Walmart and 24 hour stores

[pseudo3d]

Wal Mart had a store in Reno that eliminated 24 hour operations last year then brought it back again not long after. It is a store in a very central location, actually on an Indian Tribe's land (so sales tax goes to the Tribe), but the store clearly has some issues. Many issues. Theft, crime, other issues. The number of out of stocks in various parts of this store were unreal and it was clearly due to theft. Checkout lines routinely are 10-15 customers long and there are no self checkouts in this store. Because of how the store is designed (pharmacy "in the middle" on the grocery side) they cannot easily bullcage drug/cosmetics or other high theft areas. To make matters worse they have some cosmetics aisles at a 45 degree angle then the drug aisles running at 90 degrees so good luck watching those areas very well. The parking lot had lighting issues for quite some time. They finally got the parking lot lights fixed, those were not fully functioning for quite a while. They also have security better patrolling the parking lot now. This is not a store I feel safe at during the evening but the changes that have been made are somewhat promising.

The store layout you're describing sounds almost identical to how the local Walmart was remodeled into a Supercenter, right down into the 45 degree angle cosmetic aisles. (here's a store directory I scanned some years ago if you want to compare)

[mjhale]

Wal Mart had a store in Reno that eliminated 24 hour operations last year then brought it back again not long after. It is a store in a very central location, actually on an Indian Tribe's land (so sales tax goes to the Tribe), but the store clearly has some issues. Many issues. Theft, crime, other issues. The number of out of stocks in various parts of this store were unreal and it was clearly due to theft. Checkout lines routinely are 10-15 customers long and there are no self checkouts in this store. Because of how the store is designed (pharmacy "in the middle" on the grocery side) they cannot easily bullcage drug/cosmetics or other high theft areas. To make matters worse they have some cosmetics aisles at a 45 degree angle then the drug aisles running at 90 degrees so good luck watching those areas very well. The parking lot had lighting issues for quite some time. They finally got the parking lot lights fixed, those were not fully functioning for quite a while. They also have security better patrolling the parking lot now. This is not a store I feel safe at during the evening but the changes that have been made are somewhat promising.

The store layout you're describing sounds almost identical to how the local Walmart was remodeled into a Supercenter, right down into the 45 degree angle cosmetic aisles. (here's a store directory I scanned some years ago if you want to compare)

I think this was version 1 of the Project Impact Supercenter. I remember reading that the goal was to bring all of the typical grocery items including HBA over to the grocery side of the store. As we all know previous to Project Impact the Pharmacy and HBA was just inside the General Merchandise entrance. Problem with the layout was that folks never roamed the rest of the store to get to the Pharmacy and HBA and never went by the higher margin stuff in other areas of the store. This led to a decline in impulse purchasing of higher margin items. The two newest Supercenters near me have Pharmacy and HBA in the Pre-Project Impact location.

As to the reduction of 24 hour locations, where I live all of the Supercenters are open 24 hours. None are in bad neighborhoods so maybe that has something to do with it. Then again I recently took a trip through NC and southwestern VA and noticed that some Supercenters in what I would consider good areas had gone to 6 AM to Midnight hours. I must say that I do appreciate having a 24 hour Walmart near me in case I need something late at night. Usually it is medication and being able to get it at Walmart is way better than being price gouged at one of the pharmacy chains or god forbid a convenience store.

By the way, does Walmart have any 24 hour Pharmacies? Or have they dabbled in 24 hour Pharmacies at any point? I've had occasion to fill a couple of prescriptions late at night at the 24 hour CVS near me and the store is absolutely dead. I felt bad for the pharmacist and the cashier. They looked like they were trying to keep themselves awake. Incidentally, CVS around me had several 24 hour stores. Now the only 24 hour store is the location with the 24 hour pharmacy.

