Walmart Supercenter At 111 Yale St.

[TheNiche]

I'm so upset. I will be out of town on Friday, so I won't be able to see Leonard and s3mh picketing the new Walmart on opening day. Can someone take pictures for me?

No worries, I've got you covered. Them too, as I plan on buying them some Kleenex, lest they cry me a bayou to try and prove their stormwater runoff concerns.

Need me to pick up some 50-pound bags of dog food while I'm there?

[TGM]

Anyone planning to tailgate at the grand opening?

[samagon]

And so were all the Walmarts until they built one in the Heights.

Still, I'd prefer a second ITL Costco.

Welcome to Costco, I love you.

So with a Walmart grand opening, how does it work? It's 24 hours right? Do they open at midnight, or is it some other arbitrary time during the day? I want to be the first to walk the hallowed halls in its pristine state before it gets overrun.

Edited October 22, 2012 by samagon

[kylejack]

It's within a couple hundred feet of the feeder. That pretty much counts as along the freeway.

I was talking about inside the loop.

[Triton]

You could at least check the page you posted on.

Damn.

[JLWM8609]

Anyone planning to tailgate at the grand opening?

I was thinking some HAIFers would be there. Maybe they could hold up some signs that say "Hi s3mh!", take photos and post them here?

I'm glad I have a place inside the loop where I can now purchase oil filters and frozen pizzas at 2am.

[Jesse]

For the love of god, can we please lock this thread down on October 27th?

[samagon]

For the love of god, can we please lock this thread down on October 27th?

I think it should be stickied, as a memorial. :-p

I wonder, if it gets locked, does the poll get locked as well? Cause apparently, voting bumps the thread too. that would be awkward ;-)

[west20th]

For the love of god, can we please lock this thread down on October 27th?

Anyone forcing you to view it?

[Jesse]

Anyone forcing you to view it?

Just my own obsessions

[Ross]

I walked past the WaMart and over the Bridge of Death this evening. I was on the East side of Yale, where the sidewalk goes all the way to I-10. The only danger I encountered was trying not to slip on all of the acorns craftily placed on the sidewalk by the evil oak tree at the South end of the bridge. I may have to take a chain saw to it to save other pedestrians from the horrors of acorn slippage.

[TGM]

I walked past the WaMart and over the Bridge of Death this evening. I was on the East side of Yale, where the sidewalk goes all the way to I-10. The only danger I encountered was trying not to slip on all of the acorns craftily placed on the sidewalk by the evil oak tree at the South end of the bridge. I may have to take a chain saw to it to save other pedestrians from the horrors of acorn slippage.

I'm working on an undercover documentary on the acorn problem. Oh, it's been done? Nevermind.

A neighbor of mine tells me that every 12-15 years they see a substantial increase in acorn "production". Any tree person care to weigh in on why this occurs? Speaking of weighing in on it, the nexdoor neighbor has had a few big branches break off due to the weight of the acorns. Ross, you way want to consider a different route to Wal-Mart, because the combined weight of the acorns on the Yale street bridge may cause a butterfly effect that could result in the collapse of the bridge. Scientists in India are already picking up abnormal seismic readings due to the increased bridge traffic. The Aztecs predicted all of this....we were warned.

[JJxvi]

Sounds like the trees might have a deficiency in caliper inches if branches arent holding their weight.

[JJxvi]

Scientists in India are already picking up abnormal seismic readings due to the increased bridge traffic. The Aztecs predicted all of this....we were warned.

Thats a relief. We wouldn't want any aztecs or scientists in India getting convicted of manslaughter because they didnt provide definite and adequate disaster warning.

[samagon]

Sounds like the trees might have a deficiency in caliper inches if branches arent holding their weight.

It seems that the developers were trying to ensure our safety when they removed the trees.

[TGM]

Thats a relief. We wouldn't want any aztecs or scientists in India getting convicted of manslaughter because they didnt provide definite and adequate disaster warning.

Yes, I hear that in their traffic laws it's not considered vehicular manslaughter if you honk before running them over.

No convictions will occur here in the USA, because the "End is Near" crowd has prophesied the pending bridge collapse with great fervor.

[Firebird65]

I know people who work at the store are too busy to be reading this forum now but congratulations to the new Heights WalMart on your grand opening today.

[Scott08]

I logged on to see the outrage that the store is opening today, and left disappointed. Walmart shoppers 1, Heights yuppies 0.

[Firebird65]

I logged on to see the outrage that the store is opening today, and left disappointed. Walmart shoppers 1, Heights yuppies 0.

Maybe the protestors are inside the store... shopping. LOL!

[fwki]

Maybe the protestors are inside the store... shopping. LOL!

You know it! That's the irony of the whole issue, one by one they will cave in. First it will be to get McDonalds for the adopted counter-ethnic kid, then it will be for rescue dog food and after the debt burden crushes these hypocrites, it's midnite on the first of the month for soy milk.

[kylejack]

I know people who work at the store are too busy to be reading this forum now but congratulations to the new Heights WalMart on your grand opening today.

Well that, and internet is a luxury a minimum wage worker can't really afford.

[RedScare]

Well that, and internet is a luxury a minimum wage worker can't really afford.

Walmart doesn't pay minimum wage, but your pro-hipsterTarget/anti-backwoodsWalmart obsession is duly noted. They'll be high fiving you at the RUDH meeting at the locally owned coffee shop.

[kylejack]

I'm a Target fan now? What does Walmart pay workers at this store?

