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The Morning News
Local News for Northwest Arkansas
Wal-Mart Layoffs Affect Local Suppliers
By Lana F. Flowers
THE MORNING NEWS
BENTONVILLE -- The Tuesday announcement that Wal-Mart was laying off up to 800 employees affects more jobs than those at corporate headquarters.
The move of at least some Wal-Mart apparel jobs to New York City may affect vendors who supply products to Wal-Mart or make items and provide services to those suppliers.
"With the apparel buying function moving to NY, some of our customers have lost their Wal-Mart contact here in Bentonville," said Patrick Sbarra, president of New Creature. The Rogers firm makes point-of-sale displays and provides supply chain services to Wal-Mart vendors.
The bright spot is, he expects Wal-Mart to quickly establish new apparel contacts for those customers.
That may help people like Gary Lowe of Bella Vista, who has been out of a job since Jan. 21.
Lowe worked in a local office for Genius Products, serving its relationship with Wal-Mart. Santa Monica, Calif.-based Genius Products produces, licenses and distributes motion pictures, television programs and other entertainment on DVD.
Genius Products items feature Sesame Street, programs from The Learning Channel and Animal Planet, and from World Wrestling Entertainment, among others.
Now, Lowe is looking for a job in the vendor community with a salary in the low six figures. He hopes to be employed within 60 days.
"There are good jobs out there for the right people," Lowe said.
Ed Clifford, president of the Bentonville-Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce, agreed. He expects more electronics vendors to move into the area, after the bankruptcy and store closings of electronics "category killer" Circuit City.
Clifford said the absence of Circuit City shelf space means companies that sold big-screen televisions and computers there will look to make up that space, perhaps by selling more products through Wal-Mart.
The relaunch of Wal-Mart's private label, Great Value, later this year presents job opportunities as well, Clifford said.
"I think some of the packing firms and the graphics designs firms are going to be really busy," Clifford said.
Lowe has experience in data analysis and forecasting and attended a consumer marketing talk Wednesday at the DoubleTree Guest Suites in Bentonville to network and stay up on trends.
Lowe handed out business cards that said "Results!" on the front. The cards listed his "elevator talk" -- a short list of qualifications and accomplishments -- on the back. Lowe said he's had one job interview so far.
Clifford said he remembered what it was like to be unemployed: He bounced back from a Wal-Mart layoff in 1991.
Back then, Clifford was a hardware buyer for Sam's Club and he was out of work for 30 days after his job was eliminated.
He then returned to Wal-Mart as a buyer and worked other positions until 2001.
Paramount Pictures has a four-person team in a local office to service Wal-Mart. Team Leader Eric Brown said he does not expect any of those team members to lose jobs, but Paramount had cutbacks last year.
Variety magazine reported in July that Paramount laid off 60 employees, mostly in the marketing, distribution and production departments. Paramount in October also announced it would release 20 movies per year, down from 25 annual releases in previous years.
There were foreign press reports Wednesday, including from Bhopal and Bangalore, India, that Wal-Mart would outsource technology functions to India.
A report with a Bangalore dateline in The Economic Times on Wednesday stated Wal-Mart would outsource some technological processing of payroll, merchandising and accounting.
The outsource technology contract would be worth $300 million to $500 million, The Economic Times reported, and Wal-Mart wanted to outsource technology functions to support a global supply chain.
Wal-Mart issued a one-sentence response when asked about the technology outsourcing on Wednesday.
"The recent reports of Wal-Mart's outsourcing of IT (information technology) is entirely false," said Dave Tovar, Wal-Mart spokesman.
However, Wal-Mart is increasing its presence in India with a joint venture with Bharti Enterprises. The self-service warehouse stores will cater to business owners and be called "BestPrice Modern Wholesale."
The first store will open in Punjab, India, later this year.
At A Glance
Assistance For Laid-Off Workers
Representatives from the Bentonville-Bella Vista, Rogers-Lowell Area, Fayetteville, Siloam Springs and Springdale chambers of commerce plan to meet Wednesday. They will develop a coordinated plan on what to do for the up to 800 Northwest Arkansas Wal-Mart workers who got news of layoffs on Tuesday.
"Those associates live all over Northwest Arkansas and probably some in McDonald County (Missouri). They are not all concentrated in Bentonville," said Ed Clifford, president of the Bentonville-Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce. "But, they are part of the family."
