Welcome to the 103rd installment of The Wal-Mart Weekly, a column dedicated to bringing you insight, wit, facts, results, opinions, and just a bit of everything else when it comes to a very hot topic these days: Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) has nosed into the health care game before. Just a recently as a year ago, the world's largest retailer wanted to open in-store health clinics as a possible entry point to providing health care inside its retail locations.

The retailer now wants to see if it can become a low-cost provider of health care for small businesses and employers. That's very interesting -- the notion that employers could shop at Wal-Mart for employee health care like consumers do for laundry detergent. Of course, the prices Wal-Mart would offer would be the lowest possible.

Welcome to the 102nd installment of The Wal-Mart Weekly, a column dedicated to bringing you insight, wit, facts, results, opinions, and just a bit of everything else when it comes to a very hot topic these days: Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) has had one big, black eye in recent time that it just can't get away from: its relationship with labor. Wal-Mart's fiercest critics have pointed out many examples of the low pay, pricey health insurance, and low-end working conditions.

Are Wal-Mart workers really in that big of a bind, or does the largest retailer in the world have pay and benefit parity with all its competitors? When you're the biggest, you have the target painted on your back -- and Wal-Mart has been there for some time. However, the company has just announced a rather large bonus plan for its employees with a sizable target indeed: $2 billion dollars.

Welcome to the 101st installment of The Wal-Mart Weekly, a column dedicated to bringing you insight, wit, facts, results, opinions, and just a bit of everything else when it comes to a very hot topic these days: Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) has been the sole shining light at retail for over a quarter now as the recession deepens and retailers see huge slowdowns in spending. More customers have "traded down" to Wal-Mart to conserve cash while buying the basic necessities and the world's largest retailer has seen consistent growth as a result.

The company, in many ways, is doing what has always worked: marketing on value. The company can try as many upscale experiments as it wants, but it is and always will be the place where the masses shop for everything they can while saving every possible penny. But Wal-Mart is not resting on the value proposition alone from recent changes I've seen. The stores are getting cleaner, less cluttered, and easier to navigate. Yes, this is a big deal.

Welcome to the 100th installment of The Wal-Mart Weekly, a column dedicated to bringing you insight, wit, facts, results, opinions, and just a bit of everything else when it comes to a very hot topic these days: Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) has been criticized for what seems like an eternity by those who fear that the arrival of its stores in many communities will hail the destruction of local shops and smaller competitors. However, almost everywhere Wal-Mart opens a store, customers vote with their collective wallets and make it a success.

Indeed, customers are flocking to Wal-Mart in droves during this recession precisely because it offers almost all the daily staples a standard consumer needs under one roof and with the lowest prices. In fact, Wal-Mart is about the only retailer in existence in the U.S. actually growing sales right now.

Welcome to the 99th installment of The Wal-Mart Weekly, a column dedicated to bringing you insight, wit, facts, results, opinions, and just a bit of everything else when it comes to a very hot topic these days: Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) has had a pretty good track record in clamping down on labor unionization inside its global contingent of stores. In North America, the retailer actually shut down the automotive department of a Canadian location after it unionized.

Will unions be able to ever crack the Wal-Mart barrier and sign up the retailer's employers to some kind of collective bargaining agreement? Wal-Mart's million-plus labor force would probably welcome union choice if it appeared in U.S. locations. The wages offered to many employees are not really in the realm of livable, and the retailer's critics have been extremely vocal about the company's growing sales and revenue -- even in this economy -- happening at the same time as employee wage stagnation.

Welcome to the 98th installment of The Wal-Mart Weekly, a column dedicated to bringing you insight, wit, facts, results, opinions, and just a bit of everything else when it comes to a very hot topic these days: Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) has been somewhat immune to the economic malaise in the U.S. for the past few quarters. While the competition has lowered sales forecasts and missed same-store sales numbers, Wal-Mart is growing its sales and recruiting bargain-seeking customers.

One could say that Wal-Mart is a safe haven for many U.S. customers who need to provide for themselves and their families at the absolute lowest cost. That does not mean the retailer is not watching its own bottom line, but it's nowhere near the world of hurt of a good portion of the retail landscape. But what about its operations outside the U.S.?

Welcome to the 97th installment of The Wal-Mart Weekly, a column dedicated to bringing you insight, wit, facts, results, opinions, and just a bit of everything else when it comes to a very hot topic these days: Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) has always been about customer choice. The retailer has risen from the backwoods of Arkansas to the largest company in the world by providing the largest selection of products with the lowest arrangement of prices.

Would Wal-Mart drop incredibly popular items from its shelves -- and ones that sit near every checkout line in almost all its U.S. stores? Sounds crazy, doesn't it? But, that is what has happened to many popular magazine titles, in what will really grate on the nerves of millions of customers in the coming months.

Welcome to the 96th installment of The Wal-Mart Weekly, a column dedicated to bringing you insight, wit, facts, results, opinions, and just a bit of everything else when it comes to a very hot topic these days: Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) gained a new CEO on February 1. Company veteran Michael Duke will now head the world's largest retailer and company. Having come fresh from Wal-Mart's international operations, it may seem curious that the retailer chose someone of Duke's background rather than someone in charge of North American operations, but, actually, it's not a surprise at all.

