Due to my work and class schedule, I’m often only free to do grocery shopping and household shopping at odd hours like 1-2 am. WalMart is the only place open during those hours.
I live out in the sticks. It’s a ten mile drive to get to the nearest Walmart or other grocery store. However, when I do get into town, I can get from any of the four grocery stores to another in about five minutes so I read the weekly ads and shop accordingly.
A Dollar General has opened up in view of my front yard. It is a welcome addition, IMHO. I can now buy ice cream and get it home without it melting. Prices on most of the grocery items I buy at DG might be a bit higher than those in town at a grocery store, but probably not higher than the price of the gas I’d burn on the 20 mile trip to get one or two things.
The local neighborhood Walmart is weird. It has a big “DAIRY” sign on the back wall. There is no cheese, sour cream, or yogurt there. Only milk. The aisle sign for “Asian Foods” has been hung in the wrong place for five years now. It’s the only store in town where the hot dogs aren’t near the bologna and other cold cuts. They claim to label unit pricing on their shelves, but they play games with it. On one brand of paper towels they may list the price per sheet cost, on another cents per square foot, and another, price per roll. It’s done so the expensive stuff looks cheaper than it is to the unobservant.
I have absolutely no problem with WalMart. There is a WalMart, Meijer, Jewel, and Target all within a 2 mile radius of each other. I buy meat at the local butcher, and buy the majority of my dry goods (toiletries, cleaning products, paper products, etc) at WalMart. I’m tired of hearing “WalMart put the mom and pop stores out of business.” There hasn’t been a “mom and pop” store in my geographic area since the 80s, and WalMart didn’t even show up here til 15 years ago, long after Meijer, Jewel, and Target. If Levi’s wants to cut a deal with WalMart, then so be it. Nobody is forcing Levi’s to do that.
Quick note: we were once in Viborg South Dakota. We dropped my mother off at the local Ma and Pa grocery store then drove around the block and down the street and parked at the hardware store thinking we would drive back to pick up my mother and the groceries. The stores were about 1 1/2 city blocks away. Well the grocery store has this policy of carrying out customers groceries (normally just parked right outside) so while we were finishing up at the hardware store and about to leave and go to the grocery, here comes my mother and a grocery store clerk walking down the sidewalk, he was carrying 2 shopping bags with my mothers groceries.
Point: they really took their store policy of taking groceries to the customers car seriously! They might by more expensive than the big chain store 30 minutes away but no way near such great service!
No one claimed otherwise. They said that Levis jeans sold at Walmart are of lower quality to meet the required Walmart price points. Maybe you don’t care, but as a consumer you should at least know about it.
Wal-Mart has Neighborhood Markets which are groceries only, no big ticket items.
It’s pretty similar, but it’s amazing to me the difference, at least in my neighborhood. Years back, in back-to-back shopping plazas, there was a Walmart in one, and a Target in the other. I went in the Walmart to buy yarn or some shit like that (which Target doesn’t carry–or at least not the ones around here). Describing it as pure chaos is overstating it, but it was pretty crazy in there with kids running loudly up and down aisles, folks blocking aisles with their shopping carts, and just in general too much humanity concentrated in one place. We then went to Target to buy some follow-up purchases, and it was peaceful, serene, no loud kids running around loose, no shoppers with no concept that they’re not the only people in the store. Just a night and day difference.
Now, I’ve been to very pleasant Walmarts. When we were traveling through Arizona, Utah, Idaho, in an RV, all the Walmarts we visited were fine. Nice, even. Hell, they all let us park our RV in the parking lot overnight, even though that policy had been officially discontinued by that time.
So it varies quite a bit from location to location, but, around here, I do my best to avoid Walmart. There’s other stores I could go do just as cheap (or nearly so) and I could avoid the hassle.
Rubber Maid and White Stag also come to mind. The Rubber Maid items I’ve bought at Walmart have all been rigid and more breakable than RMs I’ve bought elsewhere. I also bought some White Stag shirts at Walmart before I knew about them being lesser quality, and those things really itched. I don’t trust a lot of brand names at Walmart. I haven’t noticed a difference in branded food quality, however.
They do the same with so called “factory outlet” stores where they sell a lower quality item.
Heh. In Georgia, there are 708 Dollar General stores and only 187 Walmarts of all types excluding Sam’s clubs. Dollar Generals are growing like kudzu in North Georgia.
The only Wal*Mart market I’ve been to smelled like bleach so Publix is it for me.
