I am curious: Who here doesn't use Wal-mart? Why??

[SKR8PN]

I never really minded the layout of the WalMart store near us, but Target? Man-o-man, I'd rather take an azz-whippin' than step foot in that place! It is freakin' HUGE! It's like a 3 day forced march to find whatever it is The Wife is in need of! The only GOOD thing, is the fact the isles are sooooo wide that ya NEVER bump into anyone. Feels like your shopping on a four lane highway!

 

[patandchickens]

I don't shop Walmart *much*, mainly just b/c I don't buy much that they sell (junk food, electronics, new but cheesy clothes, home decor items, OTC pharmacy and beauty products, and seasonal cr*p designed to fall apart after thirty-two days).

I do buy a few things there, primarily kids' shoes/boots when I can't get adequate ones secondhand. The other places I could buy new kids shoes and boots are getting them manufactured in the same parts of the world as Walmart's, and frankly I have found Walmart's to be better quality than many other chain stores.

Oh, the other thing I mostly buy at Walmart is the occasional paper/pencils/markers/tape sort of thing. Again, you buy 'em anywhere else, they're still coming from the same places.


Pat

 

[sylvie]

We shop Walmart; mainly the pharmacy for DH's scripts. It is a game to keep the script prices down to stay out of the donut hole. We go to Giant Eagle for their free generic scripts that apply to him, but his biggie's best prices are from Walmart. Buying 90 days puts us in the donut hole faster, so we buy 30 days.

After our Walmart was built the politicians that pushed it through were all immediately voted out in the following election. They weren't in my party so I wasn't sad to see them go on more than one level.
I could have driven to the next town for that Walmart- All the same distance from me, so it wasn't necessary to build yet another.

 

[Ladyhawke1]

Did ya ever wonder why the world sucks when it is we that choose NOT to support our communities and it peoples? Oops! Guess what? You are part of that community.so do not complain when things get tougher. We are part of the problem.

Wal-Mart is the biggest employer in the world. I am hoping that the sayingThe bigger you are the harder you fall. ...will become true for Wal-Mart in my lifetime.

Do your homework and I am not talking about listening to the right-wing-shock-jocks that only spew hatred. Sorry, in my family, hatred is not a family value.

 

[sylvie]

If Walmart falls, the other corporations like Target, etc, would probably expand to vie for top dog.

 

[modern_pioneer]

Hmm...... Lets talk wally world....

From a small business aspect, I can tell you that you would either have to be desperate or unwise to do business with them... Of course on the other hand you could be a middle man, or be big enough to have your hands in several different markets.

First off, before I was even approached, I was anti-wally, so even from the get go I wasn't game.

Even as they try their image change right now, I still know their business practices.

For legal reasons, I am not allowed to talk about it as I was approached by them to be a supplier.

I declined all the offers put on the table by them, I was even mad enough to get up, walk out and head back to the airport without even looking back. As I hit the ground floor, I took off my visitor badge and threw it at the guard desk. I am not a sucker, and my "American dream" is based on simple ideas, not flow charts.

Originally I didn't like wally because what they do to small towns structure. Later their tatics would surface and treatment of employees would come out.

To me, being SS means supporting ourselves as well as our local farmers and other local companies. Like what Food Inc brought to light, wally has been doing it all along.

There is the issue of choice, but that would only factor in if wally was the only place to shop at all.

I think if your claiming to be living SS and your supporting wally by shopping there, I think you should step back and look at why you shouldn't be shopping there. If your being SS that means you support the idea that you can provide something more than the average person for yourself. That also invites the idea of supporting local farmers/stores as well, because your supporting others ideas of being SS just like you yourself are trying/doing.

Sure buying local can cost more, there is a whole locker full of reasons why it does cost more. But even if it does cost more, my money spent locally is supporting others way of being SS around me, in my little ole town in USA, not some little town in China. I don't hate Chinese people, infact I find some of the most beautiful women in the world to be of Asian decent. I have always been a zealous patriot, and living more SS just supports my ideas of taking care of all of us before taking care of anybody else in the world.

Why are so many Americans out of work today?

I think its because we aren't supporting our own because big businesses have moved their manufacturing over seas.

My companies remain "bail out" free, and if it weren't for folks like you, I wouldn't be in business. Smart business practices have kept my head above water in these hard times.

Me, I am anti-wally, and if you support wally, look at the bigger picture here, from a SS point of view.

Support local markets by keeping the money here/there in the hands of local folks/companys.

Yes, I also do believe that spending my money locally is more patriotic than spending it at wally world.

I will leave it up to you or the next poster to ask the question " Are you more SS if you shop locally? or Is being more SS not only a way of life but also supporting small businesses in American? "

Also, just for the record....

Wally world sucks

ETA: If I was Chinese, working for wally, than yes, I would still hate wally, but I would still support my local Chinese stores.

 

[Dace]

I shop Walmart on occasion. It is the cheapest place to find certain things. When people talk about buying form locally owned stores instead, that doesn't really pan out for me. My other option for the types of items that I buy at Walmart would be Vons (or any other large grocery, which is another large corp.) or Target. So I don't really see why I should pay a higher price.

I don't really care how much the owners earn.

 

[patandchickens]

And yet, if I want shoes or boots for my kids and can't find any acceptable thrift-store ones, I *can't* buy American because I do not think there IS any North American manufacture of useful (not foofy decorative) kids' footwear. Not that I know of anyhow.

Pat

 

[farmerlor]

I try very hard to support my LOCAL economy by buying from my local retailers. I know that they too probably receive most of their goods from overseas suppliers but they also buy from other local merchants so I feel like I'm helping to keep the money in my own area if that makes sense.

 

[sylvie]

I confess that I did go into Walmart after Christmas for the sale. I bought 2 large cookie tins and 2 electric candles. For $2.50 I made 2 chicken waterer heaters that I priced at TSC @$40 ea. Technically I gypped one corp by buying at the other, if that gets me any brownie points.