Wal-Mart stores with old signage

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Andrew T.
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Wal-Mart stores with old signage

Post by Andrew T. »

Are there any Wal-Mart stores (or "Walmart," as they call themselves now) left in existence that haven't yet been remodeled, repainted, and re-signed with the 2008 "spark" logo?

The last one I knew of off-hand was the Supercenter in Chilton, Wisconsin that was updated at least one year ago, maybe two. During my last couple road trips, I noticed that some otherwise-quaint pre-Supercenter locations in Indiana and Missouri had been given new signs and a slathering of peach and tan. Do any stragglers still exist, or is Wal-Mart such a behemoth that they could afford to remodel 5,000 stores in half a decade without leaving a single stone unturned?
"The pale pastels which have been featured in most food stores during the past 20 years are no longer in tune with the mood of the 1970s."
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Re: Wal-Mart stores with old signage

Post by wnetmacman »

Andrew T. wrote:Do any stragglers still exist, or is Wal-Mart such a behemoth that they could afford to remodel 5,000 stores in half a decade without leaving a single stone unturned?
Walmart is such a behemoth.

They have made no secret that they are fully agents of continuous change. While I don't believe they've gotten everywhere yet, they have completed almost all of the upgrades on the signage.

You have to keep in mind this is a company that can take over at the end of store construction and start selling 4 weeks to the day later, from setting up shelving and equipment to stocking and signage. I've seen it. Walmart is more agile than most military organizations. They don't take lots of time on decisions.
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Re: Wal-Mart stores with old signage

Post by Andrew T. »

Whew! It makes your head spin.

Since the "spark" push got under way, some stores have even been updated more than once. One of the older Wal-Marts 'round these parts (in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin) was repainted and re-signed with the new logo early on, then it was expanded and renovated into the Supercenter format...so it was all change, two times in five years!
"The pale pastels which have been featured in most food stores during the past 20 years are no longer in tune with the mood of the 1970s."
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Re: Wal-Mart stores with old signage

Post by wnetmacman »

And to add to that, the opposite lack of change is what most analysts say happened to Kmart/Sears. 25 years later, there are still a couple of Red/Blue Kmart signs out there, while some stores have the new sign. Kmart is resistant to that change. When they rolled out the green stores in the midwest around Peoria, IL, it was stated that those stores 'would be too expensive to roll out nationwide, even if they could save the company'. Only once in the history of the company did they try to roll out to all stores, and even then they failed to reach 100% before it was time to start again.

Walmart was a much slower start than Kmart, with 18 stores by 1970 to Kmart's over 1000, but once they surpassed them (in the late 80's/early 90's), they have operated like this. There are even now a couple of Supercenters that have been replaced or expanded.
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Re: Wal-Mart stores with old signage

Post by pseudo3d »

For what it's worth, the Wal-Mart in Navasota, TX is still signed as WAL-MART (yes, with the dash, and not the star) as of a week ago.

The expansion of Wal-Mart was conservatively done. There's infographics out there that document the spread of the company (and Kmart as well), where Wal-Mart radiates out from Arkansas to the South and beyond, Kmart planted stores in urban areas, and poured all of the money from new store gains into more new store gains. By the time Wal-Mart surpassed Kmart in the 1990s, Walton's company had tons of money to build bigger stores across the United States to replace their existing stores, while Kmart simply did not have the money to do the same, even if their Supercenters weren't as nice as they were. In many ways the failures of Kmart and A&P are the harvesting of seeds of failure planted decades before.
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Re: Wal-Mart stores with old signage

Post by Super S »

For what it's worth, there are a number of stores that have not been converted to supercenters in my area. Most have simply received an outside repaint and new signage.

However, about a year ago, I drove through the town of St. Helens, Oregon, and noticed that the Walmart there still had the old signage AND building colors.

This location is somewhat odd. Although it is located on Highway 30, the BACK of the building faces the main road, possibly due to the fact railroad tracks run along here. It also is on a rather small lot that does not lend itself well to expansion, making me wonder if they plan to rebuild elsewhere. I have no idea what the store looks like inside though as I drive through this area once, maybe twice, in a year and have stopped in this town maybe three times in the last ten years.
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Re: Wal-Mart stores with old signage

Post by BillyGr »

pseudo3d wrote:For what it's worth, the Wal-Mart in Navasota, TX is still signed as WAL-MART (yes, with the dash, and not the star) as of a week ago.
Wonder if they would also leave a sign or two in use somewhere in case someone else were to try to use their design (particularly with the star in a name) they would have a way to claim it was still in use? Similar to the idea of the Standard Oil people leaving one station with that name in each area to prevent others from being able to claim it.
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Re: Wal-Mart stores with old signage

Post by wnetmacman »

