VIDEO: The Party Never Stops at Walmart

The time-lapse video below (via BuzzFeed) shows why Walmart is the most successful retailer (and company) on the planet. This 24-hour store is always busy, with handfuls of shoppers even carousing in the wee hours of the morning. When the bars close, it’s time to hit Walmart.
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ALSO: Office Depot: The Drumbeats of Doom are Pounding

Video: Rallying For Walmart?

Usually we’re used to seeing group protesting against Walmart entering their locale. But a large group of pastors and community leaders on the South Side of Chicago are doing just the opposite. Check out the link below.

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ALSO: Big Lots Makes Big Money — and Big Plans

Scary Map: Unemployment by County

The map below (courtesy of current) is a sobering, time-elapsed look at how counties were impacted by the unemployment picture. We wonder if the largest number of store closings are in the black areas on the map. Click below and see what you think.

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Map: McDonald’s Is Never a Far Drive

This map making the rounds on the Internet lately shows every McDonald’s in 48 of our 50 states. The people who made it, over at Weather Sealed, figured out that the two farthest McDonald’s from each other in the contiguous US are in southwest South Dakota — a 145-mile drive from each other.

VIDEO: Walmart Is Cheap

We all know that Walmart is known for its low-priced goods. And we’ve heard stories as well how Sam Walton, it’s billionaire founder, was famous for his thriftiness, driving around an old pickup truck. But we had no idea that the boardroom in the company’s headquarters looked like a public school’s teacher’s lounge. Click on the image below to check it out.

It’s part of the recent CNBC report, “The New Age of Walmart.”

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VIDEO: Simon on Buying GGP Malls

Simon Property Group CEO David Simon weighs in on possibly acquiring some of General Growth’s portfolio during a Bloomberg Television interview. “We’re a logical buyer,” he says. “There’s a lot we can do with those properties.”

Simon also says that the industry could see a recovery some time next year if job growth pics up. Click on the image below for the full interview.

Also, RIP Melvin Simon.

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Best Buy’s Commercials Are Dumb

We try not to let things get to us too much around here, but every now and then, the irritation takes over. Take, for example, stupid television commercials. We aren’t in the camp that hates every TV ad out there. In fact, we think many are pretty darn creative. But for some reason, this series of Best Buy spots makes us want to smash flatscreens with a sledge hammer.

What are their marketing people thinking? We want to show the world how great our customer service is, dudes. So lets put a geeky person in…THE MIDDLE OF A STADIUM! And we’ll have the stands full of a bunch of know-it-all robot-like Best Buy employees all dressed the same, loyally belting out answers to questions about electronics. Americans, even when they’re broke, love cute, stupid stuff like this. They’ll spend money for sure! Oh yeah, and we’ll call our Twitter feed “twelpforce.” Yuck. And why do they wait until the end of the thing to say that this is a Best Buy ad?

VIDEO: Retail Sales Don’t Mean Much Right Now

Strange things are happening in retail nowadays. Sales are way down and the economy isn’t improving much, but companies’ stocks are performing well. Click on the Barron’s video below for more details.
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Scantily-Clad Women Not Helping Carl’s Jr.?

It looks like, uh, suggestive commercials with Paris Hilton and Padma Lakshmi aren’t quite doing the trick for Carl’s Jr. The burger chain’s parent, CKE Restaurants, is having trouble in an environment where McDonald’s is thriving.

Jim Cramer of “Mad Money” talks to CKE’s CEO Andy Pudzer about the burger wars.

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Map: Number of Retail Stores by State

The National Retail Federation has put together an interesting map showing number of the retail stores, sales and jobs by state. For example, did you know that Utah has 23,249 employees in grocery and liquor stores? Well, now you do.