Cool animation of Wal-Mart's spread across US
Wal-mart stores are depicted as disease-green blobs in this neat animation of the retail giant's spread across the US.
Nathan says: "This is similar to the Walmart infection video you put up a while back, but this one is *interactive* - and a bit sexier."
the latest
latest episodes
Curious that the expansion is regularly outward until about 1981 when South Carolina was apparently targeted and lights up like a Christmas tree.
I would have liked to see the push into Canada illustrated; it would have been nice to see the build up on our border around 1992 and then the sudden spill in in 1993. (I was working at Woolco at the time, which got bought by them in 1993). I had left for university by then but I still had friends who were "lifers" and had to go through the crazy jumping-jacks thing in the morning. :) That didn't last long.
- and in 1999 they infected all Asda supermarkets in the UK in one fell swoop - 34o shops by January 2006, according to Wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asda
So many people seem to hate Wal-Mart, yet it thrives. And people say memes can't be spread like disease: Get More, but Pay Less! Kill More, Go To Heaven Now! Don't let the plague spread. Keep the bad memes out.
If you want to know what America used to look like before corperate mega-stores took over, go to Door County, WI. Beautiful, and not a franchise in sight. That's right yuppy brats, no Starrucks for you in Door County! And yet, life goes on.
http://www.about-asda.co.uk/faq/ sez -
(in the UK) 'We currently have 356 stores'
and (globally) 'Wal–Mart employs more than 2 million associates worldwide and has nearly 7,500 stores and wholesale clubs in 14 markets including Brazil, Canada, China, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico and The US'
Asda has the second largest share of the market in England, Scotland and Wales - making the UK the biggest pocket of infection outside the US (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asda)
I'm so proud...
Anyone see WM's ugly new logo straight out of Graphic Design 101?
No Walmart in Alaska! I'm so disappointed :P
Thank you for your enthusiasm. You have BoingBoinged their server. And no, I couldn't get a Coralized/Google cache/Wayback Machine archived version either.
I wouldn't say the new logo is Graphic Designed heavily. My wife has a degree in graphic design and that frankly looks boring compared to most professionally done graphic design logos I've seen.
I personally prefer Target, but I gotta admit I always buy my oil at Walmart. It saves me about $5 on an oil change.
Well it coincides with poverty in the US.
http://www.visualizingeconomics.com.nyud.net:8080/2007/07/17/united-states-income-inequality-map/
http://www.visualizingeconomics.com.nyud.net:8080/2007/08/11/united-states-poverty-map/
Poor people shop at Walmart because it has really good prices. Rich people look with disdain.
I wouldn't be surprised to see the same thing with McDonalds.
I would of liked to of seen when Alaska got hit.
I love it when the date gets to "now" it goes "undef"
I want to see the McDonalds and Starbucks animations.
Door County, WI is indeed lovely. However, Sturgeon Bay has been "infected" with the Wal-Mart virus. For Starbucks, you'll still have to go to Green Bay.
I agree with glamajamma's point, btw.
OK, I'm scared now, right as I opened the link my playlist switched to a song from the Dawn of War soundtrack...
thsi gaem is not as fun as pandemic 2.
@7
There are at least three Walmart's in Alaska. I used to work at one, I think its always fashionable to bash them and sure they do some bad stuff and have crappy stuff. But I find them no more soul sucking than many other corporations.
I remember seeing this graphic in _The Puppet Masters_...
"Andromeda will spread all over the world! They'll never be rid of it!"
I love how every new store looks like a tiny, silent bomb exploding.
I was rooting for Nevada, but they got taken out in the end.
Make me think of a combination of Doctor Who and the Green Death, and the napalm bombardment of a Vietnamese village.
Wal-Mart is an excellent retail chain.
When I was out of work in '97, I worked there for almost ten months.
I almost always find what I need at Wal-Mart. Name brand goods are less expensive there. If I have ever had a problem with merchandise bought, they have always exchanged it or given me a refund.
Salespeople there have been courteous and helpful.
The groceries are well-stocked, clean, and inexpensive. Now I can even get Dunkin' Donuts coffee and numerous organics.
Why in the world would I want to artificially prop up small, proprietary, high-rent, inefficient, often rude and sometimes-dangerous, downtown, family-owned and -operated businesses in place of this scientifically, ultra-modern distribution system?
Thank God this is what has evolved to our benefit in America.
Why in the world would I want to artificially prop up small, proprietary, high-rent, inefficient, often rude and sometimes-dangerous, downtown, family-owned and -operated businesses in place of this scientifically, ultra-modern distribution system?
Because I can walk or ride my bike to that small business.
Because that small store pays all it's taxes, no special deals
Because Mr. Hooper will open his corner pharmacy at 3am when your daughter needs cough syrup, because he knows your name, and has known you since your wife bought the pregnancy test from him.
But most importantly, because you get what you pay for.
Oh, and I forgot the huge one.
Because the profits from that local store stay local, and may even be deposited in a local bank, that bank that can't write you a mortgage on that house you dream about if all their business accounts dry up.
The profits from Wal-mart all go to the mothership, and the Walton family fortune, which is why the Waltons are 5 of the 10 richest Americans.
I think that about covers it.
I walk and ride my bike to small businesses that I want to purchase from here in the small town I live in (though I make it a point to go to Wal-Mart whenever I can).
As a taxpaying citizen, I'm quite happy that municipalities accommodating businesses with tax breaks when they deem necessary. That's why I vote my legislators and city administrators into office.
