I’m indifferent about Wal Mart’s politics anymore. I used to be all “D00d Wal Murt Sux!” but eh, whatever.
I don’t shop there much because I just don’t like the feel of the store. I like the feel of Target slightly better (Wal Mart is like .5 miles closer).
Really, I don’t like to shop much at all.
We’re slow on the uptake with Walmart here, and it’s only been in the last 4-5 years that the Super Centres with the grocery have come in. They are awesome! The Super Centres have the widest aisles, good lighting and I haven’t found any issues with the produce.
Superstore is the closest thing to the Super Centres here, but they still don’t have the same amount of general goods as Walmart. And as for the People of Walmart stuff, I’ve noticed that it isn’t the store, but the area it is in. If I go to a Walmart in a more affluent area, people don’t dress like that. Walmart doesn’t have the stigma here that it does in the US. You’re not a poor hobo if you go shopping there. It did put Zellers out of business, but Zellers is a horrible store anyway. And Walmart initially bought out Woolworth’s here instead of just dropping in and putting it out of business itself, so we aren’t as concerned with its monetary impact either.
Walmart (note the lack of punctuation) has always been one of the high end stores around here. Sure, it edges out mom-and-pop stores, but no more than any other department store.
I actually find that online shopping is often cheaper, now, though. So, in that sense, my perception of Walmart has changed to the place we go to get things quickly for more money.
WalMart is very handy when you suddenly get a new cat at 10 at night, and you want to get a flea treatment for the new cat, plus a new liter box. We have several 24 hour WalMarts around here, and it’s handy.
However, I’ve found that they generally won’t stock the things I want most. If I want a video game, WalMart almost certainly won’t carry it, for instance. I’m going to HAVE to go to a game store to get it. If I want anything other than the cheapest quality items in some categories, I’ll have to go to another store, because WalMart is competing on price, not quality. If I AM interested in shopping by price for a common product, Family Dollar or Dollar General is likely to have what I want, at a lower price. For instance, I wanted to get a two quart pitcher. Dollar General had some for $3, made in the US. WM had them for, I believe, around $10 (don’t remember exactly, just remember that it was several times the DG price), and they were made in China. Now, the DG pitcher is not top of the line, but I don’t need it to be. I just need it to hold water in the fridge until I drink it.
WalMart also has a business strategy of moving into a new territory and selling goods below cost until it drives the locally owned and operated stores out of business. Then they raise the prices back to normal levels, which might or might not be cheaper than what the Mom and Pop stores were selling stuff for. But most of the profits of the Mom and Pop stores did stay in the community, while most of the profits of WM will go out of the community.
I will shop at WalMart on occasion, but only rarely.
Lynn Bodoni:
Cite?
I sort of hate myself a little bit every time I shop at WalMart…but it seems silly to spend $5.00 on Amy’s Organic frozen dinners (a staple chez chiroptera) or whatever at locally-owned stores when I can get them for under three bucks at WalMart. And I just got an eye exam and got my first prescription glasses there.
They’ve been doing things like this, which makes me hate them just a little less.
I shop there about once a month, mostly to stock up on things I like they sell for cheap: Decent frozen dinners, Starbucks coffee. That’s about it. Most other stuff, I try to buy from locally-owned stores.
It’s not that I don’t like Walmart, they just don’t have the perks I like in the area I’m currently living. I prefer 24 hour superstores, because I don’t like shopping during the day. I don’t like waiting in lines, fighting traffic in the aisles, or other peoples’ kids. Unfortunately, the nearest 24 hour Walmart is about 15 miles from me (several Walmart locations in the area, but all close at 10ish) and there are TWO 24-hour Meijers on my way to work. So I tend to shop at Meijer.
I have no problem with Walmart in particular. They have the cheapest groceries in the area as far as I can tell. I’d prefer to shop there than Meijer, because my grocery bill needs to be kept low. But 24 hour availability trumps savings. Also, Walmarts don’t have self-checkout around here and Meijer does. ++to Meijer for that. I like to bag my own stuff.
Plus, I’m not the type to get dressed up for shopping excursions and there’s always the minor niggle that someone might take a picture of me for the “People of Walmart” website.
I definitely like Walmart’s pharmacy though. When I was on birth control, it was on their $4 formulary, whereas I’d be paying a $10 copay for a $30 prescription at Walgreens. The exact same pills! That is nuts!
Five years ago, I hated Wal-Mart. Today I still hate Wal-Mart. So if they’ve been trying to rehab their image, it hasn’t worked on me.
