Sam Walton frequently visited K-Marts at the time. My mom was a checker at the local K-mart and met him. He liked to come in and check out the competition.

Just because they are the CEO at one company does not mean they can't shop at another.

There's also a good possibility the Wal-Mart exec knows full well the stuff his company makes can be crap and decides to shop at target instead.

Ar, not Ak for Arkansas.

They are intelligent people checking out the competition. Glad to see they are serious about their companies.

Even if they did shop and spend money there it is still a great thing to do.

@dragonfire81: You realize that his company doesn't "make" anything and most of the stuff in Target is made at the same places where the stuff in Wal-Mart is made?

@delicatedisarray: Yeah, I was pretty sure Wal-Mart's HQ wasn't in Alaska.

I see the Wal-Mart store manager at the Target across the street all the time here -- comparing prices. :D

He's not even shy about it, scanning and punching away on his hand-held device.

hey are at target because most walmarts are dirty. i hate going to walmart because of the horrible atmosphere

@HFC: Alaska is AL.

@rinse: Yep. Its a comp shop and no retailer wants the competition in their stores noting the prices and selection... It doesn't say that the CEOs are BUYING anything.

Checking out the competition is fine. What got my goat when I worked retail was when my department store manager would run an attendance-required pep rally in the morning calling competing department store associates our "enemies" -- and take their store manager to lunch that afternoon. (Trust me, he was NOT interested in her.)

@TCama: No.

likely checking out prices and looking for tips.

@TCama: ERROR!

FAIL!

@TCama: that's alabama

Ok? I work for a big box pharmacy and gasp! sometimes I shop at the competition. Depends on how much of a hurry I'm in (it's closer to my apartment).

@gStein: No,no, Alabama is AB.

(I just wanted to see how long I could make this thread go on.)

@anthonyhasp: He's probably alluding to the rumors that WalMart has manufacturers purposely make cheaper "WalMart exclusive" versions of their higher quality products. It's a toss up, really. I've bought some good quality stuff at WalMart, and I've bought stuff that turned out to be crap. Ultimately, though, it seems more of their products are the type to perpetuate and underscore Sam Vimes' Boots Theory of Socio-Economic Injustice.

It's 80 degrees here in Alaska today. I can see Wal-Mart from my house!

That aside, yeah, living in Wal-Mart World can suck sometimes if you like Target. Here in Arkansas-Alaska, the news is Wal-Mart this, Wal-Mart that. Which I understand. But it still gets old. And I still prefer Target.

@Shadowman615:

LOL. Alabama is AL!

Submitted this story at Forbes.com yesterday morning, apparently it didn't make the cut. Can't imagine why:

Wal-Mart's Weight Effect - [tinyurl.com]

A study shows that shopping at Wal-Mart was associated with healthier eating habits over time - specifically, "we found that Wal-Mart's effect on weight is largest for women, the poor, African-Americans and people who live in urban areas."

@LegoMan322: Exactly right.

@RecordStoreToughGuy: That's what I was alluding to.

Proof that the CEOs aren't poor. If they were, they'd be shopping at Wal-Mart. ZING!

@DePaulBlueDemon: What are you people talking about?? AL, AK, AB?? All this internet shorthand is driving me KRAZY (KR)!
What does it mean?

@dragonfire81: Sorry to break this to you, but it could be easily argued that a CEO of Walmart they can't shop (actually buy things) at another company. I think the title of this consumerist post is misleading -- I don't think the Walmart CEOs are actually shopping at Target to purchase things, but if they were, they are in technical violation of certain obligations they have to their company by virtue of their position as corporate officers.

CEOs of companies have a set of legal duties to the company: e.g., the duty of loyalty, the duty of fair dealing, and fiduciary duties that run to the company they work for.

In a shareholder derviative suit, one could claim that by patronizing a competitor, this violates the duties of an officer of a competing corporation. No one would do that because the damges to the corporation are so small. But someone COULD do that, because corporate CEOs have an obligation that runs to their companies and the shareholders of the company.

@Easton21: Ask the PO.

@stevejust: And if someone did do that, they are an idiot. Who the fuck cares?

@TomCoughlin: Oh whiiine, they didn't choose your story!

@nakedscience: Calm down. I'm not whining, and it's not "my" story. Just seems like it would be appropriate, considering the vast number of anti-WalMart stories they publish, to put one up that contains helpful, relevant information about WalMart. Not sure why you felt the need to attack...

@talamant3z: You've never been to a Walmart in Bentonville, AR have you? I would eat a gourmet meal off their immaculately shiny hard wood floors.

@Easton21: I didn't realize people thought CEO's are poor? FAiL?

@bigmil87: Understanding joke FAIL.

@rinse: I doubt the CEOs are doing serious shopping or price comparisons. All the CEOs and Vice Chairmen I've worked for have their wives do the shopping. I don't mean anything insulting by it, it's just that these high ranking executives often work insane hours and travel extensively. They delegate their shopping. I'd be amazed to see a CEO shopping at a Target or anywhere for household goods.

They were probably checking out the competition out of friendly curiosity, to introduce themselves as a gesture of goodwill. Also the new competition is going to come up in their meetings and business plans in the future "how to keep up with the new neighbor." They need at least a basic working knowledge of the store.

If they were simply comparing prices, they might have a store manager do it on a more regular basis, rather than a CEO doing it themselves. They delegate that sort of thing. Most of them delegate most anything they possibly can, either through their wife or a personal assistant or household staff.

I think the visit was dual-purpose. A friendly gesture of goodwill and introduction combined with eyeballing the competition so they are simply familiar with it.

@Julia789: Know your enemy.

@TomCoughlin: Interesting article. It offers a nice explaination of the income and substitution effects--I might add it to my reading list for next semester.

