Niche Stores Won't Help Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart (WMT) is thinking of opening a number of high-end stores, focusing on the grocery business. According to The Wall Street Journal "one idea calls for urban convenience stores less than a tenth of the size of the company’s supercenters."

The stores may end up being a great success and they may get a toe-hold for the company in some large cities that will not allow Wa-Mart’s massive SuperCenters.

But, the take management’s focus of the real problem-Wal-Mart sales in the US have flattened. For a company with $86 billion in quarterly revenue, even hundreds of smaller stores are not a drop in the bucket.

Wal-Mart needs to stick to the knitting.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Nuc