What Would Happen If.....

[Scott Gilmore]

What Would Happen If.....

Be careful what you wish for, my friend. We are a rather exclusive bunch as it stands, and I like it that way.

Regards,
Scott Gilmore

[Riverkilt]

Al, and others who won't shop WalMarche',

Wish I could join you.

My options are:

Shop there.

Shop at the locally owned True Value franchise and pay $55 for the identical product from the identical manufacturer that WalMarche' offers for $15.

Drive 270 miles round trip to Flagstaff and buy elsewhere and buy the gas for the trip.

Ron

[Rob Wright]

Sadly many of us do not have much choice but to shop at Wal-Mart, you can only put off some purchases for so long and sometimes you just do not have the time to make the road trip elswhere to make those purchases.


Rob

[Pour1Malt]

since ai wuidnae set foot in tin o the evil places ... ai'll n'er ken...

[David Dalglish]

If every body wore kilts, we would not be different, I like it that way. As a visitor to the USA most years. I LOVE WALMART.

[davedove]

Most of you don't remember the "Urban Cowboy" fad, overnight the sheeple switched from "Saturday Night Fever" to cowboy hats with feather hatbands and then some other fad came along and you looked ridiculous if you wore a 40x Stetson.

I'm one of those old enough to remember the Urban Cowboy phase. I wore boots and cowboy hats all the time until that happened. I would still wear them once it started, but it just wasn't fun anymore. I was kind of glad it was over so I could stand out again. Like the Barbara Mandrell song said "I was country when country wasn't cool."

I'm kind of the same way about kilts now. While I wouldn't mind losing the attitudes of the idiots out there, it is nice that kilts are special.

[RockyR]

(On the positive side of Wal*Mart... it has provided both my kids with part time jobs... that taught them responsibility and helped put them through school.)

.

How are their health care benifits?

[RockyR]

Here's the problem about buying anything from Walmart... It's the 1000 armed octopus. When you say "I'm not going to buy a kilt from Walmart b/c that would mess with my friends and/ or "little companies" who are kiltmakers, but I'll buy that DVD and a CD and 2 plain shirts and... it adds up. It gives them capital to work with and spend in their stores and on products that they see fit. They put little companies out of business by leveraging their power and capital in whatever direction they like.

Am I worried about kilts being sold there? No... there's not enough money in it for them. However, I have a BUNCH of friends that own small businesses and stores I like that are hurt by Walmart. Steve's Sewing in King of Prussia (where we get most supplies and our machines) is a little more expensive than Walmart, but offers a better product and BACKS the products he sells with Knowledge. Me buying CDs at Walmart or soap or asprin or WHATEVER gives them money to buy more sewing machines to put Steve out of business and I can't do that with a clear conscience.

I understand that some of you have little to no choice. Here's the question... what did you do BEFORE Walmart? I bet there were a bunch of little grocery stores and other stores around. That's why Walmart is dengerous. It dries up a diverse marketplace and "creates jobs" with little to no health insurance. Is that the country you want to live in?

I am by NO MEANS ragging on Ron or anyone for shopping there. It is a free country and the man can't be expected to drive hundreds of miles for stuff he can get 5 minutes from home. I'm just giving the situation a light from a different perspective.

[arrogcow]

Issues with walmart:

First would a wm kilt really kill the traditional kilt maker? Probably not. There will always be a market for cheap, and a market for quality. Does the fact that I can buy a suit for $100 at Value City (WM doesn't sell suits) impact Armani's business? No. Some guys want the cheapest suit that they can get away with, some want to pay for perfect tailoring and long wear. To make it more relavant, Rocky have your casuals or SWK's kilts (the $44 economy is the wal-mart kilt) impacted Thomas Gordon or Geoffry Tailor? No, they are still selling fine quality kilts. Instead, your entry level kilts has fueled the desire for many go upgrade to hand sewn tanks. In fact the only reason that is keeping this from being a complete boom time for traditionl kilt makers is that so many people have jumped into making traditional kilts as well (Viking tech and kiltstore for example).

Second, wm kilts make them less special. Well I'm special no matter what I wear, so that doesn't bother me much. however, from a practical side, if wm (and other regular retailers) ever start selling kilts it will probably be more like UK's than traditional tartans. Why? No clan issues, sewing a solid is easier (no pleating to sett or stripe) so therefore can be made cheaper, and pockets are more practical.

Finally wm's business practices. I'm no fan of wm, but guys that's capitalism at work. Buy as cheaply as you can, and sell what you've got for what ever you can get, pay your minions as little as possible. WM just does it better than most. Do I think their board are a bunch of heartless, short sighted, greedy jerks? Yep, but they're not going away, and as Ron pointed out, it is stupid to pay $55 for something wm sells for $15. Many people can't afford to shop anywhere else other than wm these days. The way to end wm's tyrany is not to avoid then, but to get the govt to stop allowing the importation of products made with slave labor.

As for weather or not a kilt will ever be at wm (or the gap or sears), I think it really is a matter of time, like it or not. These guys know about us (the kilt wearers) and I'm sure that someone is tracking the trend. As soon as they see a tiping point (when they think the average joe might buy an affordable kilt), they will show up. Now them being a fad, yes the Urban Cowboy thing lasted it's 15 min, but I still see more cowboy boots and hats on the street than I see kilts, and no one gets much s#!t for it. On the other hand, I used ear rings in a post yesterday to demonstrate the rising level of acceptance. Ear rings have never been a "Fad", and the majority of guys still don't wear one, but it has become so commonplace to see a guy with one that it doesn't faze anyone much anymore.

Adam

[Schultz]

I understand that some of you have little to no choice. Here's the question... what did you do BEFORE Walmart? I bet there were a bunch of little grocery stores and other stores around.

I believe my family shopped at K-Mart and Murphy Mart/Ames, with an occasional trek to Hills, a regional (western PA) department store.

I'm not old enough to remember what it was like before those stores (but Woolworth's and other large, now-defunct department stores spring to mind), but all they happened to be were smaller versions of Wal-Mart, and I remember my uncle saying the exact same things about those stores that people do about Wal-Mart today.

I rarely, if ever, shop at Wal-Mart simply because I don't buy many things they offer to begin with. I can usually find such things at other places closer to me, although the only thing that I can't find anywhere closer are the Patak's brand of Indian food spices. I certainly don't begrudge anyone for shopping or working there. Does their healthcare plan suck? Sure it does. But there ARE affordable, privately offered healthcare plans out there if one is willing to look. My wife is on one of them now because she's between jobs and it's just too expensive to put us both on the one offered by my employer. We found one that suited her needs just nicely that's actually WAY more affordable than we thought.

I'm starting to rant now so I'll stop. But let me say that while I'd love to see a return to a more localized, community-oriented economy along classic distributionist lines, I'm also realist who understands that Wal-Mart and its ilk are a part of the free market and they're just filling a need. Education CAN be achieved w/o the piss and vinegar that's so often tossed towards those who don't know any better.