Walmart observations

Predicting the demise of Sears & Kmart since 2017!
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storewanderer
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Re: Walmart observations

Post by storewanderer »

cjd wrote: August 16th, 2019, 7:56 pm
storewanderer wrote: August 14th, 2019, 5:02 pm I have noticed the lines too. I should say "line." As early as 6 PM in a Supercenter, one checkout open (tobacco register) and then the 14+ self checkouts on grocery side (ones on GM side closed already). But they have labor dollars to have two "greeters" stand at the door and want to scan your receipt for the "Receipt Audit." I do not wait for a "Receipt Audit." I will allow the "Receipt Audit" if the greeter is available, however. If the greeter is with someone else, I walk on by. I have walked past a line of 3 waiting customers before and one customer even said to me to "get in line" which I ignored and just walked out. Most customers seem to think this is mandatory.
I usually go to Walmart in the evening. A while back I saw an employee standing near the doors with a cart and a scanner. I figured they were going to stop me to scan me receipt, but they just said "Have a good weekend." I haven't seen any receipt scannings happening here though. In fact tonight, I saw no greeters around at all.

I have noticed here that the garden center doors are locked at 9PM on the dot. I never use regular checkout usually, so I can't say how many are open in the main store. But rarely do I see more than one open in the garden center, though they added two more counters during the remodel last year.

Another thing I have noticed about the garden center, is that the doors that enter the greenhouse directly from outside appear to be in use again. I haven't tested this, but I've noticed the plant racks that used to be blocking the doors on the outside have been removed, and it looks as if there's nothing on the inside either. It kind of surprises me they would be using them again, without having any kind of checkout or employee stationed at them. Although it's possible they may be used for vehicle loading purposes only. This used to be done at the back of the greenhouse area.
The rural locations no longer have a greeter as that position was eliminated. These new people standing at the door at Wal Mart are there from the loss prevention department. The rural small town stores have no greeter anymore; it is only higher theft locations that have this position still.

Technically they are only supposed to receipt audit customers carrying unbagged goods, if you have bags then supposedly they are not required to stop you. But some of them still do to try to get their numbers up to justify their existence.
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Re: Walmart observations

Post by pseudo3d »

storewanderer wrote: August 16th, 2019, 9:10 pm
cjd wrote: August 16th, 2019, 7:56 pm
storewanderer wrote: August 14th, 2019, 5:02 pm I have noticed the lines too. I should say "line." As early as 6 PM in a Supercenter, one checkout open (tobacco register) and then the 14+ self checkouts on grocery side (ones on GM side closed already). But they have labor dollars to have two "greeters" stand at the door and want to scan your receipt for the "Receipt Audit." I do not wait for a "Receipt Audit." I will allow the "Receipt Audit" if the greeter is available, however. If the greeter is with someone else, I walk on by. I have walked past a line of 3 waiting customers before and one customer even said to me to "get in line" which I ignored and just walked out. Most customers seem to think this is mandatory.
I usually go to Walmart in the evening. A while back I saw an employee standing near the doors with a cart and a scanner. I figured they were going to stop me to scan me receipt, but they just said "Have a good weekend." I haven't seen any receipt scannings happening here though. In fact tonight, I saw no greeters around at all.

I have noticed here that the garden center doors are locked at 9PM on the dot. I never use regular checkout usually, so I can't say how many are open in the main store. But rarely do I see more than one open in the garden center, though they added two more counters during the remodel last year.

Another thing I have noticed about the garden center, is that the doors that enter the greenhouse directly from outside appear to be in use again. I haven't tested this, but I've noticed the plant racks that used to be blocking the doors on the outside have been removed, and it looks as if there's nothing on the inside either. It kind of surprises me they would be using them again, without having any kind of checkout or employee stationed at them. Although it's possible they may be used for vehicle loading purposes only. This used to be done at the back of the greenhouse area.
The rural locations no longer have a greeter as that position was eliminated. These new people standing at the door at Wal Mart are there from the loss prevention department. The rural small town stores have no greeter anymore; it is only higher theft locations that have this position still.

Technically they are only supposed to receipt audit customers carrying unbagged goods, if you have bags then supposedly they are not required to stop you. But some of them still do to try to get their numbers up to justify their existence.
My Walmart has turned into a theft target location a few years after it went Supercenter, and I have been stopped numerous times with bagged goods over the last few years, and one time harassed because I bought a single ice cream cone. Then again, I wasn't stopped like last time, probably because I did have a bag.
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Re: Walmart observations

Post by Super S »

I visited the West Longview Walmart yesterday (the store that prompted the thread) and it is undergoing a remodel. The outside has been repainted and the inside has received new white paint on the walls. I also noticed it appears that they are replacing the floor tile by section, but keeping tile floors.
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Re: Walmart observations

Post by Alpha8472 »

This is shocking as Walmart has been eliminating tile on all previous remodels. Even Target has tried to eliminate tile in some of their new remodels.

