[lbo-talk] Gas prices 2nd highest level ever

[Eugene Vilensky]

> Is Wal-Mart saying this is so enough to make it true? Why would Wal-Mart lag the retail
> average because of gas prices? Why wouldn't Target? I don't doubt that gas prices have an
> effect on retail sales but why would Wal-Mart be disproportionately hit?
> 
> When gas prices rise people do less distance driving and sometimes combine trips a bit more
> efficiently than they might otherwise but would they be less likely to buy a widget or groceries
> at Wal-Mart than elsewhere? Unless it is because Wal-Mart's have tended to cluster at the
> peripheries of cities and are less convenient than other places?

Their core customer is overwhelmingly poor?