Walmart to carry handguns again...

[Jamie6.5]

Whether you like Wal-Mart or not, their venture away from areas that had been profitable for them in the past has resulted in an "awakening" of their marketing department. Everything from "green products to a more "upscale" selection (read: elitist) hurt them.
As a result, they missed out on the most profitable period of gun sales in the modern era.
It appears they had a strong influence from the left in their midst since 2006. One that has proven to be less than good for their business:
Pajamas Media » Wal-Mart Goes ‘Back to Basics': A Cautionary Tale for the Left

After suffering seven straight quarters of losses, today the merchandise giant Wal-Mart will announce that it is "going back to basics," ending its era of high-end organic foods, going "green," and the remainder of its appeal to the upscale market. Next month the company will launch an "It's Back" campaign to woo the millions of customers who have fled the store. They will be bringing back "heritage" products, like inexpensive jeans and sweatpants.

Few may recognize it as such, but this episode should be seen as a cautionary tale about "progressives" and social engineering experiments on low-income Americans. This morning's Wall Street Journal article is blunt:

That strategy failed, and the Bentonville, Ark., retail giant now is pursuing a back-to-basics strategy to reverse the company's fortunes.

The failure, in large part, can be pinned to Leslie Dach: a well-known progressive and former senior aide to Vice President Al Gore. In July 2006, Dach was installed as the public relations chief for Wal-Mart. He drafted a number of other progressives into the company, seeking to change the company's way of doing business: its culture, its politics, and most importantly its products.

More:

Like other real-world experiments, the Wal-Mart story exposes the failure of progressivism in the marketplace, as the Dach strategy has been a fiasco: the merchandising turned off low-income (and largely Democratic-leaning) customers. Says former Wal-Mart executive Jimmy Wright:

The basic Wal-Mart customer didn't leave Wal-Mart. What happened is that Wal-Mart left the customer.

Dach convinced the company to steer away from founder Sam Walton's core values. At the core of Dach's campaign was to prove that Wal-Mart was "going green." He brought in Vice President Gore to speak about environmental issues: they actually screened his global warming film, An Inconvenient Truth, at a quarterly meeting of Wal-Mart empl0yees and invited environmental groups. Expensive organic foods were showcased in their produce section. Trendy and pricey environmentally safe products were put on the shelves.

Richard Edelman of Edelman Public Relations — who had once hired Dach — noted that Dach constantly pushed Democratic Party health care and environmental agendas inside the giant company. Writes the New Yorker:

Richard Edelman suggested that he is seeing Dach's influence on the company. Edelman called Dach an "idealist" who has carried to Wal-Mart his fervor for such traditional Democratic causes as universal health care and environmentalism.

And no doubt influenced Wal-Marts decision to drop gun/handgun sales.

Y'all have to recognize who your enemy truly is, and realize that they have their tentacles into much more of our daily lives than we ever thought possible.

Look behind the curtain, and realize that the free market has ties to your liberties. The above is a prime example of that. Social engineering has no place in the marketplace.

Whether you "like" Wal-Mart or not.

 

[Browning55]

I don't care much for Walmart, either but I think it's a good thing if more places sell guns. Their motive is profit but they have more money to influence legislation than most of us.

 

[buckfynn]

I won't even set foot any Walmart store. Walmart store #3739 in Nampa, ID has made the practice of making sure you don't walk out the store with all the items you purchase. The checkers conveniently leave items out of the grocery bags intentionally shorting the customer. It has happened to me over five times at this location. It is no wonder they can make such a good profit by reselling the items a couple of times.

I choose to support 6 local gun shops near my location. They are really nice and helpful. One of them is so nice if I buy a rifle and scope at the same time he will sight it in as a courtesy. And the prices are not much more than the big box stores. The local gun shops are always happy to get my business. I can't say that about Walmart. Plus Walmart treats a person like a common criminal by walking you out the door by their security person if you just purchased a firearm from them.

 

[SPU]

I've done a less-than-exhaustive search via Google for more information about Walmart selling handguns. I was looking for information more detailed than the OP's original link to News9 and a 1 paragraph blurb. However, most of what I find in discussion groups and this article on CNNMoney.com indicates they are expanding long gun and shotgun sales to @ 2000 stores from the current 1300 stores. No mention I can find about handguns to be sold outside Alaska.

