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Wal-Mart plans still on track
Published Saturday, February 9, 2008
Low sales reported out of corporate Wal-Mart and competition from a neighboring supercenter won’t affect expansion plans for the Fergus Falls location. Those plans, however, are still static at the moment.
Earlier in the week, CNNMoney.com reported U.S. retailers experienced their slowest monthly sales growth in five years. Topping the list was Wal-Mart Stores Inc. That’s news to Tim Bosworth, Fergus Falls Wal-Mart manager. However, the local store did take a bit of a hit when a Wal-Mart Supercenter opened up 25 miles down the road in Wahpeton last August.
“It was a good year in light of the fact that the last five months of 2007, the Wahpeton store took 10 percent of our sales,” Bosworth said.
Sales were up 7 percent in July in the Fergus Falls locale — then the Wahpeton store opened. Things are getting back to normal, however.
“That’s pretty typical of what happens” when a new store opens, Bosworth said. “Then people get back to their established shopping patterns.”
The expansion schedule for the Fergus Falls Wal-Mart remains the same, to Bosworth’s knowledge. It had been reset for March 2008, but a moratorium on building projects at the corporate level caused a log-jam of projects already on the roster. Projects will be reassigned soon, he said.
One year ago, the announcement was made that the existing 96,000 square-foot Fergus Falls building was to become a 174,000 square-foot supercenter, complete with full grocery store and deli.
The expansion was delayed last summer, resulting from the June announcement by the corporate office that it was slowing expansions and putting more money into its bottom line.
Comments
The Daily Journal is happy to host community conversations about news and life in Fergus Falls and the surrounding area. As hosts, we expect guests will show respect for each other. That means we don't threaten or defame each other, and we keep conversations free of personal attacks. Witty is great. Abusive is not. If you think a post violates these standards, don't escalate the situation. Instead, flag the comment to alert us. We'll take action if necessary. It's not hard. This should be a place where people want to read and contribute -- a place for spirited exchanges of opinion. So those who persist with racist, defamatory or abusive postings risk losing the privilege to post at all.Posted by pilsnerurquel (anonymous) on February 9, 2008 at 8:08 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The reason the Fergus WalMart doesn't have more customers isn't because it's not a Supercenter...it's filthy, smells like urine and completely unorganized. Who wants to shop in a store like that?! Eeeeeesh. No thanks.
Posted by art (anonymous) on February 9, 2008 at 10:12 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I been in wal-mart alot and it is very clean. Great place to shop.
Posted by otterfan (anonymous) on February 9, 2008 at 10:35 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I also frequently shop at the fergus wal-mart. I think it has gotten more organized over the past few months. It also does not smell of urine when I am there and it seems to be very clean as well. Keep up the Great work wal-mart!!
Posted by notsocommonsense (anonymous) on February 9, 2008 at 10:59 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I use to be a vendor calling on Wal-marts across the U.S. and the Fergus Falls store is the dirtiest I have ever seen.
Posted by sweetminnesota (anonymous) on February 9, 2008 at 4:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Fergus Wal-Mart is filthy - Sales Associates are no where to be found and cashiers are crabby!
Check out the Wahpeton Wal-Mart .... MUCH more friendly and very clean and associates all over the place to help you out.
Posted by klingetb (anonymous) on February 9, 2008 at 5:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I once knew a person that worked at Wal-mart here and they do not treat the employees very well and play favorites. This could be why the employees don't give it their all and are crabby. Rewards for doing a good job could be a possibility being Wal-mart is such a huge corporation.
Posted by local_bikerbabe (anonymous) on February 9, 2008 at 8:05 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I love going to the super walmarts and being able to do all of my shopping...
Although there are times (mostly because of weather) that the front entrance is pretty bad, I never have smelled urine ... are you sure it wasn't you???
The only thing that bothers me about the Fergus Walmart ... is going in there and never being able to find the same thing in the same spot. Now I appreciate the remodel when they switched departments around, but come on ... moving the bread to who knows where and then trying to find the sweet-n-low ... do they have that many employess that they need to keep them busy??
