Walmart 2023 Closings

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storewanderer
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Re: Walmart 2023 Closings

Post by storewanderer »

retailfanmitchell019 wrote: March 7th, 2023, 10:51 pm Something to bring up with Walmart's Portland troubles is this: https://www.yesmagazine.org/economy/201 ... om-walmart
I don't see how selling $36 million in Wal Mart bonds would impact Wal Mart. There are other buyers out there buying the bonds. Wal Mart issued $5 billion in bonds in September 2022, for example. Big issuance. Rather than go technical here, linked is an article about that issuance https://www.reuters.com/business/retail ... 022-09-07/

Nothing but optics out of City of Portland in that move. Plus Wal Mart was just the tip of the iceburg. They now don't want to invest in Wells Fargo, Caterpillar, or much other large corporations. I hope they invested in Tesla in 2017 instead. https://www.yesmagazine.org/economy/201 ... rporations

But closing 2 stores and firing 600 employees as Wal Mart is currently doing in Portland is certainly going to have a major impact on a lot of people in that community, not to mention the blight of the vacant stores.

Also given these 2 Wal Marts had 300 employees each, that tells me sales volume was quite high. If customers did not want to shop there and volumes were low, these stores would have had half that employee count.
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Re: Walmart 2023 Closings

Post by Super S »

babs wrote: March 7th, 2023, 10:49 pm
storewanderer wrote: March 7th, 2023, 9:27 pm
babs wrote: March 7th, 2023, 1:17 pm
Completely agree. I shop Winco and have never had a clerk say anything about going over 10 items. If she tried to pull this on me, I'd walk out and complain to corporate.
Early self checkouts typically had an item limit. 20 years ago...

There are many reasons for an item limit beyond loss prevention. It helps to make it faster for customers to use self checkout (watch someone trying to do a full cart self checkout at Wal Mart and it is a painful 10-15 minute process- granted Wal Mart alleviates that being an issue in these remodels that have 30+ self checkouts if they have them all open) to get in and out quickly as units open up faster. An item limit also helps improve the customer experience as the more complex the transaction, the better suited the transaction is for a cashier.

The WinCo self checkouts I usually encounter are medium sized units, the ones in Reno only have one rack of plastic bags on each unit.

I am trying to think though- WinCo has that new store it opened out in Sparks. I think the self checkouts there are larger than at the other WinCo units. On those, there are either 2 or 4 plastic bag racks on at least some of them. So it would seem those self checkouts are designed for larger orders. Certainly more than 10 items.
Self-Checkouts started out as replacements for Express Lanes that had item limits. They are no long express lanes as most stores consider them just part of the checkout process. As you said, at most Walmarts you don't really have a choice anymore. Target hardly opens any regular registers anymore. Kroger has shifted to mostly self-checkout.
WinCo, before self-checkouts, did not have any sort of express lanes, and was a huge reason why I avoided WinCo for a long time.

I have found cashiers at WinCo to be quite rude at times. If they think you are not bagging fast enough, they will try to rush you by turning on the conveyor belt and shoving other groceries into yours. Plus, when you are bagging, you can't monitor items as they are scanning because of where the displays are located. When shopping by myself, I use self checkout nearly 100% of the time, and have found that when you go at less busy times as I do, they do not enforce the item limits. With self-checkout I don't feel rushed.

If WinCo enforced the item limits or eliminated self checkout I would likely shop elsewhere.
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Re: Walmart 2023 Closings

Post by Super S »

storewanderer wrote: March 7th, 2023, 11:04 pm
retailfanmitchell019 wrote: March 7th, 2023, 10:51 pm Something to bring up with Walmart's Portland troubles is this: https://www.yesmagazine.org/economy/201 ... om-walmart
I don't see how selling $36 million in Wal Mart bonds would impact Wal Mart. There are other buyers out there buying the bonds. Wal Mart issued $5 billion in bonds in September 2022, for example. Big issuance. Rather than go technical here, linked is an article about that issuance https://www.reuters.com/business/retail ... 022-09-07/

Nothing but optics out of City of Portland in that move. Plus Wal Mart was just the tip of the iceburg. They now don't want to invest in Wells Fargo, Caterpillar, or much other large corporations. I hope they invested in Tesla in 2017 instead. https://www.yesmagazine.org/economy/201 ... rporations

But closing 2 stores and firing 600 employees as Wal Mart is currently doing in Portland is certainly going to have a major impact on a lot of people in that community, not to mention the blight of the vacant stores.

