Our WalMart Supercenter opened just about a year ago. No businesses have closed yet, but three businesses are dying out, to say the least. And when they breathe their final breath and close their doors, they will almost certainly blame the retail giant. While they may not be representative of all the businesses closing in communities where WalMart does businesses, I would like to discuss these businesses and offer personal insight as to more likely reasons why they may be closing.

The first business I would like to profile is our local Albertson's grocery store. As I scan their ads, they very rarely offer the best prices on anything, and I can get better quality meat and procude from the local grocer, who's not so far away anyway (we have to drive 12 miles into town; driving across town isn't an attractive proposition). But more to the point, they usually have only one checkout with a live human. The rest are "self serve" checkouts where any error requires the assistance of a human, who is usually conveniently located on the other side of the store. Then, to add insult to injury, as soon as you're done checking yourself out and dealing with the nightmare that is Albertson's registers, a minimum wage employee shows up to carry your groceries to your car. No thanks, bub, I already DID the hard work (It's ironic that companies like Albertson's accuse WalMart of lowering wages when their clear motivation is to hire people at lower wages than cashiers to give the illusion of customer service). So, when Albertson's goes, I think I'm gonna perform a little tango on its grave.

The second business I would like to profile is a car wash/service station located across the street from WalMart's Murphy Oil station. This station had all the tools to stay open because it had a business (car wash) that didn't compete directly with WalMart. Their doors are now closed (for "remodeling", even though there's no work going on inside for the last, say four months), and their pumps operate only on autopay (debit or credit card).

While this company might appear to be closing because of WalMart, my personal experience with them would speak differently. Last fall, after an extremely wet month had made the caliche roads I travel on the paper route into soup, I drove in with a very muddy car. I pulled up for a car wash (their cheapest was $6.00; the "all frills" car wash was $16.00). They sent me inside to get a car wash ticket. The cashier said "that'll be $35, please". Now, mind you, this car was VERY muddy, but it didn't justify charging me twice the rate of their most expensive car wash when I could go to the local wash bay and wash it down for $2.00. I left there and have not done business with them since.

The third business is a local chain gas station located across the street from another major gas station. They would seem to have a decent market, having "deli" goods (in Texas, "deli" means "anything fried in hot oil") and fountain drinks. And I have gone there from time to time. As I've picked up another couple of routes, this station was best positioned for my daily refueling.

And so, I went into the station last week and went to the pump. I pressed all the stupid buttons, the pump wouldn't start. I went inside, the cashier told me that she required people she didn't know to prepay. It didn't take me long to guess that my long hair and ragged jeans made her assume that I would be a drive off. Big mistake. I spend $10 a day, six days a week on gas...plus the occasional "gut bomb" burrito and bladder buster sized Dr. Pepper. In short, hers was a $250 a month mistake, as I won't do business with that station again.

Businesses that have survived when WalMart comes into a community are businesses that offer specialized expertise and customer service. WalMart's at the low end on the customer service scale (they are a DISCOUNT retailer...that's their focus), and discriminating shoppers will usually seek out local businesses for this reason. So there IS a market for local businesses in WalMart's world.

But if you're going to give me the same lousy customer service at a higher price than WalMart, then I'm going to opt for the lower prices. Every time.