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Sammy00

By Sammy00
in Northwest Arkansas

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zman9810 Burg

zman9810

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I haven't heard any news about what concerts are planned this year- anybody else heard anything? And what celebs are supposed to show up? The shareholder's meeting seems to have tamed down some in recent years but still a good show.

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CentralArkansas Whistle-Stop

CentralArkansas

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I haven't heard any news about what concerts are planned this year- anybody else heard anything? And what celebs are supposed to show up? The shareholder's meeting seems to have tamed down some in recent years but still a good show.

Last year Jennifer Lopez, Sinbad, the cast of High School Musical were all there along with many others I am not thinking of. There were also many concerts leading up to the actual meeting that had several well-known names.

I won't say it hasn't "tamed down" because I haven't gone to that many, but it is still definitely the top 1 or 2 shareholder's meeting in the country.

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andrewjensen Whistle-Stop

andrewjensen

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I haven't heard any news about what concerts are planned this year- anybody else heard anything? And what celebs are supposed to show up? The shareholder's meeting seems to have tamed down some in recent years but still a good show.

http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2008/05/...twalmartcon.txt

Lifehouse and Taylor Swift

When: Tuesday

Where: Bud Walton Arena at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville

Time: 6:45 p.m. open to the public, concert starts at 7 p.m.

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thewizard16 Hamlet

thewizard16

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I'll post this over here so that people can see your post in my reply. Yeah just about time for the shareholders meeting. Your post reminds me of an article I had read recently. Some people are complaining about Wal-mart giving in to the liberal left. Basically saying they're wasting their time with their 'green incentives' and such. I find it funny how people still view the environmental sustainability movement. Although they have made some concessions to be more 'politically correct' I still think a lot of what they're doing is based around efficiency and saving money. To me it's like saying if you're Republican you have to drive a big gas guzzling vehicle. And if you go to a smaller vehicle you're 'giving in' to the environmentalists. Although some people are switching to smaller or hybrid vehicles to be more environmentally sensitive I think most people do it to save money on gas. Maybe I need to post this in the environmental sustainability topic as well. I think this just shows when you get to be as big and successful as Wal-mart you'll be criticized for every little thing you do.

This is true. Wal-Mart Watch has been saying they've planned protests (at the UofA) to coincide with the shareholders meeting, which I'm hoping isn't true, but wouldn't surprise me. I'm not a Wal-mart "lover", (as I've mentioned before), but I don't hate the company (useful, since I'm working hands on with them all week and I don't sacrifice my sleep schedule for things I hate), and I think the protests and such are pointless gestures that don't help anything.

I'm not sure how sustainability is a liberal left thing, or how environmentalism is incompatible with Republicans, but I'd like to have one of them explain it to me. Maybe I'll ask a protester if they show up, because I always thought sustainability fell in the "common sense" category more than anything.

As for concerts, thank you Andrew for posting that. The concerts are of course free to the public at those times, but it's very likely that the All American Rejects and Journey concert will fill up quickly. Since it is really mixing a band that appeals to the younger crowd with one that an older crowd will enjoy, they expect a strong turnout (just not strong enough to justify putting it in the football stadium like they did with Urban and Underwood... they're expecting a ton of people for that). I will say this is definitely not going to be quite as insane as it would have been, one of the originally planned concerts was Hannah Montana (Miley Cyrus), and with how much people were paying for tickets less than a year ago on that, we were concerned about the crowd we might get for that.

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zman9810 Burg

zman9810

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Wow- I'm not a big country music fan but I know Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban and Taylor Swift are three of the hottest country acts out. I saw Lifehouse at the WAC and All American Rejects played at the Amp in the last couple of years and should get a good turnout. I haven't made it to any WM concerts- do you just show up with your shareholder slip for admittance? Usually no one asks for it at the Friday morning meeting- you just walk in.

It wouldn't surprise me to see protesters- it's a sure way to get attention. Television news loves a spectacle.

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thewizard16 Hamlet

thewizard16

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Wow- I'm not a big country music fan but I know Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban and Taylor Swift are three of the hottest country acts out. I saw Lifehouse at the WAC and All American Rejects played at the Amp in the last couple of years and should get a good turnout. I haven't made it to any WM concerts- do you just show up with your shareholder slip for admittance? Usually no one asks for it at the Friday morning meeting- you just walk in.

It wouldn't surprise me to see protesters- it's a sure way to get attention. Television news loves a spectacle.

