can you believe this? (and by comparison see how few calls the police get from the local target…this is nuts)
https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-walmart-crime/
From the article . . .
@-)
The article suggests (imho) that Walmart needs the security presence that other retailers employ (and obviously they do need it).
On the other hand, it’s sad to me that people can’t conduct themselves better to start with.
Non-story. Just part of the same old negative press against Walmart.
From the article: “Police departments inevitably compare their local Walmarts with Target stores. Target, Walmart’s largest competitor, is a different kind of retail business, with mostly smaller stores that tend to be located in somewhat more affluent neighborhoods. But there are other reasons Targets have less crime. Unlike most Walmarts, they’re not open 24 hours a day.”
Apples and oranges.
If you look at Walmarts in suburbs/small towns, you won’t find as much crime as you do at at the Walmarts in poor urban neighborhoods. Where there is a concentration of poverty, there is more crime. That is no surprise. Should Walmart close its stores at night/close stores in poor neighborhoods/raise its prices to drive away poor people, etc.–in order to cut down on crime? Then Walmart would be comparable to Target.
BTW, Walmart has about 2.5 times as many stores as Target in the US.
http://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-vs-target-graphic-2015-9
Apparently (according to the graphic above) Walmart’s average hourly wage is higher than Target’s. Should they cut those wages and hire more security?
^^good points
I still get grossed out going into Walmart sometimes. It just feels seedy.
I have to hold my breath when I first walk into Walmarts-they smell SO bad to me. I still do about 75% of my shopping there, though. I have one of the (few) decent ones in the suburbs, but it’s still unpleasant. Which is why I shop there-get in and out as fast as I can, spend less money. 
Target, otoh, smells magically good to me and I spend too much when I go in. I swear they’re piping some “spend money” smell in…
Just saying, never ever been in a smelly Walmart. Never been grossed out by other patrons. Same goes for the super cheap market I sometimes go to for hard to find ethnic foods.
@MotherOfDragons http://lifehacker.com/how-stores-manipulate-your-senses-so-you-spend-more-mon-475987594
@MotherofDragons - re: #6
Maybe there’s a pheromone that removes budget-related inhibitions. hehe
You get what you pay for.
Walmart is not exactly known to attract America’s finest citizens…
It seems to me that part of this is just that there are a lot of people at Wal-Mart.
WOW to some of the classist comments here. I have no issues with my Walmart. It suits my toilet paper and Windex shopping just fine and I can always find what I’m looking for. My Target on the other hand has gone downhill over the past 5-10 years. It’s not what it used to be.
I have an issue with Walmart and their business practices. I totally get that people on a limited income can’t afford to shop elsewhere. However, take a look at how they squeeze out and rip off businesses. They went against us in a competitive bid situation in the medical arena, they so totally low balled the prices they won the bid - but now don’t even sell the product.
“They simply lack the retail business background to understand how important security is”
Not true. They know the value of security but aren’t willing to pay for it.
I was at a Walmart when a regional management team did a pass through the store for an evaluation. It was the Barney Fife of business dress. Management needs to aspire to do better, not just be cheaper. There shouldn’t be a race to be cheap.
“There shouldn’t be a race to be cheap.” But of course, that’s what Walmart does best.
In my urban neighborhood there was a resident uprising when, with the blessings of the development-happy mayor, Walmart announced it was going to put in a mini-store. (Mini, of course, is relative.) Walmart ended up withdrawing, unwilling to battle the organized, educated locals who plastered the neighborhood and beyond with signage, posters and a well-sourced public information campaign that put Walmart in a decidedly bad light.
Not surprising. First of all, other posters are right in that what kind of neighborhoods are we talking about? It is true that Walmart because of its prices tends to attract shoppers who tend to be from lower and working classes, but that is true at my local walmart which is not in a poor area, and it doesn’t have the kind of crime they are talking about in the story. Stores located in poorer areas tend to have much more crime, and Walmarts often are located in environments like that.
That said, though, when you are in less than desirable areas stores have to adjust. Walmart in many ways is notorious for pushing the cost of operating onto the towns and states they operate in, many of their associates for example because of the low wage structure (that is slowly changing, but still) didn’t have health insurance coverage, so would often be some of the people who ended up on medicaid or on charity care at ER’s.Same with programs like food stamps and other public safety net programs, low wages do come with a price. Likewise,what they say about security is true, the Walmarts in my area don’t have visible security and they also lack visible presence of employees that can deter crime.Where I live they may be able to get by with that, because it tends to be less of a problem, but when you are in areas that tend to be more high crime, you are putting yourself out there if you scrimp on that kind of story, having lived in marginal areas with stores in them, visible security is critical (for example, there a shopping plaza right next to Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, not exactly a garden spot in the South Bronx, and they have a ton of security there.
I don’t have much sympathy for Walmart, because in many ways they brought on the criticism people throw at it. When they decided that slashing prices to the bone while increasing profits at the same time was their corporate strategy about 25 years ago, in the process they gave themselves a bad reputation that was often deserved, for predatory pricing that put a burden on the towns and cities where the stores were located, and also for basically giving up on customer service in the name of saving money. Sure there are people who bash Walmart for things not entirely in their control, but when you have a store in a bad area that scrimps on security like apparently Walmart routinely does, they have nowhere to hide. Where I live, a lot of people won’t shop at the Walmarts because the customer experience is not exactly thrilling, while most stores these days have very little in the way of customer service, Walmart by reputation and by what I have experienced personally is pretty much the bottom of the barrel…and from a corporate standpoint, the idea of the heartless company is born out by the way the company has been run since the death of Sam Walton, it has been an endless race to the bottom all in the name of cutting costs while selling dirt cheap goods.
I don’t shop at Walmart (I go to Sam’s Club for those kinds of purchases and stock up). But my D in an urban neighborhood loves her Walmart. It has full groceries, is clean, and they price-match.
I have a Target and Walmart close to me. I used to be a big Target shopper, but now it is just for a few things. The closest Target is not a full grocery story, just a few aisles but it does have some fresh food and dairy. The other day I was there and one who section was really empty and I don’t think it should have been (not the type of products that should all be gone at once, no sale on those items). Walmart is the whole shebang, and I actually like its deli better than the grocery stores. My biggest issue is that the store is huge, and if you want one thing that might be a little different than ‘groceries’ you have to truck all the way over to get medications or cosmetics.
Walmart is cheaper. By a lot.