Saturday, May 31, 2008

New Walmart up here

Walmart just opened a new superstore in Woodsville, 25 miles from here. Driving back from White River Junction, I just had to stop and see what it offered. It's big, a supermarket joined onto a regular Walmart. The supermarket prices were no better than Mac's Market here in Franconia. The merchandise was about like Walmart's anywhere, low cost, adequate, but unexciting.
Had to wonder about the siting, so close to the Littleton Walmart. It's going to take business away from the Littleton store. Littleton is a reasonable location, right at an Interstate exit, in the commercial center of northern NH. Everyone up to the Canadian border comes down to Littleton to shop. Woodsville is on an obscure secondary road, in a tiny town. The only thing it has going for it is the Vermont border. Vermonters shop in NH 'cause we are a no-sales-tax state. Question, is this new store, only 25 miles from another Walmart, in a thinly populated rural area, going to increase Walmart sales over all, or it is merely going to rob sales from an established store? I'd love to see the internal Walmart studies of the profitability of the Woodsville site.

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