Grocery Stores in NH.

[MaineShark]

Look the point I am bringing here is--Wal-Mart swoops into a town, buys things at mega quanities--the Mom and Pops cannot do.  Wal-Mart touts there prices are the lowest in town and people flock in and buy---meanwhile, all the competition around the area which cannot compete go away.  When Wal-Mart is the only guy around do you think their prices will continue to be the lowest?

I'm a small (one-man) shop.  I have no trouble with competition.  The presence of companies like Irving Oil and such doesn't drive me out of business.  I charge more than they do (I couldn't match their prices if I wanted to), but I offer higher quality than they do.

It's like the smoking ban nonsense.  "Oh, the non-smoking restaurants cannot compete with the smoking-allowed restaurants, so we need to put a gun to their heads!"  Of course they can compete.  I've never seen Murphy's Taproom not be pretty well packed, and they're non-smoking.  See, the smoking-allowed resturants are offering a service - allowing smoking.  The non-smoking restaurants need to offer something that competes (eg, offer higher quality food, which you will be able to enjoy without cigarette smoke interfering).  The reason that some restaurants cannot compete is because they don't offer anything that competes.

Charging high prices for less service (regardless of whether you're a non-smoking restaurant or a "mom and pop" grocery store) is a right.  Having customers actually buy from you under those conditions, is not.  I'll spend my money where I get the best value.  Value means a balance of price and quality.  That typically means that I buy very few things at WalMart, because most of what they offer isn't low enough cost to offset the lower quality of the products.  But the things that I do buy there, I won't feel bad about.  If someone else wants to compete, all they need to do is... compete.

Joe

[KBCraig]

Look the point I am bringing here is--Wal-Mart swoops into a town, buys things at mega quanities--the Mom and Pops cannot do.  Wal-Mart touts there prices are the lowest in town and people flock in and buy---meanwhile, all the competition around the area which cannot compete go away.  When Wal-Mart is the only guy around do you think their prices will continue to be the lowest?

Yes. Because raising prices invites a competitor to step in.

I've lived in towns where Wal Mart was the only player. And their prices were still cheaper than their former competitors'. This was in rural Arkansas, where you'd have to drive 60-100 miles to shop elsewhere; quite unlike NH, where the next town is only 15 minutes away.

[Fluff and Stuff]

Look the point I am bringing here is--Wal-Mart swoops into a town, buys things at mega quanities--the Mom and Pops cannot do.  Wal-Mart touts there prices are the lowest in town and people flock in and buy---meanwhile, all the competition around the area which cannot compete go away.  When Wal-Mart is the only guy around do you think their prices will continue to be the lowest?

I am not sure what town you live in but Wal-Mart is not known for having the lowest prices where I live.  ALDI and Sav-a-lot are usually lower for food and Big Lots and Freds are often lower for other stuff.  The wholesale clubs also offer lower prices on many things.

There are like 10 different chains that sell food where I live and they are all still around.  Sure, Wal-Mart has been here since a few years after it started but the others are just no going away.

[Raineyrocks]

I shop at Hanniford's because they don't have one of those cards.

I shop at Hannifords too.  I like it because they don't have the cards and they have lots of organic foods.  On Tenney Mountain Highway there is a hannifords and then a Walmart right down the road and Hanniford's parking lot is always pretty full so I don't think they'll be closing because of Walmart. 
I'll admit I do go to Walmart for some stuff but I would like to work it into our budget somehow to stop going to Walmart altogether.

[NC2NH]

I can hardly wait to get back to NH where I can shop at Wal-Mart and pay no sales tax!

I miss Hannaford too.

Come to think of it, I miss just about everyone and everything in The Shire. Even the Massholes are worse in NC.