From the little town of Bentonville, Arkansas to the whole world, Walmart is now the #1 retailer in the world. Walmart is a giant and it has a very successful concept, with good prices and bright, large stores located near the customers. It has been a very profitable company and it had sales growth time and time again with an ever increasing footprint in the U.S. and the world. A true american success story!

However, that success came with the lost of many other retailers. Sure, many of them were not in good financial shape, some were totally outdated, some had no strategy to face competition.

Some people said that Walmart strategy was to build a store in any city that already had some discount stores, hardware store and others, and open with very low prices, even lower than the «everyday low prices». The competitors then could not follow the pace and were compelled to close. After everyone is gone, they would simply raise the prices a little bit each month until they can regain what they probably lost in their long «opening sale». It's one of the possibility, is it true or not? One thing is sure, their strategy, whatever it is, gave results.

The retail world has changed a lot in the past 25 years. Walmart is a major element in the way retail has evolved. When I was younger, my idea was that Walmart caused the end of every other discount chain. It's true in a way but other things caused these bankruptcies. In recent years Walmart has become the national leader in the industry. Meanwhile, specialized retail chains opened stores everywhere: Best Buy, Linens'n Things, Office Max, A.C.Moore, Petco, Barnes & Noble, Bed Bath & Beyond, Dick's Sporting Goods, Circuit City, and smaller stores like Old Navy, Payless Shoes and Famous Footwear. These companies are operating large stores, have a large selection and a big buying power in their own category. That, plus Walmart, Target and Kohl's is another reason of the demise of many full-line regional discount stores. The marketplace is very competitive, you have to find a very distinctive niche because there is room for only two or three leading stores in each category. Then there's online sales and new giants like Amazon.