Shareholders and associates will start being admitted at 6, the public can come in at 6:45 until seats are full. If you're a shareholder, yes, I think the slip is adequate. All the event attendees have wristbands and will get priority admission over shareholders not at the meeting, but after they're in, then normal shareholders will be admitted (6:30, I believe), then the general public will be admitted last. Security might be different this year for Friday, I haven't been informed yet (we'll worry about that once we get everyone here), but I know they're handling check-ins and asset protection differently this year from a security stand point, so who knows.

Anyway, domestics start in the morning, so I'm going to take a nap. Come to the concerts, it should be a good time.

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Mith242 Gigalopolis

Mith242

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Wal-Mart retains its position at #1 on Fortune's Global 500 list.

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/glo...55.html?cnn=yes

When you just stop and think about it, it is absolutely amazing that the largest company on the face of the planet is right here in Bentonville, Arkansas.

Yeah with the economy the way it is now, that's a big help to Walmart. Last year was sorta rough for them, but things have certainly picked up for them this year.

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Mith242 Gigalopolis

Mith242

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Thought I'd put an update about some info I'd heard about. I think most of us have heard about Walmart's new small convenient store type store on the campus at the U of A. From what I'm hearing it sounds like it's doing better than expected. So maybe at some point we might see Walmart try out some other stores at other university campuses. One thing that was news to me was the Walmart Express concept. Apparently they're be building several here in NWA to test them out in Gentry, Gravette and Prairie Grove. They'll be roughly 15,000 sq ft. Sounds like there will be emphasis on groceries. Some will also have pharmacies. The first ones planned are for NWA in the previous markets I mentioned but sounds like they also have plans to try them out in the Chicago market as well soon. Although there will be emphasis on groceries there will be more non food items than at a typical Neighborhood Market. I think these Walmart Expresses are targeting the chain dollar stores that have been doing well recently. It also sounds like the Neighborhood Markets are going to be re-branded as Walmart Markets.

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wmr Hamlet

wmr

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Thought I'd put an update about some info I'd heard about. I think most of us have heard about Walmart's new small convenient store type store on the campus at the U of A. From what I'm hearing it sounds like it's doing better than expected. So maybe at some point we might see Walmart try out some other stores at other university campuses. One thing that was news to me was the Walmart Express concept. Apparently they're be building several here in NWA to test them out in Gentry, Gravette and Prairie Grove. They'll be roughly 15,000 sq ft. Sounds like there will be emphasis on groceries. Some will also have pharmacies. The first ones planned are for NWA in the previous markets I mentioned but sounds like they also have plans to try them out in the Chicago market as well soon. Although there will be emphasis on groceries there will be more non food items than at a typical Neighborhood Market. I think these Walmart Expresses are targeting the chain dollar stores that have been doing well recently. It also sounds like the Neighborhood Markets are going to be re-branded as Walmart Markets.

The Express concept sounds to me like it will compete with Walgreens. It sounds like it is in between the size of Walgreens and the Neighborhood Market.

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Mith242 Gigalopolis

Mith242

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The Express concept sounds to me like it will compete with Walgreens. It sounds like it is in between the size of Walgreens and the Neighborhood Market.

Could be. Walgreens is another chain retailer that's been doing pretty well lately. Overall I think Walmart is looking for growth at other chain retailers like Walgreens or some of the dollar stores. Eventually you hit the saturation point with Supercenters.

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zman9810 Burg

zman9810

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Thought I'd put an update about some info I'd heard about. I think most of us have heard about Walmart's new small convenient store type store on the campus at the U of A. From what I'm hearing it sounds like it's doing better than expected. So maybe at some point we might see Walmart try out some other stores at other university campuses. One thing that was news to me was the Walmart Express concept. Apparently they're be building several here in NWA to test them out in Gentry, Gravette and Prairie Grove. They'll be roughly 15,000 sq ft. Sounds like there will be emphasis on groceries. Some will also have pharmacies. The first ones planned are for NWA in the previous markets I mentioned but sounds like they also have plans to try them out in the Chicago market as well soon. Although there will be emphasis on groceries there will be more non food items than at a typical Neighborhood Market. I think these Walmart Expresses are targeting the chain dollar stores that have been doing well recently. It also sounds like the Neighborhood Markets are going to be re-branded as Walmart Markets.

Yes, from what I've read the dollar stores have been eating WM's lunch. I also read where one of the dollar chains expects to build like 5,000 new stores in the near future. It's not hard to see why- they are more convenient and cheaper. WM can be so frustrating- they are always moving stuff around making it hard to find what you need quickly. I don't know if that is intentional as a way to get you to buy other goods on impulse or just bad management. It seems everytime I find something I like within a few months it is gone, although sometimes I can go to a competitor and find it there. They still have a lot going for them but need to turn it around or the competition is going to catch up with them. Maybe the Express will do the trick.

