Of the cheepo department stores, which is best/suckiest?
Who has the best/worst customer service?
Who has the best/worst quality merchadise?
I find that Wal Mart has the best deals.
That said, I absolutely HATE Walmart, although through it’s not really their fault.
You see, I have come to realize that Walmart is packed with idiots. Idiots who, with a huge cart and several kids, block off an isle in the store. I wait a few seconds, and then I say in a loud voice “Excuse me!”. When my desired effect does not materialize, I say “outta ma way”.
Generally I find that Walmart is wall to wall idiots, while the other two are sparcely populated with idiot-kind.
Target has the best stuff, and the stores are cleaner. I’m not a price checker, so I can’t comment on that.
I hate Target. It doesn’t seem to be a “discount” store at all; in my experiences the prices are no lower than anywhere else. I’m partial to Kmart myself, because that’s always been the big one in New Jersey, where I’ve lived all my life. The prices seem to be low, and they usually have what I’m looking for.
-Andrew L
Target. It’s not as cheap, but Kmart is dirty and depressing and badly stocked, and I’m boycotting Wal-mart for life because it’s just plain evil. I quite like Target; they have stuff I want or need, it’s clean, they’re nice to me, and the shampoo is cheaper than anywhere else.
Target is going after the style-conscious consumer. It’s trying to be cheap chic, and IMHO isn’t doing a half-bad job.
K-Mart is crap and always has been. Joke I remember from preschool: “What did the bird say when he flew over K-Mart?” “Cheap! Cheap! Cheap!”
Wal-Mart is a great place to go, because there’s the Wal-Mart Effect. No matter how bad you feel, there’s always someone at Wal-Mart dumber, uglier, fatter, less classy, and more offensive than you just waiting to make you feel better about yourself. Health insurance really ought to honor Wal-Mart receipts the way they honor therapy visits.
Target is my preference, though they are a bit more expensive. Their stores are cleaner and brighter, and I never have to wait behind more than one person to check out. After that, I’d have to go with Wal-Mart, but only because it’s closer and cheaper. K-Mart is always dirty and depressing, and they never keep enough checkouts going. Plus, they use the absolute narrowest checkout lines on the planet. Seriously, what the hell were they thinking?
I prefer Wal-Mart, since it’s right next door to me. The down side is that the lines are too long and it’s poorly marked.
Target has the right idea – they have store maps all over so you can actually figure out where the item you want is located.
KMart is beneath contempt.
Kmart is evil. I aughta know-I worked there for four and a half years.
We don’t have Wal-Mart but I hate the others. What I really dislike is that they are cheaper than most other stores, so are theoretically a good place to buy but you can spend one minute picking the cheap iron off the shelf and ten minutes queueing to pay for it.
Every store seems to have 25 cash registers and 3 staff members.
If I know I’m going to be buying a certain type of item, I’ll go to Wal-Mart, because they’re cheaper for the same brands (e.g. junk food, cleaning supplies or other staples available there). If I’m shopping for clothes, I go to Target, because their clothes are nicer looking and, though more expensive, they won’t fall apart after a few wearings, which Wal-Mart clothes that I have bought have done–the only clothes I buy at Wal-Mart are socks and Hanes brand stuff.
I don’t go to K-Mart for 2 reasons: (1) the stores I used to shop at were always a huge mess–worse than any Wal-Mart I’ve ever been in and (2) both of them have been closed down anyway, and thus the Wal-Mart and both Targets are nearer than any K-Mart store anyway.
A new Super Target just opened in town - I haven’t gone there yet. I did go to the Target it replaced a few times. I was not impressed. Their prices were too high and the store was rather messy. I gave up on KMart years ago - the stores smell funny and they NEVER seemed to have the advertised items in stock. I’ve learned when I can get thru the local WalMart fastest and that’s when I go. I pretty much know the store layout. The pharmacy has the best prices on my meds. The groceries are reasonable, tho the produce is often nasty. It’s where I do most of my shopping.
For clothes, I like Target–they do the cheap chic thing decently. For CDs/videos, Kmart. I absolutely refuse to buy entertainment stuff from Wal-mart because of their policy of selling only edited CDs and of refusing to sell some artists (if I recall correctly, no Wal-Mart store will carry Sheryl Crow’s self-titled album, because it contains the song Love is a Good Thing, which has the verse “…watch our children while they kill each other with a gun they bought at Walmart discount stores.”)