Wal-Mart bringing guns back to U.S. stores - Apr. 28, 2011

 

[Capn Jack]

Trust Wally to Fallah the Dallah

 

[mkwerx]

Everyone says wal mart puts mom & pop out of business. But thats a half truth. Mom & pop have a hand usually. Pricing being uncompetative if not outrageous hurts mom & poo. Their inability to cope with market changes hurts mom & pop. Operating like its 1955 vs 2015 hurts mom & pop.

Local example. City of Cornelius hosts the first wal mart store to open in Washington County. It used to have a walmart-esqe store called Hanks Super Center. Locally owned sold everything from food to guns to fishing tackle and sewing supplies. Lots made in asia though. They closed around 1998-99. Wal mart didnt open till IIRC 2010-11. Who put hanks out of business? Hanks. And maybe Fred Meyer/Kroger. Closest wal mart at that time was 35 miles away in Woodburn. Poor management lead to the stores closure.

A mexican grocer moved in (not surprising given cornelius population has a huge latino segment) - they closed right after wal mart opened. They tried blaming wal mart but they were on a death spiral before wal mart opened.

Wal mart provides over a hundred jobs in that communitu that simply did not exist before they opened.

They fight to keep prices low not just to keep profits high but to give consumers buying power. Look on the shelves at Target, Fred Meyer or Kohls - its the same products same brands made in tge sane places. You can blame wal mart but our own government did A LOT under Clinton to kill production jobs in the US.

Its also funny how mostly conservative folk lambast wal mart for keeping unuons out - unions that by in large push the democrat agenda.

Wal mart may have a hand in driving the final nail in mom & pops coffin but mom & pop are at least as much to blame. And those small businesses likely were not employing the same number of people or paying employees much over min wage either.

Look at areas wal mart opens stores in and u see other businesses that pop up along side to boot - more jobs still.

They are THE archtype of the American success story for any business. They started as a single mom & pop drug store in a podunk town in Arkansas and grew to the largest retailer in the world.

When wal mart wanted to opwn stores in beaverton tigard and sherwood it waz other chain giants pushing the agenda to keep them out. Kroger and target didnt want to loose market share. There were no mom & pop businesses affected in those communities. The new stores brought more jobs and other businesses in with them.

Hate on wally - but dont think any other options are better.

My mother in law has worked fir target for twenty years. Makes less than $12 per hour as book keeper and a freight crew lead. They treat and pay employees like any other chain.

 

[spookshack]

Man, has it really been 15+ yrs that Hank's Super Center has been gone?
Seems just like yesterday I was cruising the gun aisles there. I'm suddenly felling a tad bit old! lol

 

[BrentN]

Pretty darn hard to buy American, Wally-World or not. Clothes, boots, tools, electronics, lots of everyday stuff, it's a lost cause. At least China hasn't cornered the market on ammo. Or beer.

 

[NWGlockgal]

Liberals like to bash Wal Mart for putting other companies out of business. But they never complain
about Costco, Home Depot, Lowes or any of the other big box stores.

 

[PlayboyPenguin]

Looks like Wal-Mart has come full circle since this thread started. They are stopping all "AR style" weapons sales and then all semi-auto weapons sales.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Remember how in the old days we'd say "helicopters" or "tinfoil"?. Now we just say "internet".
The internet took down everthang. woot!

 

[therealhitman]

Man, has it really been 15+ yrs that Hank's Super Center has been gone?
Seems just like yesterday I was cruising the gun aisles there. I'm suddenly felling a tad bit old! lol

Just yesterday I was thinking about the good old days. Walking the two blocks down 12th from my old house to Hank's to buy primers or 22s...and never once worrying that they would be out!

 

[bigblue]

Well in Salem they don't sell any firearms Least not the two I been in. Might out South.

LOL. Where general merchandise stores sell firearms is based on "community standards", like with porn. And since Salem is deep in the heart of Libtard Lala Land, you will not find widespread access to gun sales there outside of specialty stores. And since Alaska, and TX, and many other places are more rational places, there you will find more outlets. After all, we would not want to offend the sensibilities of the community, now would we. Baaaaad for business, baaaaad for sheeple.