Target has better (some even higher end) brands, greater selection of quality products and lower prices. The ones that carry food are amazing: They don’t carry as much food as a grocery, obviously, but the food that they do carry is always cheaper than the grocery food. Without exception, their store brands (in all departments) are superior to the name brands. You can buy Isaac Mizhrahi, Mossimo, Converse, and others very inexpensively. Walmart and K-mart sell cheap crap and loads of it.
Yet…EVERYWHERE she goes my SIL HAS to go to the Walmart there.
How on earth do these stores compete against Target? Have all of these people never tried Target? Once I set foot in a Target store, I was hooked. I refuse to enter a Walmart or K-mart for any reason. Can anyone give me a good reason to? Are the 2 Targets near me just exceptional and not the norm? I don’t get it…
The few times I have shopped at target I have been unable to find all of the items on my list, mostly grocery. Meijer (think walmart only michigan based, so same concept) has never failed me yet on stocking what I need.
I will admit though that whenever I move to a new apartment Target is my first stop. They have a cheaper/better home and bath section.
Well, I absolutely loved Target but when I lived in the US there were maybe 6 or 7 Walmart Supercenters within 30 minutes from me (the closest was only a few minutes away) Whereas the closest Target was at least an hour away. That may have been part of it for me.
For groceries I always went Krogering, but for general merchandise, I was always stuck with Walmart or Meijer. K-marts were as hard to find as Targets were in my area.
ETA: Captain_C makes a good point. Target has a lot of groceries, but nowhere near the selection as Walmart/Meijer/etc. A lot of people like the idea of one-stop shopping and are willing to sacrifice a little quality for convenience.
Also ETA: You refuse to enter a Walmart or K-mart for any reason? That seems a little fanatical. I mean, I love my Kroger, but I was never averse to the idea of going to Great Scot/Giant Eagle/IGA.
In my neighborhood, we have WalMart and Target, but nothing else in that category. Neither is a superstore, and neither has groceries, although Target’s floor area is larger. I often compare prices, and 90% of the time, Wal-Mart comes out ahead. Not a lot better, maybe only a few pennies, but enough that I can take a hint. Otherwise, their mechandise lines are quite similar.
Obviously, Your Mileage Must Vary.
Then there’s Walgreens, which in my area at least, charges 100% MORE (I kid you not) than Wal-Mart for some specific medical items that I have checked, and 40-60% more for some random others. Don’t know how they stay in business, but they do alright. I guess some people just don’t care.
I agree with #1, somewhat with #2 (although, why do I need quality in my everyday items?), but #3 is very debatable (IMO)
For example, a lot of makeup is much lower at Wal-Mart. I know this piece isn’t over $10 at Wal-Mart and it is at a real-life Target. Same for everything else. I like the Target clothing though and wouldn’t buy Wal-Mart clothing.
Ahh, the secret of Walgreens is that the run killer deals for the sales/coupon shoppers. Sure, most folks are just picking up over-priced crap while they’re getting that bottle of cough syrup, they count on that. But if you play the sales/coupon/store rebate game, you can easily shop Walgreens and pay 25% retail.
Not everyone has the time or inclination to play those little games, but for those of us that do, Walgreens and Rite Aids are divine.
Ok, I won’t say that I refuse. I guess I’m also quite swayed by the fact that my Target is exactly 3 miles from my house. That alone, makes it the cheapest, if we’re just talking pennies or so. Even traveling, I’ve never had to go out of my way to get to a Target, so I’ve just been lucky, I guess.
When we lived near Champaign/Urbana, we went to Meijer’s a lot, but there aren’t any down here.
Walmart just rubs me the wrong way, for some reason. Here is why, based on the ones I’ve been to:
Weirdly high ceilings…there are always birds flying around
Bad, harsh lighting
Small selection of “better” brands (I like a deal as much as the next guy and am not a “brand” snob, but I don’t need to be when I can find better brands for the same price at my Target.)
And, not to sound even snobbier, but there’s always a strange class of trashy people there. Loud, unwashed and uneducated, from what I can tell. Yes, I know they have a right to shop there, but, ALL of them, AT ONCE? What are the chances? YMMV, but that’s what I’ve seen. The K-marts seem to be even worse. Please don’t flame me for this, I’m just telling you what I’ve experienced. If there was a Walmart 3 miles from my house, I’m sure I would be more appreciative.
Whether it’s a can of Bush’s baked beans, some Duracell batteries, 10 pounds of yellow onions, or a pair of Wrangler jeans-WalMart’s got it for less, and it’s the same darn item.
Don’t get me wrong, I like Target. They have some really good ‘high end’ store brand (Archer Farms) stuff, like chicken sausage and imported dry pasta but it’s a little pricey. However, their ‘regular’ store brand stuff (Market Pantry) is the same quality as WalMart’s store brand, and more expensive.
For items where you really want a particular name brand (Kashi cereal, Tropicana orange juice), items where any generic will do (aspirin, iodized salt), and items that have no name brands (milk and eggs, in many places), WalMart has the better price.
Many years ago, I heard that above a certain household income, WalMart patronage drops to almost nil, but Target patronage does not. I’d love to see some data on that.
I refuse to shop at Target. I have no rational reason for this.
I grew up in an area without Wal-Marts and the Target was where the poor people shopped. And I was poor. And the clothes always sucked. And it was disgustingly red. And my parents liked to go there and just wander around looking at things like it was a zoo which was awfully boring to a 12 year old. And they’d never buy me popcorn, even though when we went to the K-Mart at Janzen Beach Mall they’d always get me caramel corn from the stand outside in the mall.
