More years ago than I'm willing to admit, the magazine I worked for did a full-issue study of the effects of opening a Wal-Mart SuperCenter on a small-ish city, with the editors all traveling to the area to focus on their own angles. One thing I noticed was that the smaller Wal-Mart store that had been in the town for years as part of a neighborhood center had been turned into a storage center of sorts for the newer, larger facility. At least until the landlord found out what was going on, and got in touch with Bentonville, lease in hand, so I was told.

Oh, how the tide has turned. Reuters reported in October that Walmart US CEO Bill Simon announced at its annual meeting for the investment community that the company will launch a testof using some of its Supercenters as distribution centers to keep its new smaller format stores stocked. The trial will roll out in three unnamed markets in March.

The idea is that using a Supercenter's back room will cut on transportation costs, as the company can use smaller trucks to deliver goods as needed to Neighborhood Markets and Walmart Express stores. Undoubtedly it will – this is a company that saved tens of millions of dollars simply by requiring its truck drivers to quit idling in traffic. And freestanding supercenters, of course, can do that without those pesky use clauses. But the irony is delicious, and an ongoing sign of a changing consumer, who may no longer have the time, or the energy for frequent trips to a really large store.