[pseudo3d]

Wal Mart had a store in Reno that eliminated 24 hour operations last year then brought it back again not long after. It is a store in a very central location, actually on an Indian Tribe's land (so sales tax goes to the Tribe), but the store clearly has some issues. Many issues. Theft, crime, other issues. The number of out of stocks in various parts of this store were unreal and it was clearly due to theft. Checkout lines routinely are 10-15 customers long and there are no self checkouts in this store. Because of how the store is designed (pharmacy "in the middle" on the grocery side) they cannot easily bullcage drug/cosmetics or other high theft areas. To make matters worse they have some cosmetics aisles at a 45 degree angle then the drug aisles running at 90 degrees so good luck watching those areas very well. The parking lot had lighting issues for quite some time. They finally got the parking lot lights fixed, those were not fully functioning for quite a while. They also have security better patrolling the parking lot now. This is not a store I feel safe at during the evening but the changes that have been made are somewhat promising.

The store layout you're describing sounds almost identical to how the local Walmart was remodeled into a Supercenter, right down into the 45 degree angle cosmetic aisles. (here's a store directory I scanned some years ago if you want to compare)

I think this was version 1 of the Project Impact Supercenter. I remember reading that the goal was to bring all of the typical grocery items including HBA over to the grocery side of the store. As we all know previous to Project Impact the Pharmacy and HBA was just inside the General Merchandise entrance. Problem with the layout was that folks never roamed the rest of the store to get to the Pharmacy and HBA and never went by the higher margin stuff in other areas of the store. This led to a decline in impulse purchasing of higher margin items. The two newest Supercenters near me have Pharmacy and HBA in the Pre-Project Impact location.

As to the reduction of 24 hour locations, where I live all of the Supercenters are open 24 hours. None are in bad neighborhoods so maybe that has something to do with it. Then again I recently took a trip through NC and southwestern VA and noticed that some Supercenters in what I would consider good areas had gone to 6 AM to Midnight hours. I must say that I do appreciate having a 24 hour Walmart near me in case I need something late at night. Usually it is medication and being able to get it at Walmart is way better than being price gouged at one of the pharmacy chains or god forbid a convenience store.

By the way, does Walmart have any 24 hour Pharmacies? Or have they dabbled in 24 hour Pharmacies at any point? I've had occasion to fill a couple of prescriptions late at night at the 24 hour CVS near me and the store is absolutely dead. I felt bad for the pharmacist and the cashier. They looked like they were trying to keep themselves awake. Incidentally, CVS around me had several 24 hour stores. Now the only 24 hour store is the location with the 24 hour pharmacy.

Yeah, it was right at the time they reduced SKUs and lowered shelving heights. I think that many of the PI stores had the layout flipped, this one has the food and stuff on the right side. Walmart had actually wanted to move for years. If I recall correctly, they had all set up to the move the store a few miles south (where it would be on the freeway, right across from a Kroger), but the Albertsons next to the Wal-Mart (owned by Albertsons LLC) sold to Walmart, allowing them to demolish part of the store to build the expansion. The Kroger to the south (which undoubtedly hurt the Albertsons when it opened in 2000) still lives in and is profitable, but it put the screws to the Kroger to the north.

I went to the Walmart today, got a few items and had to be checked out by an employee looking at receipts. "Shoplifting that bad?" I asked. "Yeah." It's still open 24H though...it gets good volume even through the night.

[Super S]

By the way, does Walmart have any 24 hour Pharmacies? Or have they dabbled in 24 hour Pharmacies at any point? I've had occasion to fill a couple of prescriptions late at night at the 24 hour CVS near me and the store is absolutely dead. I felt bad for the pharmacist and the cashier. They looked like they were trying to keep themselves awake. Incidentally, CVS around me had several 24 hour stores. Now the only 24 hour store is the location with the 24 hour pharmacy.

An interesting question. Walgreens does have a 24 hour pharmacy located in Vancouver, WA about an hour to the south. Rite Aid at one point had a handful of 24 hour stores but I am not sure if they operate any at this point. I am curious if Albertsons, Safeway etc. ever did this in their 24 hour stores also.

Along the same lines, I wonder if they ever experimented with a 24 hour auto center. It could make sense along some heavily traveled roads.