There was one exception where the concrete floor had too many cracks and Target had to use new tile instead.

Walmart wants concrete floors as they do not need to be cleaned with expensive chemicals. Concrete also does not need expensive waxing which costs quite a bit of money.
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Re: Walmart observations

Post by storewanderer »

Alpha8472 wrote: September 11th, 2019, 11:35 am This is shocking as Walmart has been eliminating tile on all previous remodels. Even Target has tried to eliminate tile in some of their new remodels.

There was one exception where the concrete floor had too many cracks and Target had to use new tile instead.

Walmart wants concrete floors as they do not need to be cleaned with expensive chemicals. Concrete also does not need expensive waxing which costs quite a bit of money.
I am surprised as lately here they have been doing concrete floor remodels at least the past 3-4 years. How old is the Longview store? The stores in my area that have the concrete floors are actually newer stores (2002 and later) but the older ones (late 90's or mid 90's) have not been in the most recent set of remodels and have gotten to keep their tile floors.
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Re: Walmart observations

Post by Super S »

storewanderer wrote: September 11th, 2019, 8:22 pm
Alpha8472 wrote: September 11th, 2019, 11:35 am This is shocking as Walmart has been eliminating tile on all previous remodels. Even Target has tried to eliminate tile in some of their new remodels.

There was one exception where the concrete floor had too many cracks and Target had to use new tile instead.

Walmart wants concrete floors as they do not need to be cleaned with expensive chemicals. Concrete also does not need expensive waxing which costs quite a bit of money.
I am surprised as lately here they have been doing concrete floor remodels at least the past 3-4 years. How old is the Longview store? The stores in my area that have the concrete floors are actually newer stores (2002 and later) but the older ones (late 90's or mid 90's) have not been in the most recent set of remodels and have gotten to keep their tile floors.
This store was built as a conventional Walmart in the mid-90s. Several years ago, they built a second Walmart in Longview (as a supercenter) and closed this one after the new store opened for about a year for a supercenter conversion. At that time the store was completely gutted and expanded, but kept the tile floors. The newer store has concrete. I kinda wonder if this is localized possibly in response to the recently remodeled Fred Meyer down the road, which removed tile to expose all the nicks, old tile marks, and patch jobs in the concrete.
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Re: Walmart observations

Post by arizonaguy »

Walmart US's CEO Greg Foran is leaving and Sam's Club CEO John Furner will take over.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/ ... EO-Walmart

Reading the tea leaves it appears Foran was involved in a bit of a power struggle with Walmart's e-commerce CEO Mark Lore about how to best expend capital funds. Seeing as Foran is out, it appears that Walmart's vision going forward may continue to be more e-commerce spending and less spending on physical stores.
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Re: Walmart observations

Post by cjd »

I've been noticing receipt scanning taking place the last two times I've been to Walmart, although even though there were people stationed at the doors before, I hadn't seen it actually happen until now. They seem to be waving a lot of customers through, but stopping random others, mostly people with lots of bags in their carts. I haven't been stopped yet, but since they were scanning others receipts I didn't wait.
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Re: Walmart observations

Post by rwsandiego »

arizonaguy wrote: October 12th, 2019, 9:38 am Walmart US's CEO Greg Foran is leaving and Sam's Club CEO John Furner will take over.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/ ... EO-Walmart

Reading the tea leaves it appears Foran was involved in a bit of a power struggle with Walmart's e-commerce CEO Mark Lore about how to best expend capital funds. Seeing as Foran is out, it appears that Walmart's vision going forward may continue to be more e-commerce spending and less spending on physical stores.
A recent article about e-commerce layoffs seems to indicate that won't be happening. E-commerce losses are estimated to top $1 billion this year.
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Re: Walmart observations

Post by pseudo3d »

cjd wrote: October 27th, 2019, 7:44 pm I've been noticing receipt scanning taking place the last two times I've been to Walmart, although even though there were people stationed at the doors before, I hadn't seen it actually happen until now. They seem to be waving a lot of customers through, but stopping random others, mostly people with lots of bags in their carts. I haven't been stopped yet, but since they were scanning others receipts I didn't wait.
Receipt scanning happened at my Walmart a few years ago, I guess when shrink was at an all-time high. Usually I can slip past them these days, but they still go on.
arizonaguy wrote: October 12th, 2019, 9:38 am Walmart US's CEO Greg Foran is leaving and Sam's Club CEO John Furner will take over.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/ ... EO-Walmart

Reading the tea leaves it appears Foran was involved in a bit of a power struggle with Walmart's e-commerce CEO Mark Lore about how to best expend capital funds. Seeing as Foran is out, it appears that Walmart's vision going forward may continue to be more e-commerce spending and less spending on physical stores.
Cutting capex at stores is never a good idea for any retailer, and already many Walmarts have shown signs of disrepair--filthy stores, poor staffing, empty shelves...it's a shame that there's no similar retailer ready to step up.
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