Maybe if they kept the employee list simple they would have happier employees doing their job with a smile and a decent pay check.
Posted by mytwocents (anonymous) on February 9, 2008 at 8:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I have never had a problem with the walmart here. I do however have a complaint... You need to get the PHOTOGRAPHY BOOTH back!!!!!!!!!! I used to bring my child there all the time and now my 2nd child is 6 months and I still haven't gotten a professional pic done because who wants to drive and hour away to get pictures done?? NOT ME!! For the clenliness I don't see that its that filthy except for the bathrooms. Otherwise, thank god we have a walmart here!! I LOVE WALMART!!!!!!
Posted by tomsmom (anonymous) on February 9, 2008 at 9:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"Professional" portraits at Wal-Mart? Now that is an oxymoron.
Posted by kingdanno (anonymous) on February 10, 2008 at 11:30 a.m. (Suggest removal)
When will the small towns realize that WalMart is our nemesis? The big corporations move into communities like ours and price their inferior goods lower to purposely drive out the competition. And guess what? It works! Now we see our hard earned money going to Arkansas and our workers making paltry wages with no benefits ... it's capitalism at its ugliest.
Posted by Colt45 (anonymous) on February 10, 2008 at 12:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I went to Walmart...once....last year. It happened to be Labor Day weekend and it took me a half hour to check out.
A supervisor noticed that I had been in line a very long time (for one of the two checkouts running)and offered the excuse that it was a holiday weekend and they were swamped.
I wanted to ask her if this was thier first holiday that they were open because if it was'nt..then being swamped would'nt have been such a big surprise and maybe they could have been prepared to handle the big rush.
I make it a rule NOT to go to Walmart
C45
Posted by hennenshouse (anonymous) on February 11, 2008 at 4:19 p.m. (Suggest removal)
BE CAREFULL, SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BUSINESSES. WHEN WALMART IS THE LAST ONE STANDING THEY WILL RAISE THERE PRICES AND THEN THERE WILL BE NOTHING YOU WILL BE ABLE TO DO ABOUT IT.
Posted by codei (anonymous) on February 11, 2008 at 4:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)
former FF resident, now in sf california. there are no wal-marts in this city and it's a beautiful thing. they are disgusting stores in product, presentation, and with their business practices.
not to mention there are simply a plethora of things wrong with being able to buy a wedding ring, tampons, and dog food all in the same trip.
why would you buy jewelery anywhere but a jewelery store? cost? please. why buy groceries anywhere other than your local grocery stores? has anyone any idea what people like gary spies have done for the community? who in their conscious right mind would choose the wal-mart supercenter over service food? wal-mart is revolting. absolutely revolting. everything from the big "sale" prices slapping you in the face from every direction to the cheaply made generic garbage products themselves, to the pee stained walls in the bathrooms, right on back to the fact that it's the worst example of must-buy-all-the-crap-i-can consumerism possible.
buy less junk. shop your local patrons, if you don't, they will close, it's as simple as that. you will miss them when they're gone and the only option is pee-smell-garbage-products-and-disgusting-everything-wal-mart.
Posted by HoldenCaulfield (anonymous) on February 11, 2008 at 9:47 p.m. (Suggest removal)
codei, everything i wanted to say about wal-mart is in your post. very well said.
Posted by pilsnerurquel (anonymous) on February 11, 2008 at 10:24 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I totally agree Codei.
Posted by luvmyboys (anonymous) on February 12, 2008 at 10:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I don't mind shopping at Walmart... they do have great deals on SOME items. The super Walmart in D.L. is awesome...however, the Walmart here in town leaves me wanting to take a bath in antibacterial soap the minute I walk out.
I hope Tim (the Manager) reads all these posts. That store is the most disgusting store I've ever seen. And the people who work there aren't much better. Ripped clothes, stained clothes, greasy hair, and about as friendly as a potatoe. I "need" to go there for some things, but I absolutely "hate" the thought of having to. Target and K-mart see me much more often lately. Do something about it Tim. PLEASE!
