Current Date and Time:Wednesday, March 10th, 2010
Date: November 24th, 2009I went to Sam's Club over the weekend; the parking lot was so full of vehicles that I had to park about a quarter of a mile away. Whilst strolling through the parking lot, I noticed that every 5th vehicle was a Prius and every 4th vehicle was a hybrid Lexus SUV. And nearly every vehicle had a "Yes We Can" sticker attached to it. I couldn't help but chuckle, 6 years ago I walked through the same parking lot and all I saw then were pickup trucks and domestic mini-vans adorned with National Rifle Association stickers.
One of my favorite things to buy at Sam's Club is ... wine, yup, VINO! The wine value at Sam's is phenomenal but without the exorbitant prices like at those pretentious – posh stores. And as luck would have it, the wine aisles was full of Prius / hybrid Lexus driving – milky white thighs that I saw shopping at those pretentious – posh stores a couple of years ago. Except this time, they did not have their pompous, hypocrite noses in the air. In fact, they seem rather embarrassed to be seen shopping at Sam's, the lot of them.
So after picking up a case of my favorite Pinot, I headed for the sporting goods department to pick up some bulk .22 ammunition. To my amazement , the usual flannel and work boots crowd was replaced with Jimmy Choo and Prada adorned milky white thighs. Actual conversation I overheard at the ammo counter:
While waiting in the longer than usual check-out line, I noticed people holding keys with the little Costco card attached to it. How ironic. I guess they were at Sam's to stock up on Coke.
In all the years that I've shopped at Sam's Club, my guesstimate is that half of the people that shop here hasn't realized that Sam's Club is owned by Wal-Mart. I don't know if they are in denial or what, but what I do know is that the checkout lines are much too long and there are hardly any parking spaces left.
A company for and of the people, during a recession that is. Costco cannot touch Wal-Mart's (WMT) numbers. Target? Please. The deeper
we sink into this recession, the more valuable WMT becomes. Conversely, if there are signs of recovery, then WMT will
trade at a lower price. Recession or no recession, WMT is still an easy and juicy whipping boy for Greeniks,
Pajamaviks, and phony Republicans that are nothing more than a bunch of nannyist liberals in disguise. I personally
like WMT a lot if it's trading at around $47 per share.
~Huy Nguyen
Steve Jobs is overrated as a CEO. Imperial hubris is detrimental to emperors and corporate executives.
Unfortunately for Apple shareholders, Jobs never learn this lesson. Instead of spending the company's money on
those silly, condescending anti-Microsoft commercials, he should've allocated that
money to research and development on products that's priced more appropriately during
period of economic recession. Jobs would like Apple investors to believe that Microsoft
is Apple's only competition. Well, here's a dose of reality: Intel processors now power
Macintosh computers which runs Microsoft software (Intel was once an Apple arch
rival). And one more thing, walk into any electronic store and look at the dozens of iPod
clones for sale. Oh how the mighty has fallen.
Starting tomorrow the 3G iPhone will be sold in Wal-Mart stores. I spent about an hour today at Apple Inc's official website,
there was absolutely no mentioning of this fact whatsoever. Wal-Mart, on the other hand, proudly announced the iPhone deal on
December 23rd. (By the way, the iPod has been sold in Wal-Mart for several years now.) This is not some great marketing plan
by Mr. Jobs, this is, in fact an act of attrition, more like desperation really. Oh how the mighty has fallen.
While the Apple cachet has certainly lost a lot of its luster, this is just another feather in the cap of Wal-Mart. This deal
is further proof that Wal-Mart is the Julius Caesar of the retail world. Wal-Mart stock holders will continue to be rewarded
during this recession while Apple investors suffers at the hands of Apple's executive mis-management team.
~Huy Nguyen
| Purchased Price | Current Price |
|---|---|
| 42.00 | 54.00 |
