Welcome to the 88th 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 a bit of an enigma these days: it's riding out the terrible U.S. economy in fine fashion as it grows sales and beats profit expectations. This is in the midst of one of the worst economies we've seen in a generation by some accounts.

The easy answer given by most on why Wal-Mart is excelling is due to its prevailing image of the low-cost leader. When times are tough, consumers want bargains and goods for next to nothing more than ever. Wal-Mart is more than happy to fulfill that need after a few years of trying to recruit other customer groups. Now, more than ever, all customer groups are searching for bargains, not just the prolific penny-pinchers. But what about holiday retail sales?

Welcome to the 86th 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 a "fan website" of sorts. You know, the kind where raving customers and ardent fanatics of the world's biggest retailer can tell tales on how Wal-Mart saved their families with low prices and having everything under one roof.

Wal-Mart's critics are much more vocal about the retailer, however. From harping on about low-paying jobs to low-quality goods to employee treatment, it's not a rare event for Wal-Mart to be grilled on something 365 days a year. Regardless of any emotional or logical criticism about the retailer, the end-of-the-day results for Wal-Mart come packaged in how many customers it services consistently come back to shop. Let's take a look at that, shall we?

Welcome to the 85th 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 its share of ups and down in recent years. It has tried to change its strategy, brought more stores into its fold, had a hand at recruiting more customers from higher-margin spending segments and has eventually returned to its strength: supplying discounts on everything it sells to as many consumers as possible.

Where is Wal-Mart headed? Right now, in a straight line. I firmly believe that the world's largest retailer is in the best possible position to ride out the current global economic crisis better than any other company in any industry. Why? People won't stop eating and clothing themselves and their kids, while buying birthday cards and placemats. And, they want it as cheap as possible. Enter Wal-Mart.

Welcome to the 83rd 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 its stock price rise and sales rise as well in 2008. Even folks who would have shunned Wal-Mart just a few years ago as "beneath them" are seeking out bargains and looking for the sweet deal on everything from groceries to interior latex paint.

So, does it come as any surprise that Wal-Mart is seeing triumphs as the U.S. economy completely implodes? We're not even done yet, and layoffs mount daily as corporate earnings and vehicle sales take a huge nosedive. All the while, Wal-Mart is probably thinking it's living in some kind of alternate universe.

Welcome to the 82nd 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.

This week, let's try and jump-start some pre-holiday sheer and take a look at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) recent donation to nine regional food banks around the state of Michigan. The Wal-Mart Foundation gave a total of $75,000 last year to the same food bank collection, so this year's donation amount was quite stunning.

Dave Karr, Director of the Mid-Michigan food bank, stated that "We didn't know it was coming. Wal-Mart gave money last year, but not a donation of this size. Due in part to the donation, the Mid-Michigan Food Bank will be able to serve 75,000 meals this winter to those in need. With so many digging into Wal-Mart's business practices (including me), it's nice to see what good the company allows through its connections with foundations that do good.

Welcome to the 81st 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.

This week, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) closed the first shop in North America that had been completely unionized. Does this signal anything to other Wal-Mart locations that form a collective bargaining organization? Sure: form one and the retailer would rather see the operation shut down entirely instead of having employees with any kind of power.

That may sound harsh, but it has to be the feeling around a Wal-Mart tire and lube shop in Gatineau, Quebec, which was literally closed due to its unionization last week. What better a way to leave consumers in the lurch than to close up shop on something that brings in revenue even if its employees decide to stray from Wal-Mart's "non-union" stance in its retail locations.

Welcome to the 80th 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.

This week, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) is under fire for alleged major human rights violations in some of its Bangladesh factories. Although global manufacturers have often come under fire for slave labor conditions in PacRim-area factories, could this really apply to a retailer? After all, a retailer is a distributor, not a manufacturer.

In most cases, this is true -- but not when it comes to Wal-Mart. According to a SweatFree Communities report, Wal-Mart workers in Bangladesh were made to work 19-hour days while being paid $20/month. Sounds like a raw deal, so let's take a look.

Welcome to the 79th 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.

This week, let's take a look at how Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) may be trying to re-invent itself in some markets with a newer, smaller store format. Wal-Mart has dabbled in smaller stores before (like the Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market), but in general, they've been limited in product selection.

These newer launches, though, may be a competitive response more than Wal-Mart testing the small store format yet again. These new locations are marketed with the name "Marketside." They have no marketing connection to the Wal-Mart brand at all. This is indeed a difference, as Wal-Mart looks to be leveraging its immense retail power with a completely new brand. Can it work?

Welcome to the 78th 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.

This week, let's take a look at a major initiative by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) to cut down on the amount of plastic shopping bags it provides. Wal-Mart has made itself part of the "green" movement in recent years, from being the leader in sales of CFL-type lighting to natural-gas powered fleet vehicles to the sale of items made from recycled materials.

But still, it doles out tens of millions (that's a conservative estimate) of plastic bags every single month, most of which probably end up in landfills. In my area, plastic bags are not accepted as recycled even though there is the recycling mark on them. In some counties, only specific kinds of plastic are accepted for recycling. Thus, just making something recyclable does not mean it will be or can be. How should Wal-Mart assist in this effort? Read on.

