart pays a large amount of tax to the U.S., state and local governments - in the form of income tax, property tax and so on. In fact, Walmart is consistently one of the largest taxpayers in the country, with nearly $6 billion in taxes paid in 2012 (not all to U.S. governments, though).

Second, while people complain about the pay Walmart offers, it is nevertheless the largest private employer in the world, and the leading private employer in most states. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have jobs and pay income taxes because they have a job at Walmart. Moreover, the second largest employer in the U.S. ((McDonald's (NYSE:MCD)) is not exactly famous for great wages either.

Last and not least, Walmart's low prices enable consumers to buy more with their money. Walmart is not solely (or even mostly) responsible for the minimal wage growth in the U.S. in recent history, but Walmart's obsession with low prices has allowed shoppers to take their slow-growing paychecks and stretch them farther. Try telling a stressed-out Walmart customer that they're evil for going there and putting 10% more food on the table.

Comment: WMT is one of the first stocks I bought. It's up 36% since I purchased it in December 2010. I like Wal-Mart for a number of reasons. We don't happen to shop there (well I don't shop anywhere! and Kathee does all of her shopping in Plymouth .. which means that Target is her store). Chart below compares with Target over 2 years. I like 'em both actually!

Wal-Mart in New York City?

Wal-Mart Tries a Refined Path Into New York

Excerpt:

A glossy brochure it mailed to thousands of city residents appeals to their sense of autonomy, declaring: “You don’t ask the special interests or the political insiders for permission to watch TV. So why should they decide where you’re allowed to shop?”

Stealing a page from the candidate playbook, the company has even taken to firing off rapid-response “fact-checker” e-mails to New York reporters to undercut its opponents.

“They look like someone driving toward Election Day,” said Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker. “They have all the things that are on your to-do list if you’re running a campaign.”

But what may be most remarkable about Wal-Mart’s bid is that it is happening at all. Just four years ago, the company proudly proclaimed that it had written New York off. Its chief executive then, H. Lee Scott Jr., said, “I don’t care if we are ever here.”

Comment: Image captured from NY Times article. I would like to see a Wal-Mart in Plymouth!

Wal-Mart buys Four Seasons Mall

Wal-Mart buys Four Seasons Mall in Plymouth

Excerpts:

Wal-Mart now owns the Four Seasons Mall in Plymouth.


The retail giant closed on the property located near Rockford Road and Highway 169 Nov. 30, according to Lisa Nelson, a senior manager of public affairs for Wal-Mart.

“We would like to develop the property and we look forward to working with the community in developing the property to meet the community's needs,” Nelson said.

Wal-Mart has not submitted an application, said Plymouth Community Development Director Steve Juetten. However, the company paid for a city traffic study that considered the impact of an approximately 148,500-square-foot Wal-Mart store on the site.

...

Nelson shed some light on what the company is considering and confirmed the size of nearly 150,000 square feet.

“It will be a full-service Wal-Mart store that provides grocery, pharmacy and all the components customers have come to expect in a Wal-Mart,” she said. “It's a chance to invest in jobs and growth opportunities to help revitalize an area that is somewhat distressed.”

Nelson said she did not know if her company is allowing tenants of the Four Seasons Mall to remain at the location while Wal-Mart works on planning for a new store.

A Plymouth Wal-Mart would have more in common with a new store in Bloomington than an older store in Brooklyn Park, she said. The company would use sustainable building techniques, and the store could include a mix of organic products, better flooring and a nicer exterior than Plymouth residents may expect, Nelson said.

“There's a lot of pride in Plymouth, and we want to be part of that,” she said.

The retailer is willing to work with the city and the neighborhood on a plan, Nelson said.

“In terms of traffic, in terms of community impact, I think the city is going to be very pleasantly surprised with how attentive we are to the needs of the community and developing the property in a way that's consistent with their needs and goals as well,” she said.

Comment: See earlier blog posting from October. Kathee and I (both Plymouth residents) favor this development.

Wal-Mart in Brookdale deal

Wal-Mart jumps in to salvage Brookdale site

Excerpt:

Wal-Mart developer Gatlin Development Co. confirmed Friday that it plans to buy the all-but-empty Brookdale site, ending years of hand-wringing about the failed Brooklyn Center mall with a bang. Terms of the purchase agreement, expected to be signed next week, aren't being disclosed. The 64-acre mall has been on the market for $17.5 million.

Wal-Mart will anchor a large new retail development targeted to open by mid-2014, with a 150,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Super Center that will include a grocery store, Gatlin's president, Loren Van Der Slik, said in an interview Friday. The developer will tear down most of what's there, and build or redevelop an additional 435,000 square feet of leasable retail space, he said.

It will salvage the newer food-court wing of the existing mall, which will be converted to shops in a climate-controlled indoor area, he said.

Gatlin is buying the Macy's store at the site in a separate deal that hasn't closed yet, he said, and plans to tear it down. The existing Sears store will stay and isn't part of either transaction.

Shingle Creek, a brook that runs through the property, will get a makeover. Plans call for excavating the creek from beneath the parking lot where it currently runs, giving it daylight and creating a green creekscape and bike path to connect with one that runs along Bass Lake Road.

The proposed name for the new development: Shingle Creek Crossing.

"It's going to be a great change," Van Der Slik said.

The mall's current owner, a group led by Capmark Financial Group Inc. in Horsham, Pa., couldn't be reached Friday. The group took the ailing mall back in a sheriff's foreclosure auction earlier this year. The previous owner owed about $52 million on the $54 million loan. Capmark itself is struggling through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Comment: Tobin ... thanks for your comment on yesterday's Four Seasons Mall post. I'm not sure if the UPS driver had the information correct or not (re Four Seasons). I am trying to confirm. Back in May I noted another plan for Brookdale!