Source
Local News for Northwest Arkansas
Wal-Mart Layoffs Affect Local Suppliers
By Lana F. Flowers
THE MORNING NEWS
BENTONVILLE -- The Tuesday announcement that Wal-Mart was laying off up to 800 employees affects more jobs than those at corporate headquarters.
The move of at least some Wal-Mart apparel jobs to New York City may affect vendors who supply products to Wal-Mart or make items and provide services to those suppliers.
"With the apparel buying function moving to NY, some of our customers have lost their Wal-Mart contact here in Bentonville," said Patrick Sbarra, president of New Creature. The Rogers firm makes point-of-sale displays and provides supply chain services to Wal-Mart vendors.
The bright spot is, he expects Wal-Mart to quickly establish new apparel contacts for those customers.
That may help people like Gary Lowe of Bella Vista, who has been out of a job since Jan. 21.
Lowe worked in a local office for Genius Products, serving its relationship with Wal-Mart. Santa Monica, Calif.-based Genius Products produces, licenses and distributes motion pictures, television programs and other entertainment on DVD.
Genius Products items feature Sesame Street, programs from The Learning Channel and Animal Planet, and from World Wrestling Entertainment, among others.
Now, Lowe is looking for a job in the vendor community with a salary in the low six figures. He hopes to be employed within 60 days.
"There are good jobs out there for the right people," Lowe said.
Ed Clifford, president of the Bentonville-Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce, agreed. He expects more electronics vendors to move into the area, after the bankruptcy and store closings of electronics "category killer" Circuit City.
Clifford said the absence of Circuit City shelf space means companies that sold big-screen televisions and computers there will look to make up that space, perhaps by selling more products through Wal-Mart.
The relaunch of Wal-Mart's private label, Great Value, later this year presents job opportunities as well, Clifford said.
"I think some of the packing firms and the graphics designs firms are going to be really busy," Clifford said.
Lowe has experience in data analysis and forecasting and attended a consumer marketing talk Wednesday at the DoubleTree Guest Suites in Bentonville to network and stay up on trends.
Lowe handed out business cards that said "Results!" on the front. The cards listed his "elevator talk" -- a short list of qualifications and accomplishments -- on the back. Lowe said he's had one job interview so far.
Clifford said he remembered what it was like to be unemployed: He bounced back from a Wal-Mart layoff in 1991.
Back then, Clifford was a hardware buyer for Sam's Club and he was out of work for 30 days after his job was eliminated.
He then returned to Wal-Mart as a buyer and worked other positions until 2001.
Paramount Pictures has a four-person team in a local office to service Wal-Mart. Team Leader Eric Brown said he does not expect any of those team members to lose jobs, but Paramount had cutbacks last year.
Variety magazine reported in July that Paramount laid off 60 employees, mostly in the marketing, distribution and production departments. Paramount in October also announced it would release 20 movies per year, down from 25 annual releases in previous years.
There were foreign press reports Wednesday, including from Bhopal and Bangalore, India, that Wal-Mart would outsource technology functions to India.
A report with a Bangalore dateline in The Economic Times on Wednesday stated Wal-Mart would outsource some technological processing of payroll, merchandising and accounting.
The outsource technology contract would be worth $300 million to $500 million, The Economic Times reported, and Wal-Mart wanted to outsource technology functions to support a global supply chain.
Wal-Mart issued a one-sentence response when asked about the technology outsourcing on Wednesday.
"The recent reports of Wal-Mart's outsourcing of IT (information technology) is entirely false," said Dave Tovar, Wal-Mart spokesman.
However, Wal-Mart is increasing its presence in India with a joint venture with Bharti Enterprises. The self-service warehouse stores will cater to business owners and be called "BestPrice Modern Wholesale."
The first store will open in Punjab, India, later this year.
At A Glance
Assistance For Laid-Off Workers
Representatives from the Bentonville-Bella Vista, Rogers-Lowell Area, Fayetteville, Siloam Springs and Springdale chambers of commerce plan to meet Wednesday. They will develop a coordinated plan on what to do for the up to 800 Northwest Arkansas Wal-Mart workers who got news of layoffs on Tuesday.
"Those associates live all over Northwest Arkansas and probably some in McDonald County (Missouri). They are not all concentrated in Bentonville," said Ed Clifford, president of the Bentonville-Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce. "But, they are part of the family."
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