In case anyone wants to know my reasons why, here they are. (1) Their purchasing policies put American producers out of business. (2) Their clothing and many others things are often made in sweatshops, complete with child labor and physical abuse. (3) Bad environmental record. Demanding the absolute lowest price from suppliers forces suppliers to ignore environmental concerns. (4) They regularly ignore laws on everything from overtime pay to gender discrimination to zoning ordinances. (5) What Lynn Bodoni said. (6) Their stores are ugly and so large that they’re dehumanizing.
See my first link.
I don’t care about any of the economic aspects. I hate Walmart because their stores suck. Since I don’t really give a shit that a loaf of bread is a whole 10¢ cheaper at Walmart than Meijer, I prefer the Meijer because that extra 10¢ contributes towards hiring employees that clean the store. Walmart banks that 10¢ by not sweeping or mopping or performing any housekeeping at all.
Ooh, I wish I had a Meijer nearby, used to shop there downstate. I would definitely like to shop there again. But the nearest Meijer from here is over an hour drive away (in Traverse City).
Around here we have a chain of grocery stores (Glen’s) which are expensive, and you have to get one of their "glen’s card"s to get things on sale. To get a glen’s card, one must submit name, address, and email address is required too. I don’t want to deal with that, and I am tired of being asked “do you have your glen’s card?” and then sometimes being pressured to get one. It’s annoying.
We have no Costco nearby either. For grocery choices it’s really either Glen’s or Walmart.
They still only sell censored music, so I hate them. To be exact, they don’t sell music with a parental warning sticker.
I have taken to wearing earbuds and a mp3 player to drown out the ads on all the televisions mounted in the store. Those ads keep me from stopping if I don’t have my player. The ads besides being obnoxious and intrusive are so loud they hurt my ears to the point I flinch walking by them. They have also changed all the isles from navigable to crowded with pallets and only wide enough for people to pass past the crap in the middle of the isles one person at a time. You have to wait between aisle palettes for people going in the opposite direction. They are also out of food items for a good 3 to 4 weeks before they get a limited quantity in. Walmart turned our local store into a shit hole place to shop about 2 years ago. I usually shop by 5 AM so I can get through the congested aisles.
We do all of our grocery shopping at Walmart.
Compared to the local Albertsons or Smiths (local large supermarket chains), Walmart is usually cheaper for every single product - and they will match any newspaper ad we bring in from another store
Our usual bill for grocery shopping is about $50-$60 at Walmart, and I can assure you those same items would cost us $70-$80 at either of the other grocery stores.
I might not like Walmart, but but as an underpaid teacher, I can’t afford to be snooty.
I have a friend who went from “Wal-Mart is evil” to shopping there. Another acquaintance has a positive opinion, but I don’t often agree with her.
I’m not just the President; I’m a customer.
Definitely not a fan; shop there by necessity at times, but always avoid it. Find the whole place unpleasant.
The prices aren’t half as good as WalMart likes to claim. Much of the time, you’re paying less for lower-quality items. My experience is that a lot of stuff they carry are “for Walmart” versions of existing products with subtle differences (like metal parts replaced with plastic) from other stores carrying the same base items.
That said, I do like that WalMart is driving companies to lighter, “greener” packaging (because it reduces shipping weight) and diversifying local agriculture (to reduce shipping distances).
I never went to a Walmart until a few years ago, in Virginia. And they sucked! Got pineapple soda and that was it.
Moved to very southern California and Walmart is just about the only option, and they’re MUCH, much nicer. Shop there all the time; the option is Von’s <A Safeway spin-off> and I only go to Von’s now when I want something I just can’t find at Walmart.
This. WalMart likes to push for a lower price, and often times the only way to get a lower price is to lower the quality. Which is fine if the consumer knows about it…but if the consumer buys an Acme vacuum because of experience with previous Acme vacuums, but gets WM’s version, that WM version might not be nearly as durable or reliable.
This is why I don’t go to Walmart (except I don’t even have an mp3 player) I’m not paying a company money just to be exposed to ads. The last time I was in a Walmart, I passed by several loud ads (and knowing that there would be ANOTHER loud ad in the checkout aisle,) I promised that if I passed one more I would leave. I did, and I did (leaving a full grocery cart behind: have fun, guys!)
I would have given them a piece of my mind as I walked out but there was a line at the customer service station. The first time this happened I emailed their customer service department but the ads remained. I didn’t go back for a year after that, only to return thinking how bad could it be? Well it had gotten worse, see above.
I’ve only gone to Walmart about 2 times in the past 3 years. Plus once or twice when I’m in a different town and it’s the most convenient place, but not all locations have the blaring ads so I get lucky a lot of the time.
The Wal Mart near me did a full store remodel which does make it somewhat nicer than it used to be.
But they added those those talking ads everywhere! AAAAAAa!
so I guess they have made no net gain in reputation with me.