Also given these 2 Wal Marts had 300 employees each, that tells me sales volume was quite high. If customers did not want to shop there and volumes were low, these stores would have had half that employee count.
For comparison, many closing Kmarts in recent years had less than 100 employees. Some were closer to 50. This alone indicates that theft was an issue.
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Re: Walmart 2023 Closings

Post by veteran+ »

storewanderer wrote: March 7th, 2023, 9:27 pm
babs wrote: March 7th, 2023, 1:17 pm
BillyGr wrote: March 7th, 2023, 12:40 pm

Of the STUPIDEST rule in the world! If someone knows how to use the self checkout, they can scan 10 items or 100 - it simply DOES NOT MATTER!
Completely agree. I shop Winco and have never had a clerk say anything about going over 10 items. If she tried to pull this on me, I'd walk out and complain to corporate.
Early self checkouts typically had an item limit. 20 years ago...

There are many reasons for an item limit beyond loss prevention. It helps to make it faster for customers to use self checkout (watch someone trying to do a full cart self checkout at Wal Mart and it is a painful 10-15 minute process- granted Wal Mart alleviates that being an issue in these remodels that have 30+ self checkouts if they have them all open) to get in and out quickly as units open up faster. An item limit also helps improve the customer experience as the more complex the transaction, the better suited the transaction is for a cashier.

The WinCo self checkouts I usually encounter are medium sized units, the ones in Reno only have one rack of plastic bags on each unit.

I am trying to think though- WinCo has that new store it opened out in Sparks. I think the self checkouts there are larger than at the other WinCo units. On those, there are either 2 or 4 plastic bag racks on at least some of them. So it would seem those self checkouts are designed for larger orders. Certainly more than 10 items.
The item limit is a great idea, only if it is enforced. You need labor for this to work.

If the shopper does not like this then they are fully welcomed to shop elsewhere.
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Re: Walmart 2023 Closings

Post by veteran+ »

babs wrote: March 7th, 2023, 10:49 pm
storewanderer wrote: March 7th, 2023, 9:27 pm
babs wrote: March 7th, 2023, 1:17 pm
Completely agree. I shop Winco and have never had a clerk say anything about going over 10 items. If she tried to pull this on me, I'd walk out and complain to corporate.
Early self checkouts typically had an item limit. 20 years ago...

There are many reasons for an item limit beyond loss prevention. It helps to make it faster for customers to use self checkout (watch someone trying to do a full cart self checkout at Wal Mart and it is a painful 10-15 minute process- granted Wal Mart alleviates that being an issue in these remodels that have 30+ self checkouts if they have them all open) to get in and out quickly as units open up faster. An item limit also helps improve the customer experience as the more complex the transaction, the better suited the transaction is for a cashier.

The WinCo self checkouts I usually encounter are medium sized units, the ones in Reno only have one rack of plastic bags on each unit.

I am trying to think though- WinCo has that new store it opened out in Sparks. I think the self checkouts there are larger than at the other WinCo units. On those, there are either 2 or 4 plastic bag racks on at least some of them. So it would seem those self checkouts are designed for larger orders. Certainly more than 10 items.
Self-Checkouts started out as replacements for Express Lanes that had item limits. They are no long express lanes as most stores consider them just part of the checkout process. As you said, at most Walmarts you don't really have a choice anymore. Target hardly opens any regular registers anymore. Kroger has shifted to mostly self-checkout.
Every supermarket I have been to in Los Angeles has Express Lanes. They seem to be always manned.
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Re: Walmart 2023 Closings

Post by veteran+ »

retailfanmitchell019 wrote: March 7th, 2023, 10:51 pm Something to bring up with Walmart's Portland troubles is this: https://www.yesmagazine.org/economy/201 ... om-walmart
YAY!

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Re: Walmart 2023 Closings

Post by babs »

Super S wrote: March 8th, 2023, 7:24 am
storewanderer wrote: March 7th, 2023, 11:04 pm
retailfanmitchell019 wrote: March 7th, 2023, 10:51 pm Something to bring up with Walmart's Portland troubles is this: https://www.yesmagazine.org/economy/201 ... om-walmart
I don't see how selling $36 million in Wal Mart bonds would impact Wal Mart. There are other buyers out there buying the bonds. Wal Mart issued $5 billion in bonds in September 2022, for example. Big issuance. Rather than go technical here, linked is an article about that issuance https://www.reuters.com/business/retail ... 022-09-07/

Nothing but optics out of City of Portland in that move. Plus Wal Mart was just the tip of the iceburg. They now don't want to invest in Wells Fargo, Caterpillar, or much other large corporations. I hope they invested in Tesla in 2017 instead. https://www.yesmagazine.org/economy/201 ... rporations

But closing 2 stores and firing 600 employees as Wal Mart is currently doing in Portland is certainly going to have a major impact on a lot of people in that community, not to mention the blight of the vacant stores.

