Idea for Wal-Mart: Bring back a few vintage 1970’s “throwback” stores throughout the country.
I grew up in the 70’s and 80’s and part of my childhood entertainment included walking to the local arcade named “Fun Spot” and going to Wal-Mart in Branson, Missouri which was located next door.
I’ll have to do more research, but believe it was store #32.
Anyway, back then the stores were smaller and simpler, perhaps a little bigger than the Neighborhood Markets they have today.
I remember a lot of wood paneling and colorful streamers in and outside the store. Balloons and signs with the latest sales.
When video games were popular in the 80’s it was common for kids to immediately go to the Atari video game display in the electronics/music department.
If someone else was playing on the Atari, you could browse the latest vinyl records to see if a new KISS album had been released yet.
The best part had to be the Red Light Specials that would take place randomly. They would be announced over the intercom and a little cart with a red siren would be placed at a location in the store.
A manager or associate would then begin pushing whatever products they had for sale and usually it would cause a frenzy of activity.
Ahh… good times!
So, if anyone at Wal-Mart is listening, please consider this idea.
Test it out with one location and see what happens. The media attention alone would likely be worth it.
Open up a “throwback” 1970’s Wal-Mart store that looks just like they did back in the glory days, complete with streamers, balloons, red light specials, wood paneling etc.
I would probably shop there regularly and pretty sure many other customers would as well. 🙂