Ah, the Wal-Mart threads. You know, it’s difficult to meet a person indifferent to Wal-Mart. Most folks either love it or hate it for a vast array of political and economical reasons. I guess I am odd. I could take it or leave it. It’s nice to have the option available, though.
We do shop there quite a bit, but I wouldn’t call it “one stop” shopping. There are things I need that I can’t get at Wally World. We are also patrons of Target, K-Mart, the Local Big Grocery Chain (Knights), a little corner Asian food market, etc., etc.
I’ll agree that the store brands are pretty good. We especially like the store brand of Baby Wipes. We buy Sam’s choice cola for the kids’ lunches. Great Value Cheese Puffs rock. Athena is correct in her assessment of the Prima Della deli products. The meats and cheeses are comparable to Sara Lee. The Great Value Golden crinkle fries suck, though. Stick with Ore-Ida on that one.
The nearest Wal-Mart is 15 minutes away from our house, but we usually shop at a larger one about 25 minutes away. It has a larger selection, and a better deli/bakery.
Yep - we just got one that will be opening soon - August, I believe. The location used to house a Builder’s Square - but they tore that down, and built a new Wal Mart. That puppy is HUUUUUUGGGGGGGGEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!
I have NO IDEA how traffic in that area is going to work - it’s already way to congested (in my opinion) and the main drag that will be to the north is already difficult to navigate because of the sheer number of vehicles. Ah well, such is progress, I suppose.
Anyway, we’ll now have a Wal Mart, a Target and a KMart all within a mile or so of each other - keeps shopping interesting (and convenient), if nothing else.
It’s more than just that. They seem to actually care about the quality. Case in point: deli meat. I’m somewhat of a deli meat snob. I’ve had far too many rubbery roast beef sandwiches in my life. Back when I lived in a larger area, I went out of my way to buy this wonderful bloody sliced roast beef from a local Italian market that roasted their own.
Now that I live in the Middle of Nowhere, until the Super WalMart opened I was stuck with strange rubbery roast beef available at the other supermarkets. When Super Walmart opened, I approached their deli with trepidation. What would it be like? I asked for a slice of their best roast beef. It wasn’t as good as the Little Italian Market roast beef, but it was recognizably roast beef! It had texture! It tasted great!
I don’t love WalMart, but I can’t truly hate it either. In my small town, it’s the only grocery store with a fish counter. Previous to WalMart opening, I could not buy bay scallops anywhere in town. Same with such exotic fish as swordfish or fresh tuna. I could not buy decent sliced roast beef (as I’ve documented above.) It also provides the largest selection of PC games (another of my vices) and such exotic kitchenware as tamale steamers. Noplace else in town has those things. Really. I’ve looked.
I prefer to buy locally, from small marketers if I can. But many things simply aren’t available here except at WalMart. People who live in large areas don’t really know what a godsend some of these boxed stores are to rural areas - it goes beyond cheap pricing. Often they bring stuff that is just not available anywhere else. Wax poetic all you want about that great local <insert store name here>. I don’t have that store in my area, and I’m happy that sometimes a box store can provide those types of goods to me.
