I had the chance to look inside a new Walmart neighborhood market on a trip out of town and it seems to be mostly just a small supermarket with competitive pricing. It was about the size of a Dollar General but with more cold cases (open ones at that, which are less energy-efficient) and less housewares and other variety.

Personally, I think Dollar General is a better discount one-stop shop but I think the point of this small Walmart (Smalmart?) is to give some competition to expensive rural supermarkets and drive down prices for consumers. So maybe rural consumers will at least benefit from lower prices.

Maybe if the big, expensive rural supermarkets are driven out of business by Smalmarts, their legacy will re-emerge as other, smaller supermarkets that compete with the Smalmarts, and those competitors will be positioned to service a smaller local area, which will make it easier for people to bike and walk to do grocery shopping.

Misplaced optimism or market trend?