Wal-Mart doesn’t “put mom-and-pop stores out of business,” as so many often lament. Ever and always people bemoan the prospect of a new Wal-Mart opening in town, as if the retailer is going to forcefully drive out their smaller competitors. Political economy aside, this is not at all the case.
Rather than Wal-Mart, or any other large business, it is the market that puts the smaller businesses out. We see this process happen by the countless voluntary choices made by individual customers who shift their purchases to Wal-Mart, and away from the smaller and inferior (as revealed by consumer preferences) stores.
There are plenty of other reasons to dislike Wal-Mart, such as its support of increases to the minimum wage, advocating fascism in the health care industry, and use of property stolen under “eminent domain,” but the fact that so many smaller businesses can’t compete with Wal-Mart isn’t a good reason in itself to hate the retailer.
October 22nd, 2012 at 11:50 am
But isn’t the success of Walmart in it’s current form more to due to Govt interference in the market place with the issues you related to above, rather then just superior business method. Monetary inflation has stripped a lot of rural areas of income and thus the ability to vote with their dollar since they must in order to survive seek the item at the cheapest price via Walmart, rather then the best service from a local provider. Also the huge tax benefits they receive to move into an area as to in some way contribute to this as well.
While I agree a truly voluntary free market will determine the best and most efficient provider of a service to the consumer. What we have now with the Govt with Corporate so intertwined are we truly seeing a free market in action when it come to mega-corps like Walmart?
October 23rd, 2012 at 9:26 am
I agree with everything you noted, that Wal-Mart enjoys huge advantages, both directly and indirectly, from the state. My only point was that simpy being bigger is no reason to hate a business.
Some people loathe firms simply because they get “too big,” as if one individual could know what the optimal size of a given company should be. This was written more for that person than as a defense of Wal-Mart in particular, or government partnerships with big businesses.
June 3rd, 2013 at 9:34 pm
[…] have previously been critical of Walmart, and can think of a number of reasons not to support the business or its practices. […]