Walmart to carry handguns again...

[One-Eyed Ross]

Well, for those that don't like Wal-Mart, don't shop there. It's easy. Move on. Some of us, because of location and finances, have no other choice than to shop there.

Personally, I prefer the local shops as much as I can, but do, and will continue to, shop at Wal-Mart or whatever store can make the most of what little I get for my "soldier's shilling."


Shillin a Day (Rudyard Kipling)

"My name is O'Kelly, I've heard the Revelly
From Birr to Bareilly, from Leeds to Lahore,
Hong-Kong and Peshawur,
Lucknow and Etawah,
And fifty-five more all endin' in "pore".
Black Death and his quickness, the depth and the thickness,
Of sorrow and sickness I've known on my way,
But I'm old and I'm nervis,
I'm cast from the Service,
And all I deserve is a shillin' a day."

Some of you guys are lucky enough to not have to shop where your dollar goes the furthest. My hat is off to you. Good on you, mate. But for me, I'll shop where I can and not feel guilty about it.

 

[MountainBear]

Sometimes my principles over-ride my finances. I live well below the poverty line. But I don't care for WalMarts business practices. I don't like the fact that when they move into an area, they generally put several Mom and Pop stores out of business (of all kinds, not just gun shops). I don't like the fact that when I lived in Vermont, the people said no to WalMart. They said "We don't want you here." But WalMart wouldn't take no for an answer and weaseled there way around the ordinances that towns were putting in place to keep them out. So while it may cost me an extra dollar or two per box of ammo, I will stick by my principles and buy elsewhere. It may cost me a bit of money, but I didn't get into shooting thinking it would be cheap. So maybe I eat top ramen an extra few times a week. I can still look myself in the mirror.

The beauty of America is that I don't care if people agree with my reasoning or not. If you want to shop there, more power to you. Yourself and God are the only ones you have to answer with, so act accordingly...

 

[Chee-to]

Are the handguns going to be POS Chinese made junk like everything else they sell?

Please list all large department/grocery stores that you shop at that doesn't sell "POS Chinese made junk"......

 

[Senator]

Please list all large department/grocery stores that you shop at that doesn't sell "POS Chinese made junk"......

That'll be a short list ha ha ha

 

[Lloyd Braun]

In a lot of the areas there were places to buy essential goods cheaply until Wal-Mart came and they closed down.

Praising Wal-Mart for creating places to purchase things while not understanding big business economics and it's effects on small, regional retail is just ignorant.

i guess you dont shop at best buy ? or costco? or petsmart? who by the way have copied the wal mart model.......

 

[Grunwald]

i guess you dont shop at best buy ? or costco? or petsmart? who by the way have copied the wal mart model.......

And there is the rub - they copied it. Walmart are the original sinners.

 

[KenPDX]

I don't like the fact that when I lived in Vermont, the people said no to WalMart. They said "We don't want you here." But WalMart wouldn't take no for an answer and weaseled there way around the ordinances that towns were putting in place to keep them out.

I don't know that I particularly agree with that reasoning. It doesn't make sense to me that "the people" (more realistically the political machine of a local government) should be able to prohibit certain people from doing certain legal activities on property they have legally acquired. I know Wal-Mart is a pariah, but imagine one of us wanted to start a gun shop and the political machine came up with reasons why we shouldn't be able to operate that kind of business on our property or, to make it even more analogous to Wal-Mart, property that we legally and specifically acquired for that purpose.

Realistically, everyone will have the chance to vote with their dollars at a new commercial establishment. I don't think it's up to the political process to limit the property rights of certain entities for entirely political reasons.

More generally about guns at Wal-Mart, I don't think it would change much. The margin on guns is so low any way. Occasionally, I'll pick up something on sale at Bi Mart, Freddy's or Cabela's. In the case of Bi Mart of Freddy's, I'm usually already in there for some other reason, and I see a deal I can't pass up. That being said, it needs to be on sale for any of those "big box" option to come close to the deal I could make with one of my local dealers. Also, even when ammo was hard to come by, I was able to pick up 9mm FMJ at Northwest Armory for less than Wal-Mart's price. Will some folks who might be new to guns and don't know about independent gun shops make purchases at Big Boxes? Probably. Will some of "repeat offenders" that make up the bread and butter for gun shops occasionally buy at a Big Box? Probably. Will those of us addicted to guns, who are repeat purchasers, and probably form the majority of the transaction volume at any gun shop suddenly stop buying from our favorite local shops? Not a chance.

