Always Low Prices?

Said an analyst: "Time for rethinking
Whether Wal-Mart is rising or sinking;
Though still they do well,
Their core clientele
Find their incomes and credit lines shrinking."

Kelly Evans, the Wall Street Journal's Ahead of the Tape scribe, writes that Wal-Mart is at a crossroads: though retail analysts see the company's earnings growing at 10% a year, surveys indicate that 60% of Wal-Mart's customers no longer believe it has the lowest prices. This leaves Bentonville, Arkansas' big-box powerhouse in the awkward position of moving up from its financially troubled core demographic to compete more directly with the likes of Costqueau and Targét. Wal-Martre, anyone?