BillyGr wrote:Wonder if they would also leave a sign or two in use somewhere in case someone else were to try to use their design (particularly with the star in a name) they would have a way to claim it was still in use? Similar to the idea of the Standard Oil people leaving one station with that name in each area to prevent others from being able to claim it.
The reason it was done with Standard was that when the Department of Justice broke them up, they were separated geographically, with each baby Standard allowed to operate in that area. During the late 40's/early 50's, Standard of New Jersey (Exxon) attempted to open several Esso stations in St. Louis, which was Standard of Indiana (Amoco/BP) territory. Standard of Indiana sued Standard of New Jersey due to this. This is part of the reason that you would later see Enco/Humble stations outside their territory, and Sohio made Boron outisde Ohio. Walmart doesn't need to do this, because they are all one company, and thus having different logos isn't a problem.
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Re: Wal-Mart stores with old signage

Post by BillyGr »

wnetmacman wrote:
BillyGr wrote:Wonder if they would also leave a sign or two in use somewhere in case someone else were to try to use their design (particularly with the star in a name) they would have a way to claim it was still in use? Similar to the idea of the Standard Oil people leaving one station with that name in each area to prevent others from being able to claim it.
The reason it was done with Standard was that when the Department of Justice broke them up, they were separated geographically, with each baby Standard allowed to operate in that area. During the late 40's/early 50's, Standard of New Jersey (Exxon) attempted to open several Esso stations in St. Louis, which was Standard of Indiana (Amoco/BP) territory. Standard of Indiana sued Standard of New Jersey due to this. This is part of the reason that you would later see Enco/Humble stations outside their territory, and Sohio made Boron outisde Ohio. Walmart doesn't need to do this, because they are all one company, and thus having different logos isn't a problem.
What I was thinking of is that, they leave one store with the logo with the star in the middle.
For some reason, Kmart decides to redo their logo with a star between the K and the Mart.
Now Walmart has a way to go after Kmart to keep them from using that star (and thus trying to make people think they are more like Walmart).
Something similar did happen in this area many years ago, where Toys r us went after a local chain that tried to use the R in a toy store, forcing them to spell out are instead of just the R.
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Re: Wal-Mart stores with old signage

Post by wnetmacman »

BillyGr wrote:What I was thinking of is that, they leave one store with the logo with the star in the middle.
For some reason, Kmart decides to redo their logo with a star between the K and the Mart.
Now Walmart has a way to go after Kmart to keep them from using that star (and thus trying to make people think they are more like Walmart).
2 reasons I don't see this: Kmart has always been styled as a single word, never two separate ones like Wal-Mart once was.
Second, Kmart hasn't even rolled out its CURRENT logo chainwide, which you'd think would have been easier since there are less stores.
BillyGr wrote:Something similar did happen in this area many years ago, where Toys r us went after a local chain that tried to use the R in a toy store, forcing them to spell out are instead of just the R.
I believe that would be something different. The R in Toys 'R' Us is specifically styled backwards and with quotes. Any store using like that would indeed be subject to a lawsuit. Use of a star has been pretty generic; had it not been, WMT and Macy's would have been after each other for years, as both use stars in their respective logos.
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Re: Wal-Mart stores with old signage

Post by Super S »

wnetmacman wrote:
I believe that would be something different. The R in Toys 'R' Us is specifically styled backwards and with quotes. Any store using like that would indeed be subject to a lawsuit. Use of a star has been pretty generic; had it not been, WMT and Macy's would have been after each other for years, as both use stars in their respective logos.
Don't forget Texaco, who had it in use long before Walmart.
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Re: Wal-Mart stores with old signage

Post by BillyGr »

wnetmacman wrote: 2 reasons I don't see this: Kmart has always been styled as a single word, never two separate ones like Wal-Mart once was.
Second, Kmart hasn't even rolled out its CURRENT logo chainwide, which you'd think would have been easier since there are less stores.
I really didn't have any particular chain in mind - Kmart was just an example, not that I would expect them to do it (for the reasons you noted).
Although one could say that they did separate it years ago, both with the red K followed by the mart in blue, plus at least some of the larger road signs had the K with the mart underneath.
wnetmacman wrote: I believe that would be something different. The R in Toys 'R' Us is specifically styled backwards and with quotes. Any store using like that would indeed be subject to a lawsuit.
Although I think they did start out that way, I seem to remember that they first tried changing to just a regular R (not the backwards one) and even that wasn't acceptable, thus the final change to spelling it out Are.
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Re: Wal-Mart stores with old signage

Post by winndixiepublix »

The Wal-Mart (not a Supercenter) in Abington, MD still using the 1992 (pre 2008) logo, Inside the store it has the 2006 decor.
The store hasn't been updated ever since.
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Re: Wal-Mart stores with old signage

Post by Andrew T. »

(Bumping up a six-year-old topic...)

Would Canadian stores count? On my travels through the wilds of northern Ontario, I've uncovered a few Wal-Marts off the beaten path that have evaded the post-2008 renovation train.

In Fort Frances, Ontario (across the river from Minnesota:)
ff-walmart.jpg
And in Kenora, Ontario:
ken-walmart.jpg
Both have been stopped in time since the early 2000s.
"The pale pastels which have been featured in most food stores during the past 20 years are no longer in tune with the mood of the 1970s."
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Re: Wal-Mart stores with old signage

Post by retailfanmitchell019 »

There is one with old signage I drove by in Rohnert Park, CA.
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