[Alpha8472]

Walmart has very few 24 hour pharmacies. The problem is that pharmacies are a liability. Pharmacy robberies are getting more and more common and having a pharmacy open 24 hours invites a robbery. The pharmacy staff is very expensive to employ and Walmart wants to cut down on employee payroll as much as possible. Staffing is based on how many prescriptions are filled. If the pharmacy does not get enough prescriptions filled then there is no justification for a 24 hour pharmacy. There are probably only a few 24 Walmart pharmacies in the entire chain. I know there was one in Arkansas and possibly one in Louisiana.

Rite Aid has gotten rid of most of their 24 hour pharmacies and CVS has eliminated most of the 24 hour pharmacies even at the former Longs Drugs flagship 24 hour pharmacy. It is not worth it to employ a pharmacist that does no work. CVS knows that 24 hour pharmacies are magnets for late night robberies with the limited staffing of those stores.

24 hour auto would never happen at Walmart. Walmart would never justify having employees standing around doing nothing. Also, late night robberies could also happen at the auto center. One stolen car could cost Walmart thousands of dollars.

[Super S]

Walmart has very few 24 hour pharmacies. The problem is that pharmacies are a liability. Pharmacy robberies are getting more and more common and having a pharmacy open 24 hours invites a robbery. The pharmacy staff is very expensive to employ and Walmart wants to cut down on employee payroll as much as possible. Staffing is based on how many prescriptions are filled. If the pharmacy does not get enough prescriptions filled then there is no justification for a 24 hour pharmacy. There are probably only a few 24 Walmart pharmacies in the entire chain. I know there was one in Arkansas and possibly one in Louisiana.

Rite Aid has gotten rid of most of their 24 hour pharmacies and CVS has eliminated most of the 24 hour pharmacies even at the former Longs Drugs flagship 24 hour pharmacy. It is not worth it to employ a pharmacist that does no work. CVS knows that 24 hour pharmacies are magnets for late night robberies with the limited staffing of those stores.

24 hour auto would never happen at Walmart. Walmart would never justify having employees standing around doing nothing. Also, late night robberies could also happen at the auto center. One stolen car could cost Walmart thousands of dollars.

A 24 hour store has to do enough business to be 24 hours in the first place, then only the busiest ones would be candidates for 24 hour departments. A busy store will decrease the chance of a robbery significantly.

As for 24 hour auto, there are some truck stops that have 24 hour repair facilities, as well as fleet operations that work around the clock. A 24 hour auto center, or at least one open later hours such as midnight, could make some sense if at a freeway location. Things such as flat tires can occur at any time and people work varying shifts who may be shopping at odd hours anyway.

[wnetmacman]

By the way, does Walmart have any 24 hour Pharmacies? Or have they dabbled in 24 hour Pharmacies at any point?

The answer is that they indeed did dabble in them at least in 2004-2005. Here's the location list from that time:
Arkansas
Bentonville Neighborhood Market
3510 Southeast 14th Street

Texas

Arlington Neighborhood Market
735 West Sublet

Fort Worth Neighborhood Market
7401 Park Vista Boulevard

Mesquite Neighborhood Market
915 North Town East Boulevard

Plano Central Supercenter
6000 Coit Road

I'm not sure if this is still happening or not. I'd be willing to bet if so, it's been expanded. I can't find any evidence otherwise.

[Alpha8472]

The Walmart Auto shop is terrible. They only do oil changes and install new tires. They do not do alignment. If you have anything else wrong with your car, you are out of luck.

[wnetmacman]

The Walmart Auto shop is terrible. They only do oil changes and install new tires. They do not do alignment. If you have anything else wrong with your car, you are out of luck.

That's why they call them Tire and Lube Express. Nothing else, though they do install batteries and windshield wipers, things most folks can do on their own. I have not used them since 2009 other than an occasional oil change. Never for tires. The training is to watch a video on how to change tires. I can do that myself.

[BillyGr]

We have a couple of the "all on one side" Supercenters here - one was a brand new store and one was actually an existing supercenter remodeled to move the pharmacy/HBA over to the grocery side.

I wonder if any of the 24 hour pharmacies have tried doing only drive thru service, like the fast food places often do?
That might cut down on the stores getting robbed, but not sure if it would help the customers, since it would probably take longer to complete a transaction at a pharmacy than a fast food spot, leaving more potential for someone to bother them instead?