So, my hatred of the place was strongly implanted. And lives through to this day much to the confusion of my wife. I’ve relented enough to allow shopping of kitchen stuff there but still absolutely refuse to shop for clothing.
I am jealous of those of you with Super Targets. I hate going to Wal-Mart, too, but I go for my glasses and contact lenses, and my eye guy has an office there now.
But I’d rather be at Target any day. The clothes at Target are a mainstay of my wardrobe.
I remember a (rather dubious) developmental psychology professor I had in university who, on a tangent one day, asked us to go to Kroger and Walmart and observe the people shopping there. According to him, people at Walmart tended to be poorer and more obese whereas those shopping at Kroger tended to be well-off. This worked in the small town where the university was, but it doesn’t work everywhere. Depending on the geography, different stores can develop different images. If Target is in a “good” neighborhood and Walmart is in a “sleazy” one, yeah, the people shopping at Walmart are probably going to seem a bit ickier. The Kroger in our town was really nice, had an attractive building, and was in a good part of town. The Walmarts were both on the outskirts of town, closer to the poorer neighborhoods. Meijer was equally icky. That being said, I have been in towns where the Krogers were disgusting and the Walmarts and Meijers were spiffy. I think it has more to do with location than the company as a whole.
I forgot to say: Except meat! Both Target and WalMart only sell meat that has been pumped up with a phosphate solution in order to make more money from less meat. It’s a miserably dishonest practice, and I won’t buy meat from either of them.
Well, as long as Wallie World and K-mart are willing to open in places that are too small for Target to bother with, they’ll have a loyal following. I was in college before I ever laid eyes on a Target store, and I grew up in the third largest city in the state. My hometown finally got a Target about 7 years ago, whereas we’d had K-mart and Walmart for as long as I can remember (the K-mart almost as long as my mom can remember.) Where I live now, we’ve got K-mart and an absolutely enormous SuperWalmart within 10 minutes or so of the house. The nearest Target is 2 flipping hours away.
Even if the world’s biggest Target was to materialize in town tomorrow, the other stores would stay in business. When people need toidy paper and laundry detergent, they automatically think Walmart or K-mart, and that’s unlikely to change without some sort of compelling reason. Having fewer cheap brands of tp mixed in among the Charmin is not a compelling reason. If I were in the market for some t-shirts or something, I’d go to Target before the other two because of the higher quality, but for the sort of stuff that makes the majority of my big box shopping, there’s just no real reason.
Besides, ime Target costs more for household basics.
I wouldn’t say they are “pumped up,” USDA doesn’t allow levels of phosphates to exceed 0.5 percent, phosphates naturally make up about 0.1 percent of the meat to begin with. The additives added to shelf-ready meats do result in an increased weight, but they also serve the purpose of preserving the meat so that it doesn’t rot in the trucks or on the shelves. It’s hardly dishonest as all packaging I have seen specifically warns that such additives have been included.
You’d be hard-pressed to find fresh meat in shrink-wrap packaging. Really fresh meat comes from butchers and tends to be much more expensive than what they have at Walmart/Target/Kmart.
I can walk to Wal-Mart. Target is a 15-minute drive. The money I save in gas and the extra exercise makes up for any difference in prices (which are minor).
There’s also a supermarket across from the Wal-Mart; the food there is better and cheaper.
Target is my regular grocery store. I go there once a week. Something about WalMart’s design exhausts me. I get edgy and irritated just walking into the store, whereas I can tolerate Target for a lot longer without getting worn out.
However, sometimes Target’s dedication to good design backfires. I find that often they won’t have some basic level item, but only fancier versions. Like I wanted plain white taper candles. They had a whole aisle dedicated to candles with fancy shapes and colors and scents but no plain white ones. I wanted some metal tongs. The only ones they had were specially “designed” ones for $7.99 that were going to take up a lot of space in my drawer with their padded ergonomic handles. I found what I needed at WalMart for 99 cents and they’ve done their duty for several years now.
Kmart really does puzzle me. They’ve upgraded their store here in selection and appearance since their bankruptcy reorganization, but not their customer service at all. They only ever have two cash registers open, something ALWAYS scans wrong, I’m always stuck in line behind some situation requiring a manager with key to come and fix. I only ever go there if there’s some weird little thing I’m searching for the other stores ought to carry but don’t have for some inexplicable reason…the last thing was those marble covered composition notebooks for my fourth grader. Every trip there leaves me resolving to never go again.
I wonder if the fact that I have no clue what sort of product “Isaac Mizhrahi” or “Mossimo” is tlls you somethng about why I don’t share your enthusiasm for Target.
There are times when cheap crap is perfectly sufficient for my particuar needs.
You may be exceptional in having two Targets near you. In my small city, there’s only one Target, which is further away (from almost any point in town) than the nearest Wal-mart or K-mart.
How does Subway stay in business when there are better places to get a sandwich? How does McDonald’s stay in business when there are better places to get a burger?
Better, but maybe not cheaper. I can get a MacDonald’s double cheeseburger (1/5 pound) for $1.06, including tax. A subway sandwich is around $3 to $6 and Hardee’s typical small to medium burger, about the same. Nothing at Arby’s is less than $3 to start. Obviously, they make it up in drinks and fries, but I never buy fountain drinks and don’t like today’s fries, so there’s a huge difference in what I have to spend to get a meal.
Having worked at Krap-mart for five years when I was in college, not only will I not flame you, but I will back you up 100 & 10%. God, that place sucked.
Walking into Wal-Mart, as I said in the Pit thread about the poor employee killed in the Black Friday stampede, I feel like I just walked into the middle of Larry the Cable Guy’s family reunion. Every time I go there. I try to go to Target whenever I can.