The problem is that they usually go into fairly sparsely populated areas, drive all the other retailers out of business, at which point none of their customers have any money to buy much of anything, so they then go out of business at that location because they aren't making money anymore.

And it's not that the products are inferior, they're the same. They don't sell anything that's not manufactured and boxed by someone else. (Well, they do sell cheap and inferior clothing, I suppose.) There are claims against them that they dictate their price to their vendors and their vendors have to comply because Wal-Mart is 85% of their sales and they'll go out of business if they don't. Of course, they then comply and go out of business because they aren't making any money.

And most of the places in the US aren't like Europe as far as stores go. Usually the smallest place you can buy any sort of groceries is a supermarket, which comprises produce, butcher, baker (and candlestick-maker?), packaged goods, frozen goods, alcohol (of different sorts depending on the jurisdiction), dairy, and general goods, like households and toiletries. And seldom are they in any sort of walking distance at all. In most parts of the US, there are no walk-to-it stores of any nature.

God, I hate that. I'd love to have dedicated stores where I can get quality merchandise. There are a few upscale supermarkets, but that's about it, and they're usually pretty far away.

But, for the record, Wal-Mart sells mostly households and toiletries, but also cheap clothes, auto parts (but just oil, batteries, and the like, not head gaskets or anything) sporting goods, toys, sewing/craft items, DVDs, small entertainment electronics, cheap TVs, video games and consoles, some boxed foods, mostly snack foods, and some garden stuff. They also have Super Wal-Marts that sell the same thing, usually scaled back a little, plus a supermarket.