Many appreciate the pointer the the charcoal. But, look, there's thread drift. It isn't a problem. Discussion about Wal-mart in a thread about a product at Wal-mart is fine. This is a discussion site.

Hi- I was just in the new Walmart on Touhy in Skokie to look at microwaves. I did not like what they had, but I also spend some time looking in the grocery section. One thing I noticed was that there is a sizable kosher section in the store. I don't know how comparable the prices were to the Jewel on Howard. They had Aaron's whole chicken for I believe $3.48. Their produce section left a lot to be desired. A lot of the stuff looked old, and I did not think the prices were that cheap. I know people who go to Walmart though, and do price matching on their produce. They had a fair amount of customers there, and especially considering there is another Walmart only two miles away further down on Touhy I think I was pleasantly surprised about was thatthey had plenty of checkouts open, and there was no line., and I did not have a problem finding a parking space. I was kind of dismayed in that I saw lots of people with their carts full of food, when the prices weren't that great, and the produce was subpar. All I ended up getting was a box of swiss miss cocoa. They have a new variety of swiss miss cocoa, which only consists of five ingredients, and does not have any artificial sweetners. The regular swiss miss now has artificial sweetener in it.

They have one lane of McCormick closed off at Oakton, and I did not realize it, and I did not get over in the other lane when I should have, and so I just turned right on Oakton, and then went over to Crawford, where they had half of Crawford dug up. When I left the store I drove to an exit where you had to make a right hand turn, and so I ended up on Crawford again.

I then went to Best Buy to look at microwaves, and the one that I was considering was an LG, and it was smaller inside that the LG I have right now which just died on me after three years. I've got to figure out if it will be large enough, and of course the sale ended yesterday. I almost considered getting an open box Sharp because they had a 10% coupon off all open boxes, but then the employee waiting on me, told me that the microwave had been sitting in the store for a year, which kind of turned me off. If they would have offered to mark it down to $50, I might have considered it, but it was $95, when a newer model was $98.

I then went to the Jewel right next door to Best Buy on Howard, and by then the sabbath was over, and so they had a ton of customers in the store, and they did not have enough cashiers. I kind of doubt that many of the people that keep kosher, will start going to Walmart to buy their groceries. Hope this helps, Nancy

NFriday wrote: .... They had Aaron's whole chicken for I believe $3.48.

Jewel has Aaron's Kosher chickens for for $2.99 a pound -

It looks like a typical supercenter, but Wal-Mart Stores is stocking some extras at its new Skokie location: foods ranging from Paskez brand candy to Shor Harbor glatt kosher meat.

Aiming to appeal to observant Orthodox Jews who live nearby, Wal-Mart is carrying several hundred kosher items, more than any other Wal-Mart in the country, managers said.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ ... story.html

Hi- I personally think the Jewel on Howard has anything to worry about. While I was in Walmart it was still Sabbath though, and then I went to Best Buy to look at microwaves, and finally I ended up at the Jewel on Howard at 8:00. Sabbath was over by then, and at least half the customers in the store were orthodox, and they were doing lots of business. It seems like Jewel did their homework, and found out what would attract Orthodox Jewish families to the store, where as for Walmart their Kosher section was just an after thought. Jewel has a separate kosher deli, bakery, and meat department which are not open on Sabbath. They also have a kosher take out Chinese food section. Jewel also has an Orthodox Jewish person who is in charge of their Kosher sections to make sure that everything is done correctly, and it sounds like Walmart does not. I question whether Walmart's prices are as good as Jewel's are anyway on their Kosher items..

NFriday wrote:Hi- I personally think the Jewel on Howard has anything to worry about. While I was in Walmart it was still Sabbath though, and then I went to Best Buy to look at microwaves, and finally I ended up at the Jewel on Howard at 8:00. Sabbath was over by then, and at least half the customers in the store were orthodox, and they were doing lots of business. It seems like Jewel did their homework, and found out what would attract Orthodox Jewish families to the store, where as for Walmart their Kosher section was just an after thought. Jewel has a separate kosher deli, bakery, and meat department which are not open on Sabbath. They also have a kosher take out Chinese food section. Jewel also has an Orthodox Jewish person who is in charge of their Kosher sections to make sure that everything is done correctly, and it sounds like Walmart does not. I question whether Walmart's prices are as good as Jewel's are anyway on their Kosher items..

