Will move to urban communities next.
Concerned by “dwindling returns,” Wal Mart will scale back new store openings in the coming year while it figures out how to adapt its rural-community-destroying-model to effectively destroy the economic vitality of major urban areas as well.
BIG-CITY PUSH
Richard Hastings, retail analyst with Bernard Sands, said the slowdown comes as 44-year-old Wal-Mart faces a maturing home market and sets its sights on major urban areas, where both costs and community opposition are higher.
“They’ve run out of the kinds of rural and suburban inexpensive lease locations that they enjoyed for so many years,” Hastings said.
Wal Mart stock rose 2 percent on the news.