Wal-Mart's next phase of growth will definitely come from opening locations and expanding partnerships outside of the U.S. It's not that the U.S. is completely saturated with Wal-Mart and Sam's Club locations (although it may be close), but the quicker growth is not going to come from America. Far from it.

Welcome to the 95th installment of The Wal-Mart Weekly, a column dedicated to bringing you insight, wit, facts, results, opinions, and just a bit of everything else when it comes to a very hot topic these days: Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) continues to rack up sales as other retailers in general continue to see waning customer response and lower sales. This is not only due to the extreme downward turn the U.S. economy has taken recently, but those same customers are also flocking to anywhere that has the lowest price.

For category after category of products, Wal-Mart's reputation as a low-price leader has never wavered since its founding in the 1960s. Wal-Mart's "Save money. Live better" marketing slogan still hints at its status as "the discounter" of all discounters. It wants to save you money so you can spend it (of course) on other things that are important to you.

Welcome to the 94th installment of The Wal-Mart Weekly, a column dedicated to bringing you insight, wit, facts, results, opinions, and just a bit of everything else when it comes to a very hot topic these days: Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) is about to change CEOs for the first time in nearly a decade. H. Lee Scott, the Wal-Mart lifer who has been with the company through its largest expansion phase ever -- making it the largest retailer in the world -- is about to hand the reigns over to Michael Duke.

Scott has been both ridiculed and lauded at for his hand in the company. It grew fast under his watch, but attracted legions of problems during that time as well. As in many cases of rapid growth, Wal-Mart had as many disadvantages as advantages as a result. Scott's hand in both of these will go down in the annals of Wal-Mart history as a result.

Welcome to the 93rd installment of The Wal-Mart Weekly, a column dedicated to bringing you insight, wit, facts, results, opinions, and just a bit of everything else when it comes to a very hot topic these days: Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) was looked at during the last few months as the single retailer that would be able to weather tough economic times during a recession and during a holiday spending season that was supposed to be the worst in decades.

While the other discount retailers have fallen by the wayside in the last quarter in terms of sales, Wal-Mart was widely considered to have shone its discount price colors brightly and loudly. As of late last week, the numbers came in. And, while they weren't that pretty for Wal-Mart, the retailer did in fact show growth. Nevertheless, growth was not what "analysts" were expecting, and Wal-Mart's share price tanked 8% once the December numbers were released.

Welcome to the 92nd installment of The Wal-Mart Weekly, a column dedicated to bringing you insight, wit, facts, results, opinions, and just a bit of everything else when it comes to a very hot topic these days: Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) has tried and failed in recent times. Tried to recruit a new legion of shoppers who don't make purchases on price alone and who crave environment and customized, tailored shopping experiences. Throughout 2007, these shoppers leaned more and more towards competitor Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT).

The tide changed with the financial and housing industry collapses in 2008 that brought many industries and consumers to their knees. As Wal-Mart probably knew all along, the only thing most of the U.S. consuming public cares about is price (although not many will admit it). It's reaping the rewards of growth as consumers pinch every penny they can and avoid much of retail like the plague. That is, except Wal-Mart.

Welcome to the 91st installment of The Wal-Mart Weekly, a column dedicated to bringing you insight, wit, facts, results, opinions, and just a bit of everything else when it comes to a very hot topic these days: Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) has just settled a staggering amount of lawsuits, patching together 63 federal and state class-action suits under one umbrella for what could amount to a $640 million hit to the world's largest retailer. For a company that makes in excess of $10 billion in profit every fiscal year, that amount sounds like a pittance.

With one swoop, Wal-Mart ended almost all of its outstanding class-action lawsuits dealing with labor accusations of unpaid overtime and working during break times, among many other things. The settlement also comes just a few weeks after a massive settlement in Minnesota. Perhaps Wal-Mart wants to wrap as much as it can into 2008's bottom line? Wal-Mart will take a Q4 hit of $250 million for the collective settlements.

Welcome to the 90th installment of The Wal-Mart Weekly, a column dedicated to bringing you insight, wit, facts, results, opinions, and just a bit of everything else when it comes to a very hot topic these days: Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) has seen striking results in the last few months while the rest of retail flounders and predicts some kind of impending retail apocalypse. Consumers are spending less, credit is still tight and folks are losing their jobs in large numbers. But hey -- gas is at the cheapest level in five years.

Wal-Mart's success recently lies in the fact that it has never strayed from being known as the absolute low-price leader in retail (in perception, and in most costs reality). But, where has Target gone? Throughout 2007, Target was growing faster than Wal-Mart and it seemed the Minneapolis-based retailer was somehow beating Wal-Mart at its own retail game -- a chore very few retailers have managed to accomplish. Where do those efforts stand now, at the end of 2008?

Welcome to the 89th installment of The Wal-Mart Weekly, a column dedicated to bringing you insight, wit, facts, results, opinions, and just a bit of everything else when it comes to a very hot topic these days: Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) recently unveiled its "Operation Main Street" geared to help families have a decent Christmas without breaking the bank. While one look at the national U.S. economy can tell anyone that most Americans are not having issues tightening their financial belts, it's always good to see retailers helping out.

That is, if this is really what Operation Main Street is. Not wanting to falter on its quarterly numbers, the world's largest retailer has claimed it has saved American families $300 million so far this holiday shopping season, and intends to add another $100 million to that total through the holiday season that ends arguably two weeks from today, more or less.