Posted by daidres (anonymous) on February 12, 2008 at 2:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Sometimes because of your income, you have to shop at places like Walmart. The average American can not afford to go shopping at your spendy retail stores for their jewelery,or clothing. They do have good products and bad products. Just like your spendy retail stores. Walmart offers jobs to others who have no chance in hell working at your "Uppidy" retail shops, for reasons we all can see is obvious. It's a cruel world, at least Walmart isn't judgemental. The Walmart in Fergus definately could use a "face lift", and a scrubber too!
Posted by duke12 (anonymous) on February 12, 2008 at 3:43 p.m. (Suggest removal)
These are powerful comments that Sam Walton would not have been proud of. For the most part, they are factually correct.
Posted by codei (anonymous) on February 12, 2008 at 5:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)
just because a store can't double as a massive toilet doesn't mean it's "uppity". there are other low-cost options that are less reprehensible.
What is ONE good thing walmart brings to a community? low prices? at the expense of town-character and standards, people choose to save 21 cents on conditioner or $1 on a 3 pack of underwear? congratulations. jobs? great, $7/hr and no benefits; not even laughable ones...well, unless you consider piss-ass matching towards purchase of walmart stock to be a benefit. too bad associates don't make enough to participate anyway. it's one of the most profitable companies in the world yet there is no room in the budget to join the 21st century and be a responsible company that takes care of it's employees, or hell, doesn't crap all over them. Impossible? Hardly. fish-through-big-bins-of-unneeded-trash-for-bargains-mart should take note from trader joe’s. Maybe dubya-mart could step up and stop being a big virus-laden cold sore on the mouth of america, and institute 401k's, health benefits, et al for all ft employees. some of them have clinics and visions centers on site. a deal can't be worked out w/the HR department? what a responsible social statement that’d be.
aside from the pharmacy, which is a separate entity, there is one person at walmart who gets a decent wage and it is the manager; in exchange for slave hours. the asst. managers are paid crap, the associates are paid dog crap.
everyone as consumers needs to wake up and make ethical spending decisions void of rampant consumerism. its sad to see people line up at this dump, grab a cart, and aimlessly float down the aisles loading it up with crap they don't need and won't use simply because they are bored, have $27 burning a hole in their pocket (or worse, a credit card), are fooled into believing prices ending in ".96" are a better value, and things labeled, "collector's edition" really are.
i will never understand why some consider it a treat to put on their sunday best and shop at fart-mart as if it's a boutique experience. which, unfortunately, does not sell lives or clues.
Posted by tsy86h (anonymous) on February 12, 2008 at 5:56 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Codei, where do you get your facts? Wal-mart does offer health insurance, a retirement savings plan, dental, life, accident,store discount (which is includeds discounts at their vision centers) to their associates including part-time associates.
Posted by tsy86h (anonymous) on February 12, 2008 at 5:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
By the way, where do you suggest that I buy my tampons at since you don't approve that I buy them at Wal-Mart?
Posted by taylor2110 (anonymous) on February 12, 2008 at 6:47 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Unfortunately, I agree with some of the things people are saying about Wal-Mart. I have always liked Wal-Mart but have found that my shopping experience at Target is much more satisfying. This is due mostly to the cleaner atmostphere. I didn't shop at Target for quite some time after they opened due to the intersection going into Target which is still a nightmare. One of the main reasons I quit going to Wal-Mart was because it seemed like everytime I went in there, the guy with the floor machine was buzzing up and down the aisles without any regard to any of the customers. How annoying, it was loud, and he required the customer to move out of his way. This was done during the day I might add...not during the graveyard hours as one might think. The remodeling they have done is nice and cleaned it up a little. The bathrooms are nasty to say the least. I hope with all of these letters and the remodel coming soon the company will take it to heart and do something about it. I don't dislike Wal-Mart and would like to see it cleaned up and shoppable again.
Posted by taylor2110 (anonymous) on February 13, 2008 at 2:47 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Codei must have fallen and bumped his head to be that upset that Wal-Mart exists in the world today. It must take a lot of energy to hate something that much. I only hope you also use that passionate energy and spend it on something fantastic such as breast cancer research. You would be a wonderful asset to a great cause such as that.
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