Whether you like the company or not, this is still kinda interesting…
http://projects.flowingdata.com/walmart/
I was particularly surprised that even when it finishes in 2007, the vast concentration of stores is still east of the Mississippi River. I know there’s a lot of desert and mountain ranges through there, but there are mountains in the east, too, and that certainly didn’t stop old Sam Walton!
I’d be very curious to see an updated one of these that shows the entire planet.
Most of the major population centers on on the east side of the country. And the Appalachians (and other ranges) aren’t nearly as severe as the Rockies. The desert is obvious, and the Midwest is mostly farmland and sparsely populated, shitty, podunt towns. It’s not just Walmart that’s like that, it’s any major corporation. Otherwise you end up like Starbucks, closing stores in cities that didn’t need them to begin with.
I would definitely take a global map.
I also wonder if Super Walmarts built on existing Walmart stores qualify… it didn’t look like they got another blip in Fargo when they expanded it into a Super Walmart. And since it stops in 2008, I don’t know if the Moorhead/Dilworth one counts, because they built a Super Walmart on a lot behind the original. Interesting, nonetheless.