Ultimately, I feel like it's not fair to compare how Wal-Mart wiped out mom and pop's in other areas with guns. As a community, we're much smaller and tighter-knit than the larger group of individuals who say "buy pipe at the hardware store" or "need button down shirts for work." Wal-Mart does economies of scale. I bet they could sell Glocks or Taurus Judges for cheap because they'd sell a lot. Would they cater to the sort of product that we use to feed our habit? I doubt it.

Anyway, sorry for my long POV on that.

 

[Nickp]

i guess you dont shop at best buy ? or costco? or petsmart? who by the way have copied the wal mart model.......

Actually, I don't. Like others on this board, I am low-income (below the poverty line this year due to school) but I have been able to keep a portion of my money local by purchasing at stores that are not only based in the NW, but also ones that pay their employees a living wage. I do most, if not all, of my grocery shopping between Fred Meyer's, the co-op, and the farmer's market. As for pet supplies I go to Mud Bay Pet Supply, another NW-based company.

Are all of my purchases in-line with this? No, but I do when I can. It's far from impossible, even for low-income individuals such as myself. Remember: a lot of co-ops and farmer's markets take EBT.

 

[Mark W.]

And there is the rub - they copied it. Walmart are the original sinners.

Not true Kmart was doing the same thing as cheaper suppliers opened up starting in the 60's

 

[mpmax]

If Walmart starts selling guns again, and "mom & pop" guns stores like "The Gun Room" close.....hmmmm.

 

[Throckmorton]

well said,4freedom

 

[Chipperxd]

well said,4freedom

this. while Wal Mart may have it's faults but what company doesn't? You are mad that they encourage suppliers to move production to China? What big corporation hasn't done that lately?

If you chose not to shop at Wal Mart, more power to you. I'm sure they are crying all the way to the bank.

 

[Nickp]

this. while Wal Mart may have it's faults but what company doesn't? You are mad that they encourage suppliers to move production to China? What big corporation hasn't done that lately?

If you chose not to shop at Wal Mart, more power to you. I'm sure they are crying all the way to the bank.

1. Wal-mart is one of the few top retail chains, if not the top of the list, that has nearly forced the producers of items it distributes to relocate manufacturing to China. The companies set-up plants in China and move production which then in-turn causes those same products they sell to other chains to also be made in China. Ripple-effect among the industry(ies) these products are made in for a "race to the bottom" price war; whereas the consumer might save a dollar here or there but the overall economy the consumer is in loses. Also see: agriculture industry in America and the same issues it is facing.

2. They were crying all the way to the bank. Check out their latest sales figures and 2011 forecast. Wal-Mart is currently in scramble-mode trying to reposition themselves to reap the large returns they once had. This has a good deal to do with the economy*, but the other primary factors include consumer's changing attitudes about Wal-Mart, losing market share to Amazon, and the pairing-down of it's grocery business (in an attempt to go head-to-head with Amazon), which will continue to allow other grocery chains to take that portion of their business (as well as other direct-competitors such as Target expanding their grocery-retail).

*During the peak of the recession higher-income individual's tastes started coming down, reflecting upturns and record-profit for low-end food and retail such as Wal-Mart and McDonalds. As the upper-bracket starts to recover from the economy they are again reverting back to the higher-priced goods they frequented prior to 2008/2009, but for the middle and bottom-ends, which was/is Wal-mart's base, recovery still hasn't happened en masse. They are stuck with their original market (which is still struggling financially) and after expanding to among other things, suit a higher-income base, they are seeing drops in sales figures.

TL;DR: they are still obviously making a profit but run the risk of a continued market decline over missed fiscal expectations and online competition.

 

[ronin223]

BTW just in case you were asleep for the last 20 years clinton banned importation of chinese guns and ammo in the mid 90's.

