Has WalMart jumped the shark?

[Horse with no Name]

Okay kill me now. I had to go to WalMart this morning--only store in 30 miles and I needed one silly thing so I didn't drive to get it.
One of the things that has always set WalMart apart from the other box stores is that it accepted layaway.
Their store caters to the clientele that needs layaway. Personally, I will use it when I want something and don't feel the need to pay interest or finance charges, but don't want the price to change or the item to go out of stock, etc.
Anyway, there is a big sign on the front door that says "Walmart is phasing out it's layaway department".
It said it would continue to take layaways until mid October but after that it would never accept layaways again.
Of course it encourages the use of gift cards and low interest credit cards available.:eyes:
It will be interesting to see how this pans out. I think it will hurt their business.

[Sydnie]

1. My room mate's mother works at WalMart and she said

this one move will be what single-handedly will save KMart. KMart will still do layaway and they will slaughter WalMart this holiday season. It's going to get really interesting at WalMart around Black Friday time. They make most of their sales on Black Friday with layaways of multiple big items (tv's, hot electronic game of the year, etc.) and they will be hurting when they figure out that their sales will suffer to the very "base" of their business.

But, on the other hand, they are trying to upscale their stores to compete with Target and Kohls. If either of those stores begin a layaway program, they could do significant damage to WalMart. I hope they do just that.

[ComerPerro]

5. Wal Mart needs to realize that people don't just go to

Kohl's and Target because of the more "upscale" clientele...

[liberal N proud]

2. Wal-Mart is trying to become Target

They are introducing uniforms for their employees just like Target only Blue. Khaki pants and Blue Wal-Mart polo shirts.

The reason they are giving up layaway and moving to uniforms is to try and draw the upscale shoppers. They want to bring in the Target shopper.
This is from an official Wal-Mart source.

[Sydnie]

3. And they will provide each worker with two shirts

and the pants have not been chosen yet, so they don't know if they will have to have "company designed" pants or if they will be free to choose their own, as long as they are khaki colored.

Extra shirts will be available for "sale" should a full timer have a need for more than two.

There is a woman that works with my freind's mother who is so large, I can't imagine that they are going to make a shirt (or pants for that matter) that will fit her. They are all wondering what they are going to do about that issue too.

[Warpy]

4. I doubt it will hurt their business

Layaway was always a better deal than those credit cards, but it also meant you didn't have the use of the item while you were saving your pennies to bail it out.

Now that they're offering credit cards, it'll just encourage more people to go into debt and pay those ridiculously high interest rates on junk.

[catmandu57]

6. I think they'll regret this move

There are many people who can't afford to do all the christmas shopping in one month and using layaway made it easier to buy bigger ticket items.
I've used it to spread my payments iver several months, since saving money is proven to be nearly impossible.

[originalpckelly]

7. I believe so; the shark is cheap, crappy, and spits out cards:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5007301

[zbdent]

8. and probably made in some sweatshop country ... not USA made

however, you might be able to find Canadian imported drugs ... since individuals trying to get cheap meds are not allowed, but "international" companies can do a lot of things that ordinary citizens cannot (esp. when you consider how little cargo is inspected ...)