Comments on: Changes Afoot to Wal-Mart’s Shelving of Books?

By: Dirk

Dirk — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 03:25:09 +0000

Why is there an African American section to begin with in Wal-Mart. Where is the white American section, or the Jewish section. All they are doing is making things worse by segregating like that. Not only that, but they have put the Obama book in the other section. He is black is he not?

By: Cobus van der Merwe

Cobus van der Merwe — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 19:52:01 +0000

I will be honored if you would look at my books on the web.

Sincerely

Cobus.

By: AnnieK

AnnieK — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 02:20:40 +0000

I would like to know if Wal*Mart stocks the Christian Book section according to what part of the country you are in. I live in North Florida, a conservative area and there are tons of Christian books. Not only shelved with the other fiction but a lot of stand alone displays too.

Is this standard for WalMart? I usually buy my books online or in other towns, near the beach which offer a more “secular” selection.

By: Marie-Nicole Ryan

Marie-Nicole Ryan — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 13:42:13 +0000

I buy the majority of my books from Amazon.com or directly from the publisher if it’s an ebook. My WalMart book buys are occasional impulse buys only.

By: XandraG

XandraG — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 13:18:38 +0000

What I find telling is that the sf/f section has been expanded and moved to the forefront where the romance genre had been for so long. Could it be that the romance genre may be slipping from its premiere position within the industry?

Probably not. SF/F includes movie, TV, and video game tie-ins–our Wally fills up with those, rather than “original” SF/F. They have the benefit of the branding of the other media to help sell them and catch casual browsers.

There’s category and bestsellers in the romance, and some “helpful” soul makes sure to paper every romance niche with several dozen Chick-Tracts about once a month. There’s a huge Christian section, but given our area, it’s not surprising.

Wal-Mart is not the first place I’d send somebody to buy a book…but unfortunately, the economics of the juggernaut often leave it as the only choice. So much for that “free market.”

By: dionne galace

dionne galace — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 01:06:04 +0000

I didn't know Wal-mart had a 'special crap' section.

heh!

By: sybil

sybil — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 17:56:44 +0000

I think it has more to do with the area… cuz my sci fi really isn’t bigger. Honestly it is prolly smaller. But the YA area is twice the size it was not sure if that is just a summer thing or not.

And romance faces out in my wally world… so…

By: Jackie L.

Jackie L. — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 16:06:09 +0000

Sam’s Club is stocked internally, but they have gone to magazines and less space for books in both of the Sam’s I shop. They seldom carry the books that I want to buy anyway, so I ignore them. I will try a newbie when Sam’s has the books on sale for $5, but that’s about it.
Angela–I think that Wal-Mart is trying to improve their image. But it’ll take more than showcasing SF!!!

By: Angela

Angela — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 04:35:53 +0000

What I find telling is that the sf/f section has been expanded and moved to the forefront where the romance genre had been for so long. Could it be that the romance genre may be slipping from its premiere position within the industry?

By: Ann Bruce

Ann Bruce — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 01:21:13 +0000

In Canada, Wally World’s been pretty much like that already. But is the announced change for Wal-Mart US or Wal-Mart global? Does anyone know?

By: Nancy

Nancy — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 11:28:38 +0000

Wal-Mart is a business. They have to stock what sells. Maybe you should really be upset at what the majority of Americans choose to read.

By: Robin

Robin — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 04:49:01 +0000

Just one more reason why it’s a bad idea to let Wal Mart have such a strong role in defining and shaping the market.

By: Keishon

Keishon — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 03:10:49 +0000

I didn’t know Wal-mart had a 'special crap' section. You just learn something new everyday. Thanks!

By: DeeCee

DeeCee — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 02:31:49 +0000

My WalMart has changed too. There used to be a 16 foot stretch of romance books, and 4 foot stretches of sf/horror and westerns. Bestsellers had a 16 foot stretch too.

Now, Romance has 4 feet, sf/horror have 8 feet, westerns have 4 feet and bestsellers have 12 feet. They took out the audio books, and expanded the Harry Potter section (those are the only books in the YA section).

The only thing that didn’t change was the 24 foot stretch of Mormon books.

I’ve given up on them. I used to get all of my books from them, but 1) they stopped getting the books I liked 2) everything became religious based 3) Everything is Janet Evanovich or Nora Roberts now. I’d rather spend more money at Shopko or Target (which has a much better selection of midlist authors now) and get something I’ll like.

By: Sybil

Sybil — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 00:03:26 +0000

My wally world is changing the whole store. The book section is done and except for one thing is tres nice. The big change is the AA section they had – which had been huge – was gone.

YA has been expanded. Sci Fi was next to it. Middle is Best Sellers, HC and general fiction and other stuff I think they don’t know what to do with. Other side facing out is Romance. Pretty much like it was before… harlequin still there… midlist still there… big names still there.

There was a special YA display, two other displays one for inspy’s and one for ‘special crap’.

By: Keishon

Keishon — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 22:37:18 +0000

My local Wal-Mart has made some changes. Section is smaller for romance, section now includes more YA or children’s books, still have AA novels, more blockbuster novels, then very little mid-list authors. I’m resolved to just sticking to my auto-buy list and ebooks :-)

By: Avaron Dale

Avaron Dale — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 21:48:54 +0000

I’m in a small rural town… the book/magazine section here is one side of a single aisle. From the front of the store it goes like this: magazines, african-american romance/fiction; large section of christian fiction and bibles; category romances; best sellers; then on the endcap at the end of the aisle is children’s books and two shelves at the very bottom of the endcap for westerns and men’s fiction.

That’s it… and that’s all the books sold in town, no indie bookstores or even a chain store here – and we’re the self-proclaimed “Literary Capital of Alabama”. I get all my print books via mail-order from Barnes & Noble or, to a lesser extent, Amazon. Most of my book budget goes for eBooks.

By: Charlene Teglia

Charlene Teglia — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 18:25:32 +0000

I used to buy lots of midlist paperbacks at Walmart. Used to. Sigh. They still have lots of category, at least the one here does.

By: Jane

Jane — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 17:56:13 +0000

No, I think Sam’s is stocked by a completely different company or has an internal buyer. I forget.

By: Annice

Annice — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 17:23:59 +0000

I don’t go to Wall Mart very often but am in Sam’s almost on a weekly basis and always check out the book section–is this the same?