Do all or at least most Walmart stroes look like pigpens? We have 3 here and the original one looks like a bomb hit it. Doesn’t seem to stop people from shopping there, but I won’t go anywhere near it unless it’s daytime. (Yes, it has actually caused the area it was built in to become a ‘high crime’ area.)
The second oldest one is a bit better, but not much. I also only go there daytimes. The only one I will actually go in anytime it’s open is a new one built about a year ago. It closes at 10pm and is still relatively clean.
As far as the McDonalds located in them, fuggetaboutit. Probably catch a good dose of whatever the latest flu is there. I don’t eat much a McD anyway, but I surely wouldn’t at Walmart.
I’ve been to a few other out of area Walmarts and the situtation is about the same.
Actually, quite the opposite here. In the city I live in (in Canada) we have a store called Zellers (kind of a Canadian Target) and that place was always a dump. When Walmart came in they had such a clean store, Zellers made an effort to tidy up just to compete. Even the other Walmarts that I’ve been too, I wouldn’t call “messy”.
That being said, a lot of it probably boils down to management. Some customers are pigs, and unfortunatly they have to be cleaned up after… and nobody wants to do it.
The ASDA here (a front for Walmart in the UK) is pretty nasty , there are cracks in the floor (though it was built only 4 years ago) and ants comming up out of those holes , but for the most part its alright.
They just built a new one here where I live in N.C., and the one time I went in, it was quite nice. However, I refuse to go back, 'cos they built the damn thing so big, it takes forever to find anything.
Posting here quick like a bunny before it zooms off to IMHO…
Well, Philo, are you talking about “filth” or just “clutter”? 'Cause my local Wal-Marts (both of them) tend to have boxes in the aisles while they’re restocking, but they’re not “filthy”.
DDG, I’m really talking about filth, not clutter. The Targets and Kmarts also have restocking residue, but they’re no where near as ‘filthy’ as most of the Walmarts.
Kmart’s have their own problems here, mostly has to do with long lines at the checkout.
Target’s are uh, cleaner, somewhat, and their lines are nearly as long, but they’re always outa stuff. Usually the thing you need. :o
In my town, the K-Mart is getting awfully cruddy, sloppy, rundown, and clueless (if not downright imbecilic), and it looks like the “management” doesn’t care any more. I avoid it.
The new Target is pretty spiffy by comparison, and the Wal-Mart has just relocated and is still in good shape.
The Wal-Marts in Austin and Plano are the only ones I’ve been in, and for the most part they’re clean. Maybe your local stores just have crappy management.
Given the amount of merchandise they carry and the number of people who shop there at any given day, a Wal-Mart is naturally going to be cluttered as wel as dirty! We had one open in the next town over from me last year – beautiful store/location, but I’ve never, ever seen it uncluttered. Dirty – well, mostly on the weekends.
One thing you have to understand about Wal-Marts (as well as KMart) is that, at least in my area, they hardly have enough help. The lines snake all over the main aisle, sometimes going into Women’s Sportswear (which is opposite the registers). I find what I want 50% of the time. Most of the employees I’ve seen wouldn’t move if someone lit a firecracker under their you-know-whats. Considering how little they’re paid, is it any wonder?
None of this hasn’t kept me from not shopping. It comes with the territory, so I just relax and bear it.
The Wal-Mart near here (Catonsville, MD) is an absolute dump, as bad as K-Mart, if not worse. It’s so bad that I won’t go in at all, and if Mrs. KVS wants to go in I’ll wait in the car.
The Wal-Mart in Bedford, PA is exactly the opposite - clean, neat, polite people, and enough help to run the store efficiently.
So I guess it comes down to management and amount of help.
Reminds me of the old Thrifty Drug Store, which, I believe were mostly in CA. They always had good stuff, but they were always short of help. They had the ice cream counter, the regular counter, the pharmacy counter and the cosmetics counter. They always hand a bell (ring bell for service) even at the pharmacy counter. They had enough help to man about half of the counters. I think they purposely kept it that way to keep the help ‘attentive’, and increase the bottom line ;). I always felt sorry for those people, and it was the usual min-wage job and many of these people had nowhere else to get work.
We have two Walmarts in the area and they are both clean. The K-marts are clean but kind of trashy looking. The Targets are the best looking of the bunch. Funny thing that many people have remarked is that the kind of people who shop in all 3 stores are different.
I am not an interior designer, but I think the K-marts look trashy because of the lightings and the offending color schemes. But I did use to like eating in the old K-mart cafeterias. It’s like a time warp back to the 50’s. Where else can you get (frozen) Salisbury steak for a few bucks? I miss them.
The Wal-mart nearest me, in Rio Rancho NM is very clean. It’s usually messy from the enourmous volume, but it’s clean. The small, non-super Wal-mart that it replaced in the same neighborhood was a pig pen that I only went into once, and never went back.