Welcome to the 77th 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.

This week, I'll be taking a look at Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s (NYSE: WMT) policy on recalling products known to be dangerous to the public. Case in point: Blitz brand plastic gas cans with extendable spouts that can explode in the face of customers. I'm not kidding, folks. This week's topic is personal, since I own one of the offending products myself. And yes, I can see how this product could explode if not used carefully.

But what this is really about is Wal-Mart's refusal to pull this product from its shelves, even after hard evidence that the offending product caused severe burns on a small boy who, admittedly, was using the gas can outside its intended use. Is that any excuse for being disfigured as a result of an explosion from a gas container? You be the judge.

Welcome to the 76th 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.

This week, I'll be taking a look at Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s (NYSE: WMT) apparent unwillingness to lower gasoline prices along with the thousands of other price rollbacks on its store shelves. In fact, a possible price hike was on tap for the retailer's Murphy USA gas stations just last week in Texas as thousands of residents were urged to evacuate their homes as Hurricane Ike roared towards the U.S. shoreline in the Gulf of Mexico.

As oil barrel prices dropped last week and hurricane situation became worse and worse for South Texas, Wal-Mart gas stations saw a $0.12 per gallon price increase in less than 12 hours. On the day the official call was made for South Texas residents to flee their homes, gas was raised another $0.10 per gallon. While Murphy USA is the actual gas provider (not Wal-Mart itself), how could such a drastic increase in such a precarious position come to pass? The evacuating folks sure were not given a break on this one. In fact, the word "gouging" comes to mind. Was it really that severe?

Welcome to the 75th 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.

This week, let's examine Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s (NYSE: WMT) quality control practices with the products it carries. Specifically, those items which could cause bodily injury or death due to the result of an accident. Unfortunately, an infant product was recently blamed for at least two deaths. Yes, I'm referencing the bassinet deaths you may have read about recently. As recently as last Tuesday, this recalled item was still being found on Wal-Mart shelves -- at least four full days after being recalled by the manufacturer, Simplicity.

The story of two infant deaths and the recall occurred in mid-August. So, why was this item still found on Wal-Mart shelves? Is there any excuse? It seems pretty simple: 1) manufacturer has a recall, 2) the recall is communicated to all Wal-Mart stores ASAP, and 3) a manager expeditiously removes all recalled products from the shelves. How hard can that be? If it's more complicated than that, then Wal-Mart has a broken process for recalls. this time, even two days appears to be a simply unacceptable timeframe to implement a recall of this nature. So, what happened?

Welcome to the 74th 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.

This week, I'll be taking a look at whether Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s (NYSE: WMT) attempts to fend off unions in its stores can continue succeeding. With Labor Day occurring in the U.S. tomorrow, it seemed appropriate to delve a little into Wal-Mart's potential labor union situation in its U.S. stores based on small gains being made in Canadian Wal-Mart locations.

North of the U.S. border, there has been a successful attempt to unionize Wal-Mart workers in the province of Quebec. Although the location is small, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union sees it as an entry point into unionizing more Wal-Mart Supercenters in Canada.

With critics saying that the entry of Wal-Mart into many markets (if not all) has caused wages to go down and competition to deteriorate, the heat won't go down on Wal-Mart's fending off collective unions in its Canadian stores. And, when the heat gets hot enough, the UFCW and others will set their sights on U.S. locations -- the holy grail of organized labor potential if there ever was one. Wal-Mart isn't taking those threats lying down, and has even called meetings with U.S. managers to bring the upcoming Presidential election into the fray.

Welcome to the 73rd 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.

This week, I'll be taking a look at whether Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s (NYSE: WMT) earlier decision to bring its store managers together and tell them about the possible repercussions of a Democratic president violated federal election laws. Since presumptive Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama has now chosen veteran politician Joe Biden as his running mate, is Wal-Mart chewing its corporate fingernails off?

The Democratic National Convention begins today, so it will be interesting to see what comes out of it. Did Wal-Mart violate federal campaign election laws by having an "education session" with the leaders (and in turn, employees) of its national store locations? Let's see what national labor unions think. Read on.

Welcome to the 72nd 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.

This week, I'll be delving into Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT)'s decision earlier this year to jettison many hundreds of magazines from its shelves in order to thin out its reading offerings inside its stores. But, more importantly, what's going on regarding magazines in its Asda division in the UK? Is Wal-Mart trying to extend its reach just a bit too far? It tried similar tactics back in January -- so why again in August?

Ever since the 1990s, Wal-Mart has been a powerful force in American retailing as the Supercenter concept starting taking root in metro areas throughout the U.S. As the retailer became the dominant discounter, it brushed aside the competition just dirt under a rug.

Of course, along with powerful growth comes powerful opposition. I like to draw comparisons to Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), when it comes to Wal-Mart. Microsoft has its operating system that has standardized a complete personal computer industry under one umbrella and became the de-facto standard that, more than anything, revolutionized the computer industry. For Wal-Mart, its relentless pursuit of finding lower prices and passing those savings on to the consumer made it become the largest retailer in the world.