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A recent newspaper article brought to light the fact the Wal-Mart is by
far the leading grocery retailer in the DFW area.  I mean, their market
share is like 25%, the second one is maybe 17%.  Wally has grown from
zero to 25% in just a few short years.  

It just so happens in that particular neck of the woods, Wally has been
putting up Neighborhood Markets on as many empty street corners as they
can find.  It also just so happens that I'm not the only one telling
everyone within earshot how much I love to shop at Neighborhood Markets.

Facts like this speak a lot louder than someone like me, who many of you
probably perceive as some obsessive-compulsive netgeek troll who has some
hidden agenda.

This 25 percent market share is coming largely out of the bank accounts of
the other grocery chains.  But it's difficult for me to believe that the
chain drugstores aren't being cannibalized to a similar degree.

The NM's sell most of the items that a Walgreens, Eckerds, etc. has on
their shelves, and cheaper.  Not a little cheaper, a WHOLE LOT cheaper.
Things like $8 versus $13 for a common herbal supplement.  $2 versus $5
for a generic nasal spray.  Need I say more?

Let me repeat it's my understanding that the chain drugstores depend on
the profits they get from the high-markup shelf items in order to prop up
their pharmacies which barely break even due to the AWP-25% plus 30 cents
a typical insurance plan provides.  If Wal-Mart is taking away the sales
of these items then if I worked in such a chain drugstore I'd be nervous.

I know a lot of you hate Wal-Mart, but their presence is very real and is
something which needs to be dealt with.  Someone said that the
supermarkets have been sitting in the woods feasting on sirloin steak,
with an 800-pound grizzly bear approaching them.  Wal-Mart, of course,
being the grizzly.  They markets aren't going be be able to enjoy the
sirloin steak of profits from overpriced items much longer.

Likewise, I think that when Walgreens locks their restrooms so I have to
ask permission like a third-grader to use them, they are feasting on
sirloin steak.  The sirloin steak of the making it conveinent for *them*
to keep their precious restrooms clean.  Well, if I need to relieve myself
and buy a few small items, I'm going to stop at the 800-pound grizzly's
store where there's an UNLOCKED restroom in the FRONT of the store, buy my
items with much LOWER PRICES, check myself out with NO WAIT and go away
HAPPY.

You might think I'm just a troll, but it's really true I've hardly ever
gone into a chain drugstore since the NM's opened.  But facts like that
newspaper article speak a lot louder than my words.  A lot of you might
not see it this way, but I've actually been doing you a favor by
explaining why I don't shop in your stores.

If the Neigboorhood markets haven't been coming to your town, consider
yourself lucky.  But they've been so successful in north Texas doubt it'll
be long before you see them next door to you.