LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Wal-Mart: Wal-Mart Supercenter
built 628 days ago
Wal-Mart is like no traditional record seller. Unlike a typical Tower store, which stocks 60,000 titles, an average Wal-Mart carries about 5,000 CDs. That leaves little room on the shelf for developing artists or independent labels. There's ... scant space for catalog albums, which now represent about forty percent of all sales. At a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Thorton, Colorado, for example, there were no copies of the Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street or Nirvana's Nevermind. While most of the latest hits were priced at $13.88, some records -- from the O Brother, Where Art Thou?
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Wal-Mart is in fact rabidly anti-union, deploying teams of union-busters from Bentonville to any spot where there's a whisper of organizing activity. "While unions might be appropriate for other companies, they have no place at Wal-Mart," a spokeswoman told a Texas Observer reporter who was covering an NLRB hearing on the company's manhandling of 11 meat-cutters who worked at a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Jacksonville, Texas.
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Wal-Mart has long had a monolithic development strategy in the U.S.: build supercenters with massive parking lots outside town centers where natural areas or agricultural land once was. Using this strategy in the United Kingdom has proved a difficult task. Not only is the U.K. geographically much smaller than the U.S., the country ... has comprehensive national zoning regulations aimed at combating sprawl. As it tries to expand in the U.K., ASDA (Wal-Mart’s British division) is proving that sprawl and environmental destruction are still very much a part of its business plan, despite the company’s recent environmental efforts. Wal-Mart is continuing to lobby for changes which would destroy what little green space is left in the U.K.
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In 2004, Wal-Mart bought the 116 stores in the Bompreço supermarket chain in northeastern Brazil. In late 2005, it took control of the Brazilian operations of Sonae Distribution Group through its new subsidiary, WMS Supermercados do Brasil... acquiring control of the Nacional and Mercadorama supermarket chains, the leaders in the Rio Grande do Sul and Paraná states, respectively. None of these was rebranded. As of August 2006, Wal-Mart operates 71 Bompreço stores, 27 Hiper-Bompreço stores, 15 Balaio stores, and three Hiper-Magazines (all originally parts of Bompreço). It also runs 19 Wal-Mart Supercenters, 13 Sam's Club stores, and two Todo Dia stores. With the acquisition of Bompreço and Sonae, Wal-Mart is currently the third largest supermarket chain in Brazil, behind Carrefour and Pão de Açúcar.[41]
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In-store, the experience for Wal-Mart shoppers will be fittingly festive. Christmas Shops offering holiday decor and gifts and onsite product demonstrations open this weekend. And, for the first time ever, Santa will visit all Wal-Mart Supercenters and discount stores. Santa will be available for visits and photos with children (November 24-25 and December 1, 2, 8 and 9 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.). The retailer will ... literally wrap several stores across the nation in festive holiday style including 10 x 3.5 -foot bows to brighten the buildings.
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Wal-Mart Stores is an irresistible (or at least unavoidable) retail force that has yet to meet any immovable objects. Bigger than Europe's Carrefour, Tesco, and Metro AG combined, it is the world's #1 retailer, with about 6,775 stores, including some 1,075 discount stores, 2,250 combination discount and grocery stores (Wal-Mart Supercenters in the US and ASDA in the UK), and 580 warehouse stores (SAM'S CLUB). About 60% of its stores are in the US, but Wal-Mart is expanding internationally; it is the #1 retailer in Canada and Mexico. It ... owns a 95% stake in Japanese retailer SEIYU. Wal-Mart also has operations in Asia, Europe, and South America. Founder Sam Walton's heirs own about 40% of Wal-Mart.
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Wal-Mart Supercenter