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"Location, location, location" One of the most important decisions a retailer makes is where to put their store. Location influences where customer's shop and the type of customers who shop there. A competitive advantage is also created because competitors can not copy the location, they must locate their store at the next best location.

Wal-Mart's logo makes the store recognizable from every street corner and intersection. The Wal-Mart this post is about is in Raleigh, NC and located on New Bern Avenue.

Basic and traditional types of retail locations include freestanding, city/town business districts and shopping centers. This Wal-Mart is uses the freestanding location type. "Freestanding" means the store is isolated from other retailers (physically not connected) and can be found near other freestanding retailers or shopping centers. Some advantages and disadvantages are highlighted below and can also be seen in the Google Maps screenshot.

Advantages

• Parking will never be a problem here, the parking lot is huge! Other retailers have parking lots nearby if customers ever needed a place to park, but they probably won't run out of parking spaces anytime soon.
  
• Pedestrian traffic is high in this area. The intersection can lead to Raleigh (turn right), Knightdale (turn left) and even Garner (go straight).
  
• Convenience. This is the closest Wal-Mart for people in eastern Raleigh and a 10-15 minute drive away from many neighborhoods. A Starbucks with a drive-thru and a gas station are nearby and city buses are also welcome.
  
• Few restrictions. This is a 24 hours Wal-Mart.

• Pedestrian traffic. High traffic means potential customers drive by every day. But the street is also a highway...with street lights every 5 minutes. Pedestrians, cars, city buses and trucks are a lot for someone to handle. Rush hour, weekends and evenings (trucks) sometimes make the drive to Wal-Mart a bigger headache than it should be.

Eddie Bauer is owned and operated by Eddie Bauer Holdings, Inc. (EBHI) and sells outerwear, accessories and other items for men and women with an outdoors lifestyle. (S&P, 2009)

Like many retailers in the spiraling economy, Eddie Bauer has not been spared of falling stock prices and value. In mid-year 2005, the company had stock prices near $30 per share (chart 1) but today, their stocks are trading under 60 cents (chart 2). Cost reductions of $15 million, 193 job cuts, reduced executive salaries as well as board member compensations are some steps the retailer has taken to brace itself against the downward economy. (Saranow, 2009)

Chart 1: 5 year overview

Chart 2: 5 day overview

Many reasons could exist as to why the retailer is failing. The failing economy is a large part of it, with many people losing jobs, there is not much money left for extracurricular activities (like camping or hiking).

The company has also been catering to women's casual apparel (Saranow, 2009) and less to their original target market. According to the Wall Street Journal and BloggingStocks.com, Eddie Bauer has plans to return to its roots with a new line of high-performance mountaineering apparel and gear. (2009) The new line is called First Ascent and "combines Eddie Bauer's legacy as the original expedition outfitter with the expertise of some of today's most renowned mountain guides and climbers". (Bissonnette, 2009) Prices range from $16.50 (pocket knife) to $999 (goose down suit); First Ascent will be available in over 100 stores beginning in April. (Saranow, 2009)

Eddie Bauer's CEO hopes First Ascent will allow the company to compete with other outdoor apparel companies such as North Face and Columbia. (Saranow, 2009)