General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Walmart is tempting me to steal from them [View all]KentuckyWoman
(6,679 posts)I'm old. I remember the first Walmart that came to town. We had a small IGA in town. The Walmart went up about 4 miles outside town. It was very small by today's standards. They didn't have grocery then. It was more like a larger Woolworth or Kresge - but add tires and batteries.
They pulled in customers by having more variety. Stuff was mostly USA made. Due to volume, the prices were slightly cheaper. If people abandoned the locally owned stores it was a personal choice to seek the cheapest. For a variety of reasons. Loss of income, lack of raises to keep up with inflation, personal greed of getting a better deal.
We begged people to keep supporting local shops.
We begged people to spend a little more and buy American when the foreign goods started coming.
But Americans as a whole decided a walk in closet full of $5 shirts was more important than a few well made $20 shirts that kept Americans working and local shops in business.
And here we are. Too many towns with only 1 option for shopping - filled with goods made by underpaid and often abused workers.
Walmart does not get ALL the blame for that.