Well, sure. Of course.
That said, the “Levis” sold at Wal-Mart are crap. Obviously Levis has made a business decision that it’s worth the risk of hurting their reputation to be in Wal-Mart, and that’s their decision to make.
And my decision is that I won’t buy clothes at Wal-Mart again.
As to personal shopping habits I like many other people responding often shop at Walmart when on the road and it’s the only recognized, known quantity, one stop shop in a given town. If I lived in those towns I might gradually find better alternatives for various things, or not. Where I live, northern NJ right near NY, there are tons of stores and Walmart is a relative newcomer with a limited number of outlets. None are especially convenient distance-wise. Though one is across a parking lot from the Costco we go to. But mainly, Walmart’s product selection and quality doesn’t suit us very well in general. On non-food we’d rather buy higher quality stuff and aim for it to last*. On groceries Walmart price/quality doesn’t generally match Costco. Sometimes Costco’s package sizes are too big, but there are also supermarkets within walking distance v. the Costco/Walmart location 10 miles away. Occasionally there are brand name packaged food items where Walmart is cheaper than supermarket and Costco package too big, or Costco doesn’t have the selection of flavors etc.
On corporate policy stuff I don’t let that influence where I shop unless it’s truly extreme. Walmart pushes suppliers hard, and doesn’t pay employees as much as some other places. But in general that goes to providing lower prices for Walmart’s typically low income customers. Which Walmart is not doing because they are nice guys. Back to Adam Smith, we don’t rely on the benevolence of the baker to get our bread. But if anything anti-Walmart people point out that the company makes less than they think it would if it was a corporate ‘good guy’ like Costco. The easiest explanation why Walmart is so tough on costs is because it has to be in appealing to a more absolute price sensitive customer. It’s apples and oranges to compare it to stores which deal with a more affluent less absolute price sensitive customer.
*another thing you have to watch out for at Walmart is ‘exclusive’ models of name brand durable goods that are lower quality than the regular ones at other stores. Not only Walmart, but Costco for example doesn’t seem to do that as much.
I did an experiment once. I bought about $13 dollars worth of items at Save-A-Lot. I had to go to Publix to get something there. I added up what that thirteen dollar’s worth of items would cost at Publix. While a couple items cost the same or a bit less, I would have spent $23 total at Publix for directly comparable items. I simply ain’t made of that kind of money!
The only reason I ever go to Publix is if they are the only place in town to get something. Usually, it’s frozen rhubarb.
We were just in a Walmart while on vacation in Tennessee. We rarely go in one and we got the whole treatment: a woman smacking her kid, the obese in rascal scooters and couples having loud arguments in public. We came out and both said at about the same time that neither of us ever want to go into one again. It’s sad how their presence has holllowed out Main Street of small town America, but there’s nothing much I can do about that. It’s also said that US taxpayers subsidize Walmart as part of its employee orientation is how to sign up for welfare and food stamps, but there’s not much I can do,about that either. But I can make sure I never set foot in one again.
I shop at Walmart but only online for items like coffee, detergent, cereal or maybe toothpaste and order enough to qualify for free shipping. I haven’t visited a store for several years. Before ordering, I usually compare prices with Amazon or Target and order accordingly.
I prefer shopping at Sams Club. They carry some of the same frozen food items as Walmart, but, in bigger, more economical packages. Sams Club has better, thicker steaks than Kroger.
My biggest issue with Walmart is the crowded parking. Getting a good spot can be difficult.
I alternate between Walmart and Target. The offer similar stock.
I used to buy personal care items at Costco and Walmart. I was getting what appeared to be great deals on things like shampoo and skin care products.
And I’m sure the actual product was the same stuff I would get at the drugstore, for about half the price.
But the packaging was different and it was crap. Pump type dispensers would break after the second or third use. I’d buy items with broken childproof caps that wouldn’t open at all. It got so I was getting this stuff at a good price, but I couldn’t get to the product. I buy it at the drugstore now,
Why not just buy the stuff in bulk from Costco or Walmart and use the larger containers to refill the smaller ones you already have?
Walmart neighborhood markets are like an inverse dollar general. They closed a whole lot of them, but neighborhood markets tended to be in extremely urban areas where it was difficult to get the footprint for a full Walmart store. Dollar general instead started in extremely rural areas where it was difficult to get enough clients (but easy to get space for a store). They’ve been moving more urban lately though. Dollar general mix is much more like a mini walmart than a neighborhood market too, not the focus on groceries.