|
Wal-Mart won't brag
Local Wal-mart employs about 115 full and part-time staff by Nancy Gardiner
NNSL (July 23/97) - Although sales are good at the Yellowknife Wal-Mart store, no one is saying by how much.
Store manager Bill Abley says the rate of sale is good and products are being expanded where needed. But he can't comment on how this Wal-Mart compares in sales with others across Canada either.
At the head office in Mississauga, the same is true.
Edward Gould, corporate spokesperson in Toronto for Wal-Mart Canada Inc., says he can't divulge sales, profits or revenues for the Yellowknife store. But he does say: "We're very pleased with the performance of the Yellowknife store."
And he can say, that for the 137 stores in Canada, annual sales are estimated by analysts at $3.4 billion.
When Wal-Mart purchased 122 Woolco stores in 1994, there were about 35,000 products offered at each of the stores. After one year under Wal-Mart ownership, that figure doubled. Now, it's an assortment of about 85,000 products per store in Canada, including the Yellowknife store, says Gould.
Since 1994, the market share has doubled, taking Wal-Mart from 22 per cent to 44 per cent of the discount category.
And the number of employees has sprouted from 16,000 to 22,000 and growing. At Yellowknife's Wal-Mart, there are 115 employees, divided about equally between full and part-time staff. Ten stores are planned for opening this year in Canada.
Gould says the reason prices are kept low is that less is spent on advertising that by competitors.
More than 2,000 Wal-Mart stores are found in the United States. More can be found in Mexico and Puerto Rico. The newest countries on the list are Canada, China, Brazil and Argentina.
|