Why Walmart and CostCo Are So Different

A Bloomberg article today examines the business model of the two chains. The long and short of it is Walmart's target customer is the bottom two quintiles while CostCo targets the top quintile. This is why CostCos are almost exclusively located in upper middle class suburbs. Poorer people do their everyday shopping at Walmart whereas affluent people tend to do occasional shopping at CostCo to make bulk or larger purchases.

The title of the article is, "Why Wal-Mart Will Never Pay Like CostCo." http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-27/why-walmart-will-never-pay-like-costco.html

From the article:

I wrote about this last spring in regard to Wal-Mart and Costco. Upper-middle-class people who live in urban areas -- which is to say, the sort of people who tend to write about the wage differential between the two stores -- tend to think of them as close substitutes, because they’re both giant stores where you occasionally go to buy something more cheaply than you can in a neighborhood grocery or hardware store. However, for most of Wal-Mart’s customer base, that’s where the resemblance ends. Costco really is a store where affluent, high-socioeconomic status households occasionally buy huge quantities of goods on the cheap: That’s Costco's business strategy (which is why its stores are pretty much found in affluent near-in suburbs). Wal-Mart, however, is mostly a store where low-income people do their everyday shopping.

New Musical Toy

Got this last weekend and I am having a blast. My main two instruments are the bagpipes (both Great Highland and small pipes) and the guitar. This thing is awesome. Loop your drum track, add a bass track, then sample yourself on the guitar for some rhythm chords. Run it through your amp and then jam away.

How should mortgages work in the US?

It looks like Obama is planning to change the landscape for Freddie and Fannie. I know many folks here are not happy with this and wondered how exactly people think mortgages in the US should be handled?

How much money would you need to never work again?

I'm sure this is a game we all play with ourselves on a pretty regular basis. The Oprah purse thread made me play another round of this with myself this morning. What's your number and the conditions, i.e. house paid?

Music For Altered States

Whatever that state might be...

A couple favs of mine are:

That Metal Show

Kicks arse.

That is all.

ITT: Things that are making you happy today

So many problems in the world we talk about so I thought a nice thread to mention what is making you happy today was called for.

Making me happy at the moment is I'm done my daily torture (what I call a workout) and have a purring cat cleaning it's face on my lap. Make seeing the laptop screen a bit difficult though, lol.

What are you drinking at this moment?

If it does not have alcohol in it I don't want to hear it.

I'm having a nice martini.

3 oz Citadelle gin
1 oz Nolly Prat vermouth
.5 oz olive brine
1 dash Fee Brothers West Indies orange bitters

Stirred in my mixing glass
Poured into chilled cocktail glass
3 olives

Probably will not be my last tonight.