I go to Wal-mart when I need cheap batteries/food/makeup. I hate that place and wish I had the guts to never patronize them.
I find it odd that Kmart seems to be regarded as “dirty.” The one near me has been here for years and always been nicer than the Walmart. Must just be regional.
K-mart - nasty, dirty, and cluttered.
Target - OK, but there’s not one nearby.
Wal-Mart - I liked 'em years ago, when they were smaller, and you could find stuff. They just opened one of those supercenters here, and jesus, it takes forever to find anything, not to mention the crowds of dawdlers. Too much. But they are open 24 hours, so if you don’t mind shopping at 3 AM, then that’s the deal.
I like Target. It’s also closest to my apartment. The K-Mart here sucks, but the ones in Oregon were fine, and I shopped at them regularly.
Wal-Mart = Hell. I only set foot in that store when the item cannot be had elsewhere. Ten minutes and I’m ready to tear my hair out.
I miss Fred Meyers.
K-Mart is your ripoff store,
Go in rich and come out poooooooorr…
When Wal-Marts arrived in my area, they quickly supplanted K-Marts because they were new and clean. Now most of them are old and dirty, just as the K-Marts were then. And here comes Target to supplant Wal-Mart the same way.
But I really like Target. 
KMart out of location and some sale items
Walmart out of necessity- Damn I have to do WM today
Target out of boredom - next county over on weekends
All three have their points - but I think one of the dumbest things is the self-checkout lines that constantly need monitoring - might as well have a lethargic clerk manning it.
The old-style WM is much preferred.
Seems like everybody goes to WM at every hour - always a packed parking lot.
I don’t think we’ll have to worry about KM much longer though.
Kmart always seems to be out of the advertised items, so I don’t go that often. They are also rather poorly staffed, but since most of the customers are afraid of the self-scanner, I get out quickly.
WalMart - Only for pine shavings (best price I’ve found) for the rodents. It’s dirty, crowded and nasty. The carts are cheap sh*t, the greeters irritate me, and the dregs of humanity cluster in the aisles to block my way. UGH. We have a Supercenter, which I went to once, and found that the grocery prices were higher and the meat and produce looked really bad. No thanks.
I’ll also never forget the time I stopped at a WalMart on Christmas Eve to get an extra roll of wrapping paper. They had ONE lane open. ONE. There were more than 30 people in the line! I’ve never seen them have more than 4 lines open, but I only go once a month at the most.
Target is my favorite. Here, it’s clean, well-stocked, the employees are halfway friendly, and the prices are pretty good. The kids’ clothing is durable and most of the adult stuff is nice too.
We have Meijer as well and they seem to have big plans for expansion. I’d place them about 3/4 towards Target from WalMart. They have nice produce but their prices are higher, and they have the slowest baggers in the Western world.
Wal-Mart is evil of course. I swear I will never set foot in Wal-Mart again. The place is full of screaming children, two-headed people and the chatter on the PA systems sounds like the wailing of banshees. The stores are not necessarily dirty, but they certainly are messy, Wal-Mart certainly does a high volume of business. It is, however closest to my house. I set myself up for disaster everytime, I try to get into Wal-Mart quickly for one or two items I really need. Then I get stuck in line because of an idiot cashier or moronic customer.
K-Mart is dirty? they don’t have enough customers for the place to get dirty, or messy.
Target is much better. The prices aren’t quite as good as Wal-Mart, but the stores are nicer, and much less cluttered. Also, one doesn’t have to spend 15 minutes in line for the priveledge of giving someone money.
What is this strange concept “customer service” you speak of? 
I generally just buy things like tolietries, cleaning supplies and paper goods. Which tend to be all the same.
All these Walmart reminiscences are actually making me glad I live in a Walmart-less urban area. Sure it would be convenient, but it reminds me of how annoying I always found it.
Personally I always hated the Super Walmarts with grocery stores because of one thing: food stamps. I always seemed to get in line behind someone paying for $200 worth of groceries with a combination of food stamps, travelers’ cheques, and Canadian money, and since your average Walmart cashier isn’t too competent to begin with, this would leave them absolutely stupefied. Double the inconvenience of the grocery-less Walmart, where such things were less prevalent. Unfortunately, where I was previously all the Walmarts were super.
I do miss Target, but I believe there is at least one that I could reach via public transportation if really wanted too. Good clothes, much nicer layout and less messy than Walmart (this doesn’t take much, though). I haven’t been in K-Marts often enough to comment.