Your friend Mr. Hooper doesn't care about me; he's a commercial vendor, not a family member or a counselor. He'll open or not open his store based on his own, personal commercial or humanitarian interests. Just like Wal-Mart when it donates to community schools and charities.
Your vision of the Good Neighbor opening his store at 3 a.m. is quite cheerful and warming but is contrived. Wal-Mart, on the other hand, is often open 24 hours a day.
And I really couldn't care less if Ol' Coop remembers my name. I have many pleasant personal and professional relationships in my life without needing the intimacy of the local druggist (who had best not know what I or my wife are buying).
On your last point, you're right! I get lots of high value for my money when I purchase at Wal-Mart. That's why I've been buying there for more than 15 years.
And in time,Wal-Mart will be the ONLY place you will shop.
Let Wal-Mart open its own bank. You can be darn sure that it's Wal-Mart's best interest that its local communities stay healthy.
Does your last point give it away? Are the anti-Wal-Mart forces really socialists of one sort or another who despise all accumulation of wealth except in the hands of their patrons?
Mom-and-pop retail distribution is inefficient. It has produced lots of inconveniences and unpleasantries in the way consumers get goods and services. (Look what's been going on of late in the optical industry.)
Wal-Mart has allowed me to make many, many purchases of goods I have wanted because it can buy and sell much more conveniently, efficiently, and pleasantly that other, smaller retail outlets.
NYC..still safe. at least from wal-mart. as for the ikea down the street, i can't drive my out of state car through my own neighborhood without being looked at like i just shopped there(i do the same thing to cars with flat packs strapped to their roofs like so much fresh formica kill) not that i'm really too opposed to ikea. it's just that i'm not in college anymore, and red hook was so nice when nobody knew it was a neighborhood. as for west of the hudson, you can all burn in the hell you've allowed.
Well Ploni, good for you. I prefer my local store, and I find that only a very few items at Wal-mart are actually cheaper.
Loss leaders I believe they're called.
Why should a business that employs 100 people at minimum wage be subsidized when it runs 10 businesses with 15 employees each out of business? It's a net loss in jobs, it's a net loss in real estate taxes, it's a net loss in occupied storefronts downtown - and the prices at wal-mart just go up once the competition is gone. Sad story often told.
Why should Wal-mart pay one penny less in taxes than the 'contrived' but very real Mr Hooper. (his name is changed to protect the innocent)? Let's change the name to Pop's fruits and vegetables, just for the sake of argument, and say that pop knows you like a certain brand of apple. You'd really appreciate that kind of service, wouldn't you?
You may not appreciate local businesses but I do. People make a place. Wal-Mart just makes every place the same.
Granted, Wal-mart is a boon to rural places with no downtowns, but I think the lesson on Wal-Mart in Plymouth MA is very instructive. They built a store into a historic building, and were allowed to change the facade of the historic building to add their box-style to the old-mill they were trying to fit into. They were given a large tax break and permission to change the building in exchange for a promise of a 10 year lease.
The next Wal-mart broke their lease, left the building, moved down the road, and knocked over a smaller box store that they bought, mainly to stop anyone else from opening a competing store at that location.
Sorry man, we gotta agree to disagree. And please stop it with the condescension, kthxbai.
ploni,
I'm certain that readers who click your name and read your whole comment history will take you just as seriously as you deserve.
I can't figure him out. I looked at his comments, and the best I can come up with is that Ploni is a member of a breakaway Jewish cult that recognizes Sam Walton as the Messiah.
ah Buddy, ya loled me! Oy vey! Here's an idea: Kittish, a mix of Yiddish and Kitteh!
Buddy for the win. Give the guy a break though, he has a preference, and a weird sense of community. It's his right.
I would like for the time span on the years to be the same amount of time and I'm not sure how they handle a wal-mart store closing and then relocating or even a store just closing. (Yes it has happened)
I never shop at Wal-Mart anymore, but it was a godsend when I was poor just a few months ago. The stuff there's cheap, and I could buy all of my essentials at one place without having to run around town wasting gasoline. Besides, I was working second shift, and no other stores were open. Sometimes the place was kind of messy, and a lot of weird people shopped there (and worked there) after midnight, but Mr. Hooper was always at the door to greet me with a friendly smile.
I live in a part of London that has an amazing, vibrant collection of independent restaurants, cafes, and stores (shops we call 'em) of all kinds.
Tesco, the UK equivalent to Walmart, have just moved in. And a chain chicken restaurant called Nando's.
The writing is on the wall for the whole area. The only way is down.
Were several dozen comments 'unpublished' here? If so, good choice.
I missed this one lastnight from Ploni.
Are the anti-Wal-Mart forces really socialists of one sort or another who despise all accumulation of wealth except in the hands of their patrons?
No, we're more like the proto-Lutherans who despised that whatever money they gave their catholic church would grow wings and fly to Rome.
I support local business to keep my money local. Period. I'm a solid capitalist, though you need not to believe it.
Let me ask you Ploni - Are all the pro-Wal mart forces really fascists of one sort of another who defend the distribution of wealth to the hands of their patrons? I dunno? Which one of us sounds MORE like a shill for someone else?
BB, regardless of your addiction to hipster terminology, there is nothing "sexy" about a WalMart graphic. No matter how pretty it is.
How come the map shows Monterrey and Culiacán in Mexico, both cities with Wal-Marts, but doesn't show them in the animation?
The first time I watched that, I thought of the famous "Agent Smith" speech. I had to see what that would look like...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojLQ2t6N1EU