What I would give to get some of the cheap junk over here, like their new QBZ or even their 5.8mm pistol.

The norinco ammo was cheap and alot better than that slavic crap we have now.

 

[Chipperxd]

1. Wal-mart is one of the few top retail chains, if not the top of the list, that has nearly forced the producers of items it distributes to relocate manufacturing to China. The companies set-up plants in China and move production which then in-turn causes those same products they sell to other chains to also be made in China. Ripple-effect among the industry(ies) these products are made in for a "race to the bottom" price war; whereas the consumer might save a dollar here or there but the overall economy the consumer is in loses. Also see: agriculture industry in America and the same issues it is facing.

2. They were crying all the way to the bank. Check out their latest sales figures and 2011 forecast. Wal-Mart is currently in scramble-mode trying to reposition themselves to reap the large returns they once had. This has a good deal to do with the economy*, but the other primary factors include consumer's changing attitudes about Wal-Mart, losing market share to Amazon, and the pairing-down of it's grocery business (in an attempt to go head-to-head with Amazon), which will continue to allow other grocery chains to take that portion of their business (as well as other direct-competitors such as Target expanding their grocery-retail).

*During the peak of the recession higher-income individual's tastes started coming down, reflecting upturns and record-profit for low-end food and retail such as Wal-Mart and McDonalds. As the upper-bracket starts to recover from the economy they are again reverting back to the higher-priced goods they frequented prior to 2008/2009, but for the middle and bottom-ends, which was/is Wal-mart's base, recovery still hasn't happened en masse. They are stuck with their original market (which is still struggling financially) and after expanding to among other things, suit a higher-income base, they are seeing drops in sales figures.

TL;DR: they are still obviously making a profit but run the risk of a continued market decline over missed fiscal expectations and online competition.

Like I said, pretty much EVERY corporation does exactly what WalMart does. they outsource the work for a better profit margin. that's not anything new in this country.

As for the recent decline, you are right. whether they will bounce back or not, only time will tell. If they are losing market share because someone else out prices them or out services them for less, they need to revamp their business model or go away. Simple as that.

If you are so concerned about local businesses surviving, you shouldn't shop at Safeway/QFC or any other supermarket branches either.

 

[Chipperxd]

In a lot of the areas there were places to buy essential goods cheaply until Wal-Mart came and they closed down.

Praising Wal-Mart for creating places to purchase things while not understanding big business economics and it's effects on small, regional retail is just ignorant.

again I see what your point but you are only focused on the negative. what about all the job it created in the area?

 

[crazytimme]

Fred Meyers might as well = wal-mart. Just not as agresive as walmart.

Fred Meyers sells the same type of items as walmart at simalar prices and is owned not by a NW company but by Kroger which is based in OH.

So sorry if i offend you, but if you say you will never walk into a wal-mart, then you should be avoiding Fredys to. making you a just as messed up as our nations politicians.

 

[Nickp]

On Fred Meyer: it is better than Wal-Mart, but it's not better than the local co-op, which I also try to get to as much as possible. I don't spend all of my dollars at one grocery store, and would shop at an all-local full retail shop if one were available. Reasoning for Fred Meyer: they allow their workers to unionize, pay most a living wage, and offer local foods and products on their shelves. Try finding Dave's bread or locally produced organic vegetables at Wal-Mart. I shop at Fred Meyer over Safeway due to Safeway's political contributions not being what I want to support.

On the negatives of Wal-Mart: few, if any, new jobs are "created", they are simply displaced from the shops that went out of business due to Wal-Mart. Aside from simply different wages, there are plenty of reports and sociological studies on the differences in overall well-being/civic participation/health/living conditions in cities with predominately small, locally-owned businesses when compared to places that have mainly large, asbent-owner corporate establishments (Small Business and the Civic Welfare and Small Business and the Community are two great starting points if you'd like to read more on the issue.).

 

[CAL30M1]

Other than buying occasional ammo, I prefer to do business with local mom and pop shops.

 

[Sasquatchvnv]

Wal-Mart gets NONE of my money. I view them as the local Chinese Embassy. They profit from slave labor while killing off good paying american jobs. It's a simple matter of survival.