Retailers Feast on Wounded Wal-Mart

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They're going aisle by aisle now, the opponents of Wal-Mart(WMT - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), feasting off the wounded mass merchant, going after it with special deals, more selection, better help and a sense of mission.

That's what we saw from Michaels Stores(MIK - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) last night, another terrific quarter from the craft king. You want yarn, you go there. You want stuff to paint, you go there. You want anything you need to make something else, Michaels has it. Wal-Mart doesn't; it just doesn't have the selection. In an era when rich grandparents don't want to buy their grandkids X-rated video games about violence and mayhem and grand theft, a trip to Michaels is always in order.

Michaels is in the top 10 places I see people going to instead of Wal-Mart these days, and I am not talking facetiously here, as when I recommended the swap of Wal-Mart for Soviet Trade House GUM, symbol comes out GUMRY, the old Communist version of Macy's. Michaels is one of those places that recognizes that people don't want three aisles of low-priced goods; they want 20 aisles to chose from. And just in case you don't believe me, take a look at Wal-Mart's downscale analogue, Dollar General(DG - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), off two smackers on another bad quarter.

Where else do shoppers want to go?

Wal-Mart may be the largest seller of CDs in the country, but with Apple(AAPL - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) climbing back over $40, it might be good to remember that iTunes is the way the next generation buys music. Don't I know it; why is my daughter babysitting every moment she can these days? She says she's getting 25 songs when she does!

Online? How about Wal-Mart white-flagging video rentals and throwing in its lot with Netflix(NFLX - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr)? I say forget about it, Comcast(CMCSA - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) just came out with numbers showing that video on demand is up about tenfold in the last year. That's the ultimate winner for video. Amazon's(AMZN - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) got the bases covered for everything else.