Sounds like you’re a little embarrassed to be going to Wal-Mart dressed like that.
Seriously though, you can’t tell me that the Wal-Mart target demographic in most areas isn’t the lower income segment of the population? If it wasn’t, they wouldn’t be harping on lowest prices “Low prices. Every day. On everything.” and “Save money, live better” have been their last couple of slogans- that’s the sign of someone trying to attract consumers trying to save a buck, not position themselves as premium in any way. When you market that way, you get a low income crowd.
That’s why there’s a “People of Wal-Mart” website, and not a “People of Target” site.
No problems shopping Walmart-their pharmacy service is excellent. However, I have noticed that some people will come in to the clothing dept., rummage about, and leave a huge mess. Some people are clueless-thing about the poor employees who has to straighten up after this!
Our Walmarts are clean and well organized, and store layout is kept the same for most of the stores. I shop for basic supplies every couple months, usually in mornings when the store is not very busy. There are not many strangely dressed people, but I am usually searching for purchases and not scoping out sartorial oddities. I have found that their level of employee helpfulness increased during the last couple of years. In the past, it would have been rare for an employee to ask if I needed any help finding anything. Now they offer assistance perhaps every other visit.
There is a Walmart in the WI area, but it serves a very wide area. We have not needed to stop there fortunately since the parking lot is jammed packed full.
I live in a section of Canada with a lot of space and not a lot of cities, so Walmart can often be one of the only department stores around. For the most part, it’s just another ‘get-everything-in-one-place’ store, especially since the last few years have seen all of them expand into groceries. The clientele isn’t any better or worse than any other place, and is more dictated by the neighbourhood it’s in. Since they tend to crop up near new suburbs, lots of middle-class suburb dwellers.
But I found one exception, my hometown. It gets an influx of lower income people from up north that come in, buy in bulk and drive back to their remote communities. It seriously looks like a People of Walmart ad. God forbid you go there on cheque day - aka social assistance cheque day.
Sorry, but I think there is a correlation. When I go to Walmart, it is my observation that most shoppers – and especially the female ones – are obese. I do not see nearly as many fat & obese people at Trader Joe’s.
There’s certainly some correlation between income and obesity in the United States and I bet the average Trader Joe’s shopper is wealthier than the average Walmart shopper. But roughly 140,000,000 Americans shop at Walmart every week. How many Americans shop at Trader Joe’s?
I was just in a Walmart the day before yesterday to buy some pants and most of the shoppers, women or otherwise, weren’t obese. I don’t know what to make of your observations.
I’m not above shopping at Walmart, especially if I just need a something and don’t want to spend a lot. I needed an outdoors table for July 4th, didn’t want to spend more than $25 and didn’t care what it looked like. I got something perfectly serviceable at Walmart for $20. They have basics like women’s tank tops for $4 which is half the price of Target and I buy them 2 or 3 at a time. But although my nearest Walmart is clean and nice enough it’s just not fun to shop at.
The one at Midway in St. Paul is a little more exciting. Last time I was there there was a big old tumbleweave in the parking lot and someone threw a half-empty can of beer out the window of their car. I think they’re also open 24 hours and we were there at midnight, which tends to be a weirder time of day for wherever you may be.
The one I don’t get is the morons who have to open the shirts and then try to half-ass stuff them back in the package or just throw them on the shelf and open another one. Why? The size is right there on the package, just pick up the size you need. The other day I saw a package of men’s boxer shorts opened and one half-assed stuffed back in there. :eek:
Wait – Trader Joe’s is considered upscale?!? I am hardly a food snob, but when I shopped at Trader Joe’s the food prices were cheap – probably cheaper than Wal-mart, in fact – and I found the quality to be hit or miss. I now avoid it like I do Aldi’s. My assumption with food is that you get what you pay for.
I do my weekly fresh produce shopping at an upscale grocery store, because there is a huge quality difference that I am willing to pay extra for. I am not willing to pay a premium for pantry items, and I get those at Target most of the time because that is the most convenient location. When I shop at Wal-mart, it is usually for houesehold and bigger-ticket items, because my brother is an employee there and can get us a discount (he buys the items himself and we reimburse him). In short, I shop very frequently at Target and see absolutely NO difference in the clientele, with exception to a larger hispanic population at the Wal-Mart my brother works for (which I assume is geographic). I live in the suburbs of Minneapolis/St Paul, so I know my experience is limited to midwestern suburbia. I do see a difference at Lunds (upscale): more old people and nicer cars in the parking lot. Cannot say I feel out of place in my typical weekend outfit of sweats or track pants in ANY of these locations. Nor do I notice a higher than average incident of obesity either. To me, most everyone appears obese anyway. Seems the norm in Minnesota.