The result makes sense: there is the bizarre fact that terrible-for-you processed foods are cheaper than "whole foods" (meaning ingredients, not stuff from Whole Foods). If you can buy the stuff you need cheaper, you can gradually make the switch to healthier choices.

This being said, the academic in me wants to read the actual journal article this summary is based on. I want to see some betas--this seems like a case where it could be statistically significant, but not economically so--people weighed one pound less in Wal-Mart communities than non-Wal-Mart communities. Even if that is statistically significant, so what?

@babyruthless: Also, I'm not sure about the so-called conventional wisdom that "cheap food leads to more eating"

Here's the real paper if you're interested. I am feeling quite procrastination-y today, so I think I will give it a perusal.
[papers.ssrn.com]

@babyruthless: Yeah, the article is short on data, I just thought it offered an interesting counterpoint to the stereotypical view of WalMart as some kind of force for all that is evil. Big box stores, WalMart in particular, are often denied permission to open in urban areas, and the study offers a good reason to change that practice.

@stevejust: It could also be easily argued that he gains more in value for his own company by shopping the competition than he provides Walmart in his purchases.

But hey, this is America. When in doubt, just sue someone...

@dragonfire81: Ford CEO's in detriots drive Bentley's, Maserati's, Mercedes, etc. I'm surprised they dont drive GT40's or GT500's. but then again, i'm not suprised they drive/own a Fusion or Expedition or something.

so yeah, I agree. just because you're the CEO of Mcdonald's or Wendy's doesn't mean you can't eat Chinese Food or Italian food or Quizno's or something.

-dave

Nothing wrong with this. They need to scope out the competition. Also, if you work at McDonalds, does that mean you have to eat only McDonalds food? You'd get sick of it and have to go eat somewhere else eventually. Never forget, these are still human beings. You can't tow the company line 100% of the time.

I think Tom has a fair point.

@stevejust: Hi, we want to offer you millions of dollars to come work at our company as an executive. The catch you can only shop at Walmart. I doubt that would have any takers. Target isn't the only company Walmart could be seen as a direct competitor with.

Though there is some irony in forcing Walmart execs to live exclusively on the crappy products they sell.

Also, Rogers/Bentonville is still a relatively small area; Target is shiny and new, so everyone goes by to check it out. Wal-Mart #1 is the store where WM execs tour around corporate visitors, so it's clean, bright and well-stocked. Sorry, no snark here, I'm just glad we have both.

@nakedscience: I guess you haven't stopped to ask yourself how much an attorney bringing a shareholder derivitive suit can make in fees? That would answer your own question.

Here's the suit: Let's assume Wal Mart's stock starts to slip next quarter. Someone files a suit claiming that the reason for the slip is the persistent rumors of Wal-Mart specific inferior products, the validity of which has been supported by articles like that appearing in Forbes magazine creating an impression among consumers that WalMart's own CEOs won't even shop at Wal-Mart, prefering Target instead.

There's the lawsuit. It's crap. But it could happen.

@militarydave: Dude... there is only one CEO of a company. At Ford, it is Alan Mulally. He was driving a Lexus when he went to Ford from Boeing, but now as Ford CEO, he drives Fords.

Here's a reference I found on google in 20 seconds for that:

[www.usatoday.com]

Why do people sit around and just make stuff up to post on the internets? I don't understand.

@bohemian: I think you're having trouble differentating between direct competitors.

Being CEO of Wal-Mart wouldn't create any obligation not to shop at WholeFoods (even though Wal-Mart sells more organic produce than Whole Foods does), it wouldn't prevent you from shopping at Barney's or Saks or Neiman Marcus. It wouldn't even prevent you from shopping at Macy's.

But it could be argued you can't be going to Target or K-Mart or Meier's and not be seen as breaching your duty of loyalty and your fiduciary duties to the company, just based on the bad PR your doing so creates.

Think of the employee discount (and why employers offer discounts to employees in general as incentives.)

@TomCoughlin: As I suspected, the results are pretty small:
The introduction of a "regular" WM per 100k residents leads to a decrease of .46 lbs at the sample mean height.

A Super WM decreases weight by 0.18 lbs, and a Warehouse club decreases weight by 0.23 lbs, which is statistically insignificant.

More promising: a discount store decreases the liklihood of being overweight by 1%, and the liklihood of obesity by 0.4%, which given the number of obese people in the US, is not negligible.

However, they also find that the presence of a Wal-Mart decreases the likelihood of getting regular exercise by 2.3 to 2.9%. The presence of Super Wal-Mart means that people who already drink do so more heavily, increasing their # of drinks by 2.3%. Similarly, warehouse clubs cause smokers to smoke more heavily, causing them to increase their smoking by 2.6%.

The projected decrease in health care costs brought about by a decrease in obesity are essentially washed out by the projected increase in health care costs brought about by an increase in smoking and drinking.

So, it appears that Wal-Marts lead to a slightly healthier diet, and slightly less healthy other habits, which is probably a wash. From the conclusion of the article:

"Local governments should not resist Wal-Mart or warehouse club entry...out of fear that their effect on food prices would increase obesity. The possible effects of drinking and smoking, however, should be considered, especially considering the numerous negative externalities--such as drunk driving accidents, second-hand smoke, and Medicare and Medicaid expenses--associated with these activies...."

/review

I don't think that I've ever heard that argument--that Wal-Mart drives down food prices which causes obesity--when arguing against Wal-Mart. I've usually heard claims of unsightliness, unfair treatment of workers, and driving Mom & Pops out of business.

@talamant3z: Thank you. Ours are mystery substances on the floors, festival concert aftermath disgusting.

I have not been to the Bentonville one since the early 90's. It was one of the first supercenter stores. They had staff on rollerskates to get around. Of course that one is nice and clean. It is a corporate flagship store.