Small grocers are hurting. My buying habits don't help
Time|September 25, 2023
EVERY WEEK, I GO ONTO WALMART'S WEBSITE AND order a bunch of groceries to be delivered to my house, and then feel a little bit guilty.
ALANA SEMUELS
Small grocers are hurting. My buying habits don't help

By shopping at Walmart, I am likely contributing to the demise of the independently-owned grocery store, which is disappearing across the country. But the prices make the choice easy. On a recent day, a 42-oz. tub of Quaker Oats was $9.99 at Key Foods and $5.68 at Walmart; a 500-ml bottle of California Olive Ranch olive oil was $14.49 vs. $8.37; and Rao's homemade tomato sauce was $9.99 vs. $6.88. These prices are one major reason Walmart captures 1 in 4 grocery dollars in America.

That may not last. These days, the U.S. government appears ready to listen to the argument that Walmart and other big chains including Dollar General, which is expanding at a rapid clip across the country, come by those prices unfairly because of their market power. There's a law on the books-1936's Robinson-Patman Act-that essentially says suppliers in any industry can't give lower prices and special deals to big chain stores if it costs the same to serve them as other stores. The law also says retailers can't bully suppliers into giving those discounts. But because Walmart and dollar stores are so huge, representing a big part of a supplier's business, they're able to extract deals and low prices from suppliers, according to Small Business Rising and the Main Street Competition Coalition, two groups of independent business owners making their case in congressional hearings and television ads. It's not just groceries; independent pharmacies, bookstores, auto-parts stores, and other types of retailers are also struggling on an uneven playing field, they say.

この記事は Time の September 25, 2023 版に掲載されています。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。

この記事は Time の September 25, 2023 版に掲載されています。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。

TIMEのその他の記事すべて表示
A timely thriller for a mad, mad world
Time

A timely thriller for a mad, mad world

A’70s-style paranoid thriller grounded in the partisan polarization of today

time-read
2 分  |
December 09, 2024
Freshwater reserves
Time

Freshwater reserves

A troubling dip

time-read
1 min  |
December 09, 2024
An exuberant ode to human possibility
Time

An exuberant ode to human possibility

VERY RARELY DOES THE RIGHT MOVIE ARRIVE AT precisely the right time, at a moment when compassion is in short supply and the collective human imagination has come to feel shrunken and desiccated.

time-read
3 分  |
December 09, 2024
Broadcasting a crisis for the world to see
Time

Broadcasting a crisis for the world to see

ON SEPT. 5, 1972, A 32-YEAR-OLD PRODUCER NAMED Geoffrey S. Mason was working in a control room for ABC Sports in Munich while 12 hostages, including several members of the Israeli Olympic delegation, were being held in a building nearby.

time-read
4 分  |
December 09, 2024
The Power of the Peer
Time

The Power of the Peer

WITH MENTAL-HEALTH CARE IN SHORT SUPPLY, CAN REGULAR PEOPLE FILL THE GAP?

time-read
7 分  |
December 09, 2024
QUEERING THE STORY
Time

QUEERING THE STORY

Luca Guadagnino directs Daniel Craig in an adaptation of William S. Burroughs' 1985 novella Queer

time-read
6 分  |
December 09, 2024
Shopping under the influence
Time

Shopping under the influence

LTK CO-FOUNDER AMBER VENZ BOX SAW THE FUTURE OF RETAIL. IT TOOK YEARS FOR THE REST OF THE WORLD TO CATCH UP

time-read
10+ 分  |
December 09, 2024
The Kingmaker
Time

The Kingmaker

Elon Musk's partnership with the President-elect

time-read
10+ 分  |
December 09, 2024
Turkey's Erdogan plots his next power grab
Time

Turkey's Erdogan plots his next power grab

RECEP TAYYIP Erdogan is a political survivor.

time-read
2 分  |
December 09, 2024
Why maiden names matter in the age of AI and identity
Time

Why maiden names matter in the age of AI and identity

IN THE DIGITAL AGE, A NAME IS MORE THAN JUST A label. It's tied to our professional history and social media presence.

time-read
2 分  |
December 09, 2024