The worst thing about Walmart is every time I’ve been in one, someone has grabbed some meat and - perhaps deciding they can’t blow $6.78 on Ground Chuck, decide to leave it on the magazine rack or by the men’s socks. Blech…I never see that every time I’m in a grocery.
Kmarts - at least in much of the Southwest, tend to be in the areas where no other retailer dares tread. There is just an air of despair in and around them.
By contrast, Target is always very clean and orderly, and its customers are decidedly upscale around here.
One store that’s always a disappointment for me is Barnes and Noble. The one’s I go to are full of semi-wild kids, the bathrooms are war zones, the book selection leans to mass market tripe, and the “Cafe” is messy, packed, and - yet - staffed by pretentious people (“we cannot accept your Starbucks card, as we proudly serve Starbucks coffees.”) This should be a nice place, but its a goddamn dump, at least in my experience (I hear it is a nice place in some locations).
Even my least favorite Walmart in this area is a lot better than any KMart in the vicinity. The local KMarts are messier, worse stocked, and generally more depressing than just about any other store, and their staff are generally clueless AND have lousy attitudes (I can forgive minor clueless, especially from newer employees, if they’re at least civil and putting out SOME effort). Sadly, Sears is being dragged down by that alliance with KMart.
The legendary employee abuses, GMO produce, not to mention everything in the store comes from the human rights shredder that is China…All of that I could get past in exchange for getting what I want in one place for a low price. But what I’m finding is, for the most part, the stuff you get there is garbage. So what if you can buy a bike for $75 when one ‘just like it’ might cost $150 at a dedicated bike shop–the Wal-Mart item is just not as durable and you end up with a mountain bike that can’t seem to stay in gear, or the brake assemblies disassemble on you. I had a bit of an epiphany after I bought a couple pillows there last January. “Guaranteed to not ‘go flat’ for 3 years” or somesuch was the proud boast on the packaging. Yeah, whatever, that’s cute but new pillows would be nice. It’s 6 months later and I may as well have a bolt of flannel under my head. But what am I gonna do? Hunt down my receipt and the original packaging and stand in the retun line for 45 minutes to an hour and hope I can hold WalMart to their guarantee? It’s not worth my time. It never is, and they count on it. From the lamps that just shit the bed for no good reason to toys that disintegrate even as the kids are taking them out of the package, to the sneakers that fall apart within a month–the products just aren’t reliable, and certainly not worth the savings.
So because WalMart stocks crap, irrespective of whether or not they’ll accept a return/exchange, and they must certainly know they stock crap because their return area is always packed, I’m just not going there anymore. I’ll spend a bit more somewhere else and maybe get the same quality item but usually better, as I’m finding out, and not have to buy nearly as often. Home Depot has become the WalMart of hardware stores. I don’t go there either except for rough lumber and sheetrock.
This is a big part of the reason why I rarely shop at WalMart. It’s the old Sam Vimes boots dilemma. If something has a low price, but it doesn’t work well (or at all), then it’s not a bargain.
I have no problem with the people I see at Walmart. What I find bothersome about the place is that they all seem horribly understaffed. Many times I’ve gone to Walmart thinking I can take care of all my shopping in one store, and found an empty shelf where some needed item should be. Other parts of the store have shelves in total disarray, as if they were stocked by someone tossing items from six feet away. And what’s the point of having thirty checkout lanes if only three are open?
Target has a reputation as “Walmart for snobs,” but I much prefer shopping there simply because it’s neat and orderly.
I’ll say one thing for Walmart; their $4 prescriptions are a godsend for people without prescription drug insurance coverage.
I personally don’t have a problem with anything at Wal-Mart except for the chronic understaffing. In all the ones near me, it seems like the shelves aren’t ever fully stocked- something’s always out.
And even though the entire front of the store is one big long line of checkouts, there will be maybe 5 open at any given time, with 2 of those being Express lanes.