You touched on 2 good points, Walmart has scale but they don't do any significant volume in niche Kosher products. In addition, it's not just about the Kosher label it's about the products themselves and without a buyer that understands the needs of the community they're just taking a scattershot approach. Jewel is a store within a store. If Mariano's hopes to compete they'll need to take the pulse of the market, which so far, they've done pretty well.

This discussion reminds me of a visit to the Walgreen's on Oakton near Skokie Blvd last spring when they had a Passover endcap display with a couple of matzoh-related novelty items, a plastic Seder tray and generic white paper napkins and paper plates. That buyer wasn't even phoning it in.

I was in the Wal-Mart near McCormick a couple of weeks ago, and I was surprised to see as many "observant" people as I did.
It is not like there is anything on their shelves to bring people who observe Kashrut into the store - I am thinking for many of those people - it was a trip just to analyze if there is enough there to warrant a second trip.
I can not imagine a corporation like Wal-Mart having the smarts to have buyers tend to the needs of the people in that specific demographic - (it is more complicated than it appears at the surface.)
However, if Mariano's is going to build a store in that area (I think that is what I read) - they are a local company who absolutely could tailor their shelves in that store. As a Dominick's customer all my life, I am offended by the lack of products on the shelves at Mariano's during the various Jewish holiday times. At the Northfield store, all the products about which I am speaking seemed like an afterthought, delegated to the back of the store. While I do not think anyone can ever compete with the Howard Jewel in this realm, it would serve any store's bottom line if the management used their brains and stocked their shelves a bit differently than most of their other stores.
While not the same topic, I want to note - the Sam's in Evanston, very close to that same area, fails miserably with having food items with a hechsher, while Costco, just a few miles to the west has an abundance of the same.

jilter wrote:At the Northfield store, all the products about which I am speaking seemed like an afterthought, delegated to the back of the store. While I do not think anyone can ever compete with the Howard Jewel in this realm, it would serve any store's bottom line if the management used their brains and stocked their shelves a bit differently than most of their other stores.

The Glenview store has an "expanded" Kosher section. While it's still just a sliver of what Jewel offers it shows that they're at least thinking about it. The McCormick and Touhy location should be larger still but whether it can compete with Jewel remains to be seen.

jilter wrote:I can not imagine a corporation like Wal-Mart having the smarts to have buyers tend to the needs of the people in that specific demographic - (it is more complicated than it appears at the surface.)

I think a lot depends on the store manager at the local level. They do have a certain (though small) amount of autonomy. If they can show the corporate overlords in Arkansas that a particular SKU will sell well, than they will let him/her have at it (as long as a supplier can be found willing to supply the quantities needed at a price Wal-Mart is willing to pay).

Hi- I know that there are a lot of Walmart haters here, but when I was on their website today, I noticed that Walmart and Walmart Foundation are going to fund a program over the next five years that will promote racial equality. They are committing $100 million dollars to the program.


https://corporate.walmart.com/newsroom/ ... ial-equity

Corporate capitalism is the main economic structure upholding systemic inequality - which fuels racism - so it is very much in Walmart's and any other large corporation's interest to make some sort of gesture towards incremental change at this time, to hopefully shift focus away from a complete dismantling of the current status quo they helped create and that their continued profitability relies on. True equality and the corporate capitalistic system we now live in are two mutually exclusive objectives and that is by design.

It does sound nice to hear that Walmart is donating all this money, but I doubt the company would deliberately contribute to anything that threatens its own self interest, which, as has been aggressively documented for decades, is to maintain the status quo of inequality and corporate rule.

And I'm saying this as someone who lives, works, and consumes within this system. It's impossible to escape until the system itself is either replaced or changed in drastic and meaningful ways.

Hi Nancy,

I have been critical of Wal Mart in the past. While $100,000,000 to do good in the world is a lot of money in absolute terms, Wal-Mart generated about $12,000,000,000 in profit last year, and the personal wealth of the Walton family is variously estimated between $150 and $200 billion. This donation, which is being spread over five years, is less than 1% of a single year’s earnings.

What would impress me: board seats for workers, adding black board members and upper management with a history of implementing anti-racist policies, plus just about any/everything on this list, but especially 4, 6, and 8:

Harvard Business Review | 10 Commitments Companies Must Make to Advance Racial Justice

Hi- All the Walmarts in Chicago are still closed, but the ones in Niles and Skokie that were only open 9:00-5:00 starting last week, are now open again until 8:30. I had a bad experience recently with Walmart, and it reminds me why I do not like Walmart.