Even if it's above minimum wage, it's not much.

"I pay low wages. I can take advantage of that. We're going to be successful, but the basis is a very low-wage, low-benefit model of employment."

-Sam Walton

I seriously doubt Walmart employees have the time or inclination to go read thank you notes on architecture forum. That thank you is just drifting off into the ether.

Edited October 26, 2012 by kylejack

[s3mh]

Walmart doesn't pay minimum wage, but your pro-hipsterTarget/anti-backwoodsWalmart obsession is duly noted. They'll be high fiving you at the RUDH meeting at the locally owned coffee shop.

Walmart's entry level wage is @$7.37. Minimum wage is $7.25. Very few large employers will actually set wages right at minimum wage. Setting the salary at @.12 above minimum wage gives employers some breathing room to avoid minimum wage violations for timesheet/punch clock errors. If your wage is set at $7.25 and you drop an hour from an employee's time over a two week pay period, you will have to deal with a minimum wage violation. The extra .12 gives the employer an hour's worth of wiggle room if there is a problem with the hours. The intent is certainly not to be more generous than required by law. The intent is to hedge against very expensive wage/hour violations.

The average Walmart worker makes about 30% less than unionized grocery store workers. The average wage at Walmart is about $12 an hour. At Costco it is $20. Full time sales associates at Trader Joes make $40-60k with a 15% employer contribution to 401k.

Walmart's wages are not legally minimum wage, but are for all practical purposes about as low paying as you will find from any major employer.

[RedScare]

Actually, $12 per hour is well above minimum wage. Further, it is well above what those mom and pop stores that you pine for pay. It is also well above what many laborers in the Houston area make. And, given the education level required for these jobs, it is a decent wage. It is also more than s3mh or kylejack pay their employees.

Oh, you don't have any employees? Oh, because you do not own your own business? So, you really are in no position to criticize then, are you?

Full disclosure: I pay my employees more than the average Walmart, Target, Antidote or kylejack/s3mh employee wage...just in case you were wondering. And, I'll shop at both Kroger and Walmart when I get back in town.

[Jesse]

This seemed appropriate:

http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2011/12/21

[kylejack]

Oh, you don't have any employees? Oh, because you do not own your own business? So, you really are in no position to criticize then, are you?

Am I a free person living in a free country? Then I guess I'm in a position to criticize a business' practices.

[s3mh]

Actually, $12 per hour is well above minimum wage. Further, it is well above what those mom and pop stores that you pine for pay. It is also well above what many laborers in the Houston area make. And, given the education level required for these jobs, it is a decent wage. It is also more than s3mh or kylejack pay their employees.

Oh, you don't have any employees? Oh, because you do not own your own business? So, you really are in no position to criticize then, are you?

Full disclosure: I pay my employees more than the average Walmart, Target, Antidote or kylejack/s3mh employee wage...just in case you were wondering. And, I'll shop at both Kroger and Walmart when I get back in town.

Walmart employees are the basement dwellers of retail compensation. The $12 average is deceptive because Walmart likes to fire low level employees after two years to avoid having to move them up in wages and hours. The $12 average includes workers who would usually be in salary positions at other companies, but Walmart keeps them in hourly and/or part-time work instead to save on wages and benefits.

The mom and pop retail stores pay employees more than Walmart. Mom and pop stores do not have the management and security in place to cast as wide a net for employees as Walmart does for just over minimum wage employees. Mom and pop stores have to pay clerks and other entry level workers more because they are trusted with more responsibility with less management oversight. They are also more vulnerable to disruption with employee turnover/absenteeism. So, they have to pay for a better class of worker. The only equalizer is that Walmart will offer some scant health benefits after employees are on the job for a while. But, Walmart has been known to fire people not soon after they become eligible for benefits.

Also, if your standard is that you can only have an opinion about X if you have also done X, then you will need to go back and delete 60-70% of your posts. I do not own a business, but I have been involved in a few hundred different businesses over the past decade and know what wages are like at most employers in town. You, on the other hand, have only been involved in some sort of real estate development company (you have referred to yourself as "just a middleman" before, so not much of a real estate company). There is no reason to believe that you have any superior knowledge than anyone else.

Walmart's wages are the bottom of the barrel. People in working in the exact same industry at the same positions at other retailers make much better money. Walmart even cut their health plan right around the same time that they finally were able to turn around almost two years of same store sales declines in the US. And given that their stock has hit a record high, it is inexcusable that Walmart has not passed on any of that success to the employees who got them there. But Walmart is just like Marx's serpent that eats its own tail. Pushing down wages to get bigger profits until no one can afford to buy the products they sell, killing the profits.

[TheNiche]

Am I a free person living in a free country? Then I guess I'm in a position to criticize a business' practices.

I don't think that anybody was suggesting that your civil right to free speech is or should be constrained, merely that you are clearly lacking of experience and credibility and that your opinion is so worthless to decision-makers within our socitey that it is a waste of your own time to bother expressing it.

That you would confuse the issue proves the point.

[kylejack]

I don't think that anybody was suggesting that your civil right to free speech is or should be constrained, merely that you are clearly lacking of experience and credibility and that your opinion is so worthless to decision-makers within our socitey that it is a waste of your own time to bother expressing it.

I think setting a benchmark that someone should own a business before criticizing a business is absurd. When Bruce Molzan was stealing wages from workers, I protested that, and I didn't need to own a business to do it. Thankfully his place has, as of today, been torn down.