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In another 2 years, the supers will be decimated unless they get their labor costs under control now.

I doubt that. For one thing there is no place to build "Super Wal-Mart's" in metropolitan Los Angeles. You can't even build a decent grocery store there. For another thing they face vastly more competition here then they do in other states. I am sure they will do alright, but the Safeway CEO's predictions of Wal-Mart World Domination are vastly exaggerated in my opinion.

For one thing there is no place to build "Super Wal-Mart's" in metropolitan Los Angeles. You can't even build a decent grocery store there. For another thing they face vastly more competition here then they do in other states.

Perhaps not Super Walmart, but they may be able to find a place for a Sam's Club or a BJ's Club. There are lots of people who will change their shopping patterns in exchange for significant savings on large-quantity items. We tend to make trips to BJ's once a month, stock up on non-perishable and frozen items, and go to the local supermarket just for meat, milk, and bread

Well, if you are talking about downtown LA, I would agree. However, if you consider the San Fernando Valley, and plenty of other parts of LA, the space is available or it can be acquired.

We are not just talking Wal-Mart superstores. There is also Costco and Sam's Club (owned by Wal-Mart). Both currently are here, and both are beating the supers. However, both do not carry the full line of groceries a super does, but the Wal-Mart superstores do.

I can tell you that in the Coachella Valley, (Palm Springs area), one Wal-Mart superstore just opened, and two more are about to be built, (Palm Desert and Palm Springs). The CEO of Jensens Market, a local upscale supermarket chain, has already stated that Wal-Mart superstores will force the closing of several valley supermarkets.

This is what has happened in the Southeast US. The major supermarket chains have taken a beating from the Wal-Mart superstores, and they have had to close a significant number of their stores. I have read where prices in Wal-Mart are 20 to 30 percent below the supers.

Wal-Mart has plans to open numerous stores in CA. This is a matter of survival for the supers. The handwriting is on the wall for them. Shoppers are fed up with the ridiculously high prices in these stores. Money talks, and people will walk and shop elsewhere when given the chance.