I think it's fair to say that Walmart has had a lot to do with "main street" businesses going out of business. Walmart is located everywhere, and particularly, concentrates on smaller communities. I take my hometown as an example. It used to have a "main street" with all kinds of stores...pharmacy, fabric, appliance, clothing, etc. Now, it's full of little boutique type places that struggle...but there's a big Walmart on the edge of town that sells everything that "used to be" on mainstreet.
This is NOT the Costco business model. You will not find Costco's in anything CLOSE to the size of my hometown...but in "everywhere" Minnesota you will find a Walmart. Costco aims for larger cities in more suburban areas. Plus, Costco sells an average of 4000 products per store....they can't BE an everything store that puts mainstreet out of business with that model. Walmart (average one) carries 100-120,000 items per store. BIG difference, and yes, they CAN replace every other store in town with that model. Plus, BIG difference, Costco pays their employees a living wage with good benefits. Won't find too many Costco employees on SNAP, for example. In California, they hand out SNAP applications with your employment application at some stores in the Walmart chain. There's a reason that turnover is low at Costco stores...that too is part of their business model. Please don't lump Walmart and Costco together. Sams' and Costco would be a more fair comparison (and yes, I realize that Sam's and Walmart are owned by the same family).
This is NOT the Costco business model. You will not find Costco's in anything CLOSE to the size of my hometown...but in "everywhere" Minnesota you will find a Walmart. Costco aims for larger cities in more suburban areas. Plus, Costco sells an average of 4000 products per store....they can't BE an everything store that puts mainstreet out of business with that model. Walmart (average one) carries 100-120,000 items per store. BIG difference, and yes, they CAN replace every other store in town with that model. Plus, BIG difference, Costco pays their employees a living wage with good benefits. Won't find too many Costco employees on SNAP, for example. In California, they hand out SNAP applications with your employment application at some stores in the Walmart chain. There's a reason that turnover is low at Costco stores...that too is part of their business model. Please don't lump Walmart and Costco together. Sams' and Costco would be a more fair comparison (and yes, I realize that Sam's and Walmart are owned by the same family).