Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) has been alone as a shining retail star in the recent economic recession. Consumers flocked to every possible bargain they could in every industry, and Wal-Mart cleaned up in retail with its bargain basement pricing on everything from toilet paper to car batteries to Doritos.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) has been improving its consumer electronics sections in stores for some time now as a way to better compete with national retailer Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY). Best Buy has, from what I have seen, been way more aggressive in laptop PC pricing for at least a year.

When Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) changed its corporate slogan from "Always Low Prices" to "Save Money. Live Better" over a year ago, little did the retailer know that a recession would pour many new customers into its doors for bargains. With millions of families still strapped for cash, the retailer is still booking green at a time when many retailers are seeing red on the bottom line. The question, then, becomes this: can Wal-Mart retain its newer customer legions once the economy returns to normal (whatever normal is)?

When Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) joined up with India's Bharti a few years back to bring the world's largest retailer to India, it probably thought things through very well. Of course, entering huge markets like India and China was a no-brainer for Wal-Mart, after failing in markets like South Korea and Germany. Little did Wal-Mart know that violence would someday delay its grand opening in India.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) has been having some rosy fiscal months and quarters recently as cash-strapped shoppers continuing piling in their stores while abandoning the competition. Not that the parade has stopped for the world's largest retailer, but for the month of March, reality finally set in a bit.

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.

Although Wal-Mart has customized certain sections of its stores in recent years to attract certain shopper demographics, the largest retailer in the world is going a step further. It plans to convert two of its Neighborhood Market grocery stores into food locations specifically targeting Hispanic shoppers. The markets: Phoenix and Houston.

Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY) has seen its largest rival, Circuit City, go down forever. Now that the competitor is completely gone, a new arch-rival -- Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) -- wants to step up the competition in a price war that it controls. So Best Buy wants to amp up the competition not with price, but with something more.

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.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) may be trying to become more shopper-friendly by having fresher produce available. That's right -- no more wilted lettuce and aged apples, my friends. One of the ways food retailers can really differentiate themselves is by having fresh food available that actually looks fresh. To that effect, Wal-Mart will be marketing its produce sections soon to advertise that its stores really should be a choice for more American shoppers.

The funny thing is that Wal-Mart is already grabbing more and more shopper dollars as consumers tighten wallets and purses and trade down from more expensive retailers to Wal-Mart's shelves. It's one of the only retailers actually growing sales month to month and is surviving the recession pretty much intact so far. This latest effort will ensure that it doesn't lose any customers, and may even help recruit new ones.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) will hook up with PC maker Dell, Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) to enable physician offices across the U.S. to have electronic health record availability. It will also sell data information management systems to clinics and doctor's offices in cooperation with Dell. In other words, Wal-Mart may be planning to expand beyond traditional retail and into health care. Again.

There's been no shortage of heartstring-jerking reports from the current economic crisis -- seniors whose retirement accounts have been wiped clean; families relocating from homes to motels; MBAs forced to wear their resumes on sandwich boards.

However, in my humble opinion, today's news might be the most pathetic: Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization that produces the classic Sesame Street TV show, is slashing 20% of its 355-member workforce.

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.