It's all about supply and demand!

Black Barbie Sold for Less Than White Barbie at Walmart Store

Excerpt:

A photo first posted to the humor Web site FunnyJunk.com and later to the Latino Web site Guanabee.com shows packages of Mattel's Ballerina Barbie and Ballerina Theresa dolls hanging side by side at an unidentified store. The Theresa dolls, which feature brown skin and dark hair, are marked as being on sale at $3.00. The Barbies to the right of the Theresa dolls, meanwhile, retain their original price of $5.93. The dolls look identical aside from their color.

Editors at Guanabee.com said the person responsible for the photo told the Web site that it was taken at a Louisiana Walmart store. The person did not return e-mails from ABCNews.com.

A Walmart spokeswoman, who could not verify the exact store shown in the photo, said that the price change on the Theresa doll was part of the chain's efforts to clear shelf space for its new spring inventory.

Comments:

• My wife never had a Barbie doll. My daughter never did either!
  
• I think they are stupid! Legos are my toy of choice!
  
• WalMart is not pricing human beings! They are pricing dolls
  
• Want the price to go up ... buy more of them!
  

Hibbing, Al Franken, Wal-Mart

Kathee and I were in Hibbing with Al Franken on Thursday!

Well actually:

Kathee and I were in Hibbing Thursday & Friday (for a wedding on Friday!) and Al Franken happened to be there at the same time! We saw this on the local news Thursday night:

Union workers protest Wal-Mart / Al Franken visits to show support

Excerpt:

HIBBING — Local trade union members gathered at highways 169 and 73 in Hibbing Thursday to protest Wal-Mart’s failure to rely on local union labor for a remodeling project, and a candidate for U.S. Senate showed up to support them.

The union members accused the company of “shopping out bids” and said out-of state, non-union labor will soon revamp Hibbing’s Wal-Mart in a $1.8 million project. They said the store was originally built with local union labor.

One union official said a few local union conractors would work on the $1.8 million renovation, but their share added up to “a minute percentage” of the contract’s worth. Al Franken, the DFL nominee for the Senate seat now held by Republican Norm Coleman, came to the protest site Thursday and said “the least they (Wal-Mart) could do” would be to use union labor on construction projects.

“We have to get back in this country to where we care about quality, and we care about paying people enough, so these people can buy things and have a good quality of life,” Franken said in an interview.

Gordon Smith, an organizer with the International Union of Painters an Allied Trades, said local trade unions learned of the project — slated to start July 21 — a few weeks ago. He said they approached Wal-Mart’s local and corporate offices to submit bids but learned later the project had been awarded to a general contractor in South Dakota, who then picked out-of-state subcontractors.

“It’s very frustrating,” Smith said. “You can’t allow these companies and businesses to keep undermining the standards of everybody. If you do, pretty soon, they’ll have everybody working for nothing.”

Smith said union workers will protest at Wal-Mart until construction starts or Wal-Mart changes its decision to farm out the work.

Weak economy may be Wal-Mart’s strong suit / When the going gets tough, shoppers turn to the giant discounter

Excerpt:

Wal-Mart spokeswoman Melissa O’Brien said the Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer has “absolutely” benefited from the fact that more Americans need to pinch pennies. But she thinks the company’s efforts to make shopping there more appealing — including extensively remodeling stores, working to improve customer service and revamping the product mix — also have helped keep them coming back.

The company also has undertaken a major effort to improve its reputation, countering attacks over its wages and benefits and working to make its business more environmentally sustainable.

Observations:

1. There is more to Hibbing than one who has never been there might think. I told my boss today that I was in Hibbing over the weekend and he kind of scrunched up his face like "oh well ... too bad for you".
   
2. Hibbing is an attractive city of 17,000. It has at least three car dealerships, some nice restaurants, a brand new movie theater (we went out to see Wall-E), a Lowes, Caribou, Pizza Hut, and a Wal-Mart. It also has some nice housing and many churches (only one Baptist that I could find!).
   
3. Back to Al Franken and his labor protest. The non-union laborers ... they are laborers too! Right? I'm not in a Union. (I wanted to form one back when I was a Baptist minister: The United Brotherhood of Ordained Baptist Ministers (UBOBM). This idea never really took off and when I was locked out of my church I realized the error of my way!)
   
4. And back to Wal-Mart. In the strongly union town of Hibbing, the Hibbing Wal-Mart is one busy place. They must be doing something right. Perhaps to keep costs down for the average guy, they have to bid out projects to the lowest bidder. That's what I would do!
   

Efficiencies in the supply chain

Wal-Mart puts the squeeze on food costs

Excerpt:

With gas, grain, and dairy prices exploding, you'd think the biggest seller of corn flakes and Cocoa Puffs would be getting hit by rising food costs. But Wal-Mart has temporarily rolled back prices on hundreds of food items by as much as 30% this year. How? By pressuring vendors to take costs out of the supply chain.

"When our grocery suppliers bring price increases, we don't just accept them," says Pamela Kohn, Wal-Mart's general merchandise manager for perishables. To be sure, Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) isn't the only retailer working to cut fat from the food chain, but as the largest grocer - Wal-Mart's food and consumables revenue is nearly $100 billion - it has a disproportionate amount of leverage. Here's how the retailer is throwing its weight around.

Comment: While many bash Wal-Mart, I'm a fan. Here's how they work for the consumer. Read the entire article.