...plus darn near EVERY company in the world wants Walmart as a customer. So they will bend over backwards to sell to Walmart. This means taking less profit just to be in business with them.

I guarantee you that if Walmart approaced Chrome Bags, Surly, or any other small brand and said we would like to place an order for 500,000 units...for this year maybe more next..., they would say "HELL FREAKIN' YEAH. FORGET STREET CREDIBILITY. I can buy all kinds of street cred now that I own a multi-million dollar company!"