Wal Mart To Sell Sushi - Road to the Middle Class

AS IF WAL-MART didn’t have enough on its plate, what with every sushi-loving liberal sneering at its products and its shoppers and trying to unionize is employees, now Wal-Mart wants to sell sushi.

Its new Plano, Texas, store will be targeted at a higher income demographic, according to David Koening of Associated Press. The new store will come

with an expanded selection of high-end electronics, more fine jewelry, hundreds of types of wine ranging up to $500 a bottle, and even a sushi bar.

Of course, we all wish Wal-Mart the best in its new venture, but still, there’s a feeling of regret. Wal-Mart has come to represent everything that liberals love to hate, from its low prices to its limited employee “benefits” to its out-and-out bigness. And we conservatives loved Wal-Mart for that.

We loved it when Chicago told Wal-Mart to get lost, and Wal-Mart opened a store right across the city line in Evergreen Park. And we loved it that 23,000 people applied to work at that Wal-Mart store.

Of course, it isn’t going to be easy for Wal-Mart to go upscale.

"The challenge they face is value, and upper-end consumers define value differently than a moderate-income shopper," said Patricia Edwards, who helps manage retail funds for Wentworth, Hauser and Violich investment counselors.

The whole point of upscale shopping is that other people can’t afford it. It’s like the old story about a reporter asking J. Pierpont Morgan how much it cost to own his yacht, the Corsair. “If you have to ask, you can’t afford it,” replied America’s banker.

But perhaps Wal-Mart can prosper by selling upscale stuff cheap. That way people can show off their upscale loot to their upscale friends but fail to mention that they got it cheap at Wal-Mart.

But when we read that Wal-Mart is chi-chi-fying itself, well, something dies inside, that’s all.

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Christopher Chantrill blogs at www.roadtothemiddleclass.com. His Road to the Middle Class is forthcoming.

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