Also given these 2 Wal Marts had 300 employees each, that tells me sales volume was quite high. If customers did not want to shop there and volumes were low, these stores would have had half that employee count.
For comparison, many closing Kmarts in recent years had less than 100 employees. Some were closer to 50. This alone indicates that theft was an issue.
The Portland divestiture was nearly 10 years ago and likely impacted the lack of growth in the Walmart app development center they had in Portland that is now closing as well. The stores division could care less about where Portland invests it's money. Theft is what killed these stores and the employee count above backs that up.

Now here is an interesting thought. Could the Eastport Plaza store become a Sam's Club? The Hayden Meadows store is likely too small. The membership requirements would reduce theft. There is no Costco nearby that poses much of a competitive threat. I doubt it will happen but it could be a way to capture some sales. And I think they own both buildings.
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Re: Walmart 2023 Closings

Post by Super S »

babs wrote: March 8th, 2023, 9:27 am

Now here is an interesting thought. Could the Eastport Plaza store become a Sam's Club? The Hayden Meadows store is likely too small. The membership requirements would reduce theft. There is no Costco nearby that poses much of a competitive threat. I doubt it will happen but it could be a way to capture some sales. And I think they own both buildings.

It would be a convenient way for Sam's Club to come back to the Northwest. Membership requirements would restrict access. It might work at Eastport, but there is no way at Hayden Meadows with the small store size and small parking lot. It all depends on how receptive Portland would be to a Sam's Club instead of a traditional Walmart. Portland would be a new market for Sam's Club.

Hopefully this doesn't turn into a case where Walmart sits with a closed building for years to keep the competition out. A vacant building attracts vandalism. The still vacant Kmart at 122nd & Sandy is a good example of this.
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Re: Walmart 2023 Closings

Post by babs »

Super S wrote: March 8th, 2023, 11:25 am
babs wrote: March 8th, 2023, 9:27 am

Now here is an interesting thought. Could the Eastport Plaza store become a Sam's Club? The Hayden Meadows store is likely too small. The membership requirements would reduce theft. There is no Costco nearby that poses much of a competitive threat. I doubt it will happen but it could be a way to capture some sales. And I think they own both buildings.

It would be a convenient way for Sam's Club to come back to the Northwest. Membership requirements would restrict access. It might work at Eastport, but there is no way at Hayden Meadows with the small store size and small parking lot. It all depends on how receptive Portland would be to a Sam's Club instead of a traditional Walmart. Portland would be a new market for Sam's Club.

Hopefully this doesn't turn into a case where Walmart sits with a closed building for years to keep the competition out. A vacant building attracts vandalism. The still vacant Kmart at 122nd & Sandy is a good example of this.
I actually think the Eastport Location would be an ideal Costco location but Walmart would never allow that there. It would be a great way for Sam's to get a foothold in the market. No clue what might go there. The Portland market lacks vacant retail buildings of over 100,000 sq ft and due to development restrictions, large stores struggle to find available buildings. It could interest others like Lowe's, At Home, Floor & Decor,, Cabela's and others who want more stores in the area but can't find a large enough building. The theft issue is the wild card.

The Kmart on 122nd & Sandy is finally coming down soon for a giant warehouse complex. Some developers were eyeing it for an affordable housing complex and that would have been the best thing to go there but for some reason it fell apart. It's not a good retail location anymore.
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Re: Walmart 2023 Closings

Post by ClownLoach »

BillyGr wrote: March 7th, 2023, 12:40 pm
veteran+ wrote: March 7th, 2023, 8:26 am
ClownLoach wrote: March 6th, 2023, 12:41 pm

Winco here has a posted ten item limit for self checkout and the attendant will actually boot you from the area if she sees you have more. She is firm about it and will walk right up to you and tell you that you have too many items for self checkout at the same time she scans her login card on your register and voids your transaction. This happened to me, she didn't see that I had a lot of smaller items until I got to the register itself; I figured the sign was more to discourage the "slow" users who struggle with the simple process of pressing "pay now" (that always baffles me when I see it). While I waited in line at a regular register I did see her boot a few more folks who had suspiciously large baskets with multiple packages of meat and laundry detergent.
EXCELLENT enforcement!
Of the STUPIDEST rule in the world! If someone knows how to use the self checkout, they can scan 10 items or 100 - it simply DOES NOT MATTER!
First, it makes sense to stop the giant baskets from getting through without being paid for. Second, these self checks only have space for two bags so a full basket couldn't even be completed on them. Third, people are SLOW if they aren't good at self checkout. I've seen customers I'd time at maybe scanning 5 UPM. An entire line of those would make the self check line hit the back of the store without an item limit.
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