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Walmart's main theme is cheaper than anyone else. It achieves this by scales of economy, it buys in bulk and ships with company owned trucks domestically. Walmart is the biggest and smartest retailer-wholesaler-distributor ever conceived. They can view real time cash register readouts in any store, they can compute profitability on a item purchased in a 5 second window.
If Walmart raises their price because of fuel and products (plastics), and the U.S. consumer decides $6 a gallon gas is too much what happens to your neighborhood? I think people will bike, walk, or bus to the closest store. People will demand lower prices and local producers will fill the void by minimal to market transportation. Sounds crazy? Think micro-breweries and farmers markets.
Perhaps in the future with expensive fuel, house hunters will ask "Is it close to the store and are there sidewalks to school" and "Why is the 2 bike garage so big "?

I believe you are correct. Wally-world depends on drawing the masses from "car-dependent" distances. Already they are feeling the pinch as there is a decrease in customers in the past few weeks (read this in the paper the other day).

Only problem I see with your theory is that Wally-world has put many businesses out of operation (by under cutting them). Start up costs for small local businesses are going to be much higher than they used to be, especially when you consider that transport must come to them at more locations than a regional Wally-worlds. It ain't going to be pretty.

x-mart should really start entering the housing market... they could buy land around their stores and build subdivisions. it'd put the consumer closer to them, they have a new income stream from construction and they certainly have the leverage to deal with zoning and permit issues.

besides... subdivisions are pretty much the same sort of mentality as big-box retailing, right?

Start supporting your local farmer's markets now. The more customers they have now, the better they will be able to handle the necessary increase in customers soon to come.

Local farmer's markets are our past and our future. Be a trend re-setter!

Where I live, there's a farmer's market on Saturday, a farmer's market a couple of major streets over that's open all the time, and downtown where the saturday farmer's market is, they're starting to have what I call "Wednesday Night Vegetables" which is another farmer's market, and a band, wed. nights. Not bad.

Shhhhh! this may not be all that far fetched...Wally-world would then put construction companies out of business.

Thats a very good--if evil--idea.

Sorry guys. I hate wal-mart and all, but the end of oil won't stop the world as we know it. The rich-and-powerful of the world won't let a little thing like lack of oil bring us back to an agrarian, communalist utopia, unfortunatly. There will be a big economic depression. People will lose their jobs, be stuck in the suburbs unable to buy food, etc. Then we'll go to war with somebody, and the economic stimulus of the war will cause massive investments in nuclear plants, which will of course be located in low-income and minority neighborhoods. This is America.

This nuclear energy will be used, among other things, for splitting water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen for hydrogen fuel cells. Hummer Hydro (R) anyone? Any while we won't be burning gas and making CO2, who knows what all that water vapor will do to the climate...

walmart means minimum wage for the whole community.....but if they cant afford to run their rolling warehouses without raising prices, walmart could be in trouble....that and people might realize they sell crap

The premise is that Wall-Marred depends on distant shoppers. This is becoming less and less true, at least where I live. In something like 5 years 4 WalMarts have sprung up in my immediate neighborhood where there used to be none. Gosh, what did we ever buy *before* WM ? The nearest one is like a mile and a half away. Even at $10 gas, people can drive that far.

WM thrives because its an employer's market out there. There was a news item about thousands of people showing up to apply for work at a new WM -- with only 400 positions to fill.

"There will be a big economic depression. People will lose their jobs, be stuck in the suburbs unable to buy food, etc."
-genericbikedude

I think the 'hope through economic depression' thing is based on the idea that usually being 'down and out' makes one appreciate things more, and puts things in a well-needed, different perspective.

Although I somewhat agree with the rest of your paragraph, I think you are underestimating the world's reliance on oil. (especially the united states)

I hate Walmart!

On the other hand . . . Nobody sells more bicycles.

wal mart bicycles should be melted down to make beer cans, or welded together to make fences

Good one.

I want to say that if Walmart can't make money on fruits and vegatables, they'll simply turn to something else like guns and bullets which you'll need if all the oil runs out! Walmart's savings does NOT come from this fictional "scales of economy" but from not having to pay health insurance to it's workers. New York City just passed new legistation forcing major retailers with "X" number of employers must provide adequate health insurance to it's workers. Guess what? Walmart decided it's not coming after all.

This is a company that's making BILLIONS in profit each year and they don't want to give health insurance to it's employees but some expensive Mickey Mouse policy that few of the workers can afford unless they intend to work for heath insurance.

people might realize that they BUY crap. you can't account for taste. Do you honestly think that Wal-Mart would try and sell it if it sat on the shelves and collected dust?

I've read recently that Walmart's 'cheap as possible' approach might be starting to back-fire. The high turnover rate (50%) a year and other issues might be compromising their efficiency and customer satisfaction. Their recent ad campaign trying to present themselves as a 'moral' company is a joke. I hope people don't fall for it.

I was concentrating on the prior level to store shelves, wholesale. Or another way to think of it - nobody makes disposable diapers in Oakland. People have enough gas to get to the store, but does Walmart have enough to truck/ ship it from Malaysia? This could be the end of the $6 hair dryer we sold our downtowns for.

I disagree. In a fifteen minute drive from here there are three superwalmarts. One I can walk to in less than three minutes. If their business was only car dependent why wouldn't they consolidate to one central location and save on overhead?

Where do I get my Produce in winter then? LOL

...from the fruit you canned during the growing season.

And how are you going to get cans if there is no oil to transport them? Start mining landfills!

I was actually talking about glass jars, but whatever. There is so much excess crap already in existence locally (ex. my old lady has tons of old glass jars and whatnot packed away/laying around) that worrying about shiney new jars, cans, etc. being transported in from some faceless corporation with the purpose of being sold at what "the market dictates"will be a fleeting thought (speaking for myself and those close to me, I suppose).....and mining toxic landfills actually might not be choice for some in the coming decades.

Oh sure...everyone has enough land to do that.

And by the way fresh produce is much better LOL

I really can't see myself doing a lot of canning either, but it is economical and feasible. The produce store I go to has bushel baskets of beans, peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, peaches, apples . . . whatever . . . for three or four dollars. Beautiful stuff for probably 10 cents a pound. I wish I wasn't too lazy to get out and can that stuff. Home canned food is a lot better than the canned stuff you buy in the supermarket.

Their slogan is actually "Always Low Prices - Always."

We may tend to read it as "Lowest" rather than "Low" which may be their intent. It is not however, what they actually say.