Until recently, Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) stores have been remarkably similar no matter where you are. The Wal-Mart in my Cape Cod hometown was stacked with western books by writers like Louis L'amour -- none of the local bookstores carried them, presumably because the stores that were stocking their shelves based on what customers actually wanted knew there was little demand for westerns in our seaside tourist town.
But now that's changing. A new Dearborn, Michigan store now stocks 550 items targeted at the town's 30,000 strong Arab-American community. Dearborn is also home to the Arab American National Museum. The store also sells Arab music, Muslim greeting cards, and has 35 Arabic-speaking employees, and has hired someone to train employees in cultural sensitivity. This stands in nice contrast to the store where a shopper was insulted by a cashier because of her veil.
Competing retailers better look out. For decades, Wal-Mart has been the master of low prices, but other stores have been able to compete with superior service and a better shopping experience. Now Wal-Mart is turning that laser focus to improving the experience and providing more community-focused stores.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-14-2008 @ 5:13PM
Phillip said...
If anything I think this might backfire on Wal-Mart. Do they even know what the greetings cards are saying? Would not surprise me in the least to see another post in a month or two about Arabic greeting cars in a Wal-Mart store insulting Jews or claiming the US caused 9-11.
3-14-2008 @ 5:23PM
james said...
that's plain sick. Only in America.
3-15-2008 @ 9:02AM
dee said...
i think its stupid, here we are america letting arabs take over in michigan now we cater to them, and half of them are probley plotting another 9-11 to kill us. and this is america not middleeast , make them wear their names written on their badges in american , not arabic. they need to learn english !!! this is america not middleeast! they want middleeast let them go back home. do you think if we moved to middleeast they would cater to our needs? keep dreaming. and thats the problem with america were too dam easy.
3-15-2008 @ 7:26PM
nat said...
i totally agree with everyone's comments. they are letting them take over. they do need to learn english, and we are enabling them to take over the country. nothing annoys me more than to see things written in arabic when we are in america. even though that walmart is closer to me, i will make a conscious effort to not support it until they make it an "american" walmart. i am tired of feeling like i don't even know what country i am in! not to mention the terrible drivers in dearborn...dearborn cops don't even patrol like they should, they could write hundreds of tickets a day with all of the continuous, repeated traffic violations from the immigrants.
3-16-2008 @ 9:58AM
Sergio said...
Shame on you Wal-Mart! If this gains traction it is only a matter of time before we become like Western Europe where the Muslims have taken over and made life miserable for everyone. They use mentally retarded women as suicide bombers, kill daughters who have unapproved boyfriends, hang gay people and hate Jews and Christians and you are trying to attract these people? Idiocy.
3-17-2008 @ 6:59PM
Trudy said...
We may as well take down all the American Flags that fly over every Wal-Mart and put up one from Iran, Iraq or some other towel head country because we sure as hell don't care about American's anymore. Our forefathers are rolling over in their graves at the INJUSTICES TO OUR OWN AMERICAN PEOPLE all in the name GREED!!!