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Mith242 Gigalopolis

Mith242

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WM can be so frustrating- they are always moving stuff around making it hard to find what you need quickly. I don't know if that is intentional as a way to get you to buy other goods on impulse or just bad management. It seems every time I find something I like within a few months it is gone, although sometimes I can go to a competitor and find it there.

There have been studies done that show that if you leave items in the same place for long periods of time people eventually start tuning out some of those areas. Moving stuff around does help get some items noticed and then some people will make that impulse buy. But I don't know if I'd go so far as to say that it's always Walmart's intentional doing. Honestly a lot of these companies come out with new products and make big pushes and give incentives to retailers to work in their new products. So in some instances I think it's the manufacturer's fault as well. But especially with Walmart they're really big into just keeping top sellers. If it doesn't sell so many units for a given time period it gets yanked. Then as you said sometimes you can go to a competitor and find it there. But sometimes Walmart is so big in that if Walmart pulls the plug on an item. The manufacturer will eventually stop producing the item themselves. I sometimes wonder if the manufacturer basically just uses some of these Walmart competitors just to unload the remaining quantities they have on hand.

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zman9810 Burg

zman9810

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There have been studies done that show that if you leave items in the same place for long periods of time people eventually start tuning out some of those areas. Moving stuff around does help get some items noticed and then some people will make that impulse buy. But I don't know if I'd go so far as to say that it's always Walmart's intentional doing. Honestly a lot of these companies come out with new products and make big pushes and give incentives to retailers to work in their new products. So in some instances I think it's the manufacturer's fault as well. But especially with Walmart they're really big into just keeping top sellers. If it doesn't sell so many units for a given time period it gets yanked. Then as you said sometimes you can go to a competitor and find it there. But sometimes Walmart is so big in that if Walmart pulls the plug on an item. The manufacturer will eventually stop producing the item themselves. I sometimes wonder if the manufacturer basically just uses some of these Walmart competitors just to unload the remaining quantities they have on hand.

That's interesting and it does make sense. I'm probably not the consumer that that strategy is aimed at- I like being able to go and find stuff at the same shelf and get out of the store as quick as possible :) I believe that about WM making a product disappear altogether, also. I can think of several products that seems to have happened to. When the supercenters first appeared WM was one stop shopping- now I go for long periods where I shop other places and only go to WM to stock up on household goods.

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jdevers Whistle-Stop

jdevers

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I hate all the moving around and discontinuing of things (although they seem to do this less than they once did), but my biggest pet peeve at Wal-Mart grocery is how when they have a display of an item at some random place in the store they often remove the normal place where the item is. I understand the concept of featuring on item on an end-cap, but people who actually went into the store with intentions to purchase an item shouldn't have to search for it.

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bubba72704 Whistle-Stop

bubba72704

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Just heard some great news for the NWA economy.... Walmart is closing their New York Apparel buying office and moving those jobs back to Bentonville!!!!! Should be between 250 and 300 white-collar jobs that will come back here -- not to mention the all the vendors that will be moving back as well. Should be a much welcomed shot in the arm for the local real estate market especially. Just thought I'd share...

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Mith242 Gigalopolis

Mith242

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Just heard some great news for the NWA economy.... Walmart is closing their New York Apparel buying office and moving those jobs back to Bentonville!!!!! Should be between 250 and 300 white-collar jobs that will come back here -- not to mention the all the vendors that will be moving back as well. Should be a much welcomed shot in the arm for the local real estate market especially. Just thought I'd share...

Cool, thanks for the info. :thumbsup:

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Mith242 Gigalopolis

Mith242

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Here's a link to the Walmart apparell story:

http://online.wsj.co...=googlenews_wsj

I haven't heard anything about the vendor community getting more people back here.

Yeah I hadn't considered that at first. But apparently a number of clothing related vendors moved after Walmart opened up offices in NYC. I don't think anyone has officially announced they're reopening offices here yet. But I think it's expected that some of these former vendors would eventually reopen offices here again.

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zman9810 Burg

zman9810

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I always had the impression they were trying to compete with Target's clothes lines. It didn't work out much the same as the reducing brand choices didn't so they are cutting their losses. Great news for NWA- maybe the housing market will get a boost and we al know how that would help the overall economy around here.

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