The Oil Drum

58 comments on The End of WalMart?

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baloghblog on October 31, 2005 - 7:28am

Crude oil shot up from $10 in 1998 to $70 in 2005, and it had no impact whatsoever on Walmart.

the investing public is losing faith in WMT:

down 25% over the past 2 years. They see the writing on the wall. I'd hardly call a 25% loss in market value having no impact on the company.

I think that Walmart is secretly praying for a serious recession, that way oil prices would plummet, and they'd be the only place anyone could afford to shop at.

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Donal on October 31, 2005 - 9:16am

I think a serious shortage of gasoline would hurt WalMart and supermarkets alike, but expensive gasoline might actually help those WalMarts that are close enough to compete with supermarkets. The nearest supermarket is a mile or so away and the WalMart is perhaps five miles across town. My wife, her mother and sisters shop for certain food items at Sam's Club, but they only go once every few weeks. They buy in bulk and split it up between them. That is more social, and probably more efficient than each of them shopping at the supermarket.

WalMart is just the logical evolution of the supermarket, which put many smaller stores, grocers, bakers, butchers, etc., out of business. But they are more powerful and even more impersonal than the supermarkets.

http://www.walmartmovie.com/