Please leave your answer as a comment, and also why or why not.
This comes from an ongoing conversation I'm having with several people...my mom, my husband, a couple of friends. I'd love to know everybody's responses and then I'll post the results once I see that a few people have responded. Thanks.
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12 comments:
I like to go as long as I can between trips to WM. It's probably been 4-5 months since I've been. I have taken to buying most household supplies (shampoo, dishwasher detergent, envelopes, etc.) at the grocery store or co-op. If I have a big enough list that includes things I can't get at the grocery store, then I will make a trip to Target. We probably go to Target about once every 5-6 weeks.
Wal-Mart is definitely cheaper but the two main reasons I'd rather not shop there are that I prefer to support small local businesses when possible, and the store itself is just nasty, crowded, disorganized, etc. I am not as educated on their business practices as I ought to be so I can't claim that as a reason.
We try not to shop there just as we try not to shop at any "red" stores. Finding buyblue.com was a life-changing experience for me. No more Olive Garden, for instance.
In general, I would prefer to shop at a local store, but these days that is getting harder to do. You'll find me at Wal-Mart when there is no other ready source for Bernat's Cotton-tots yarn...
I try not to. It is rather easy here because there is no Walmart. But even if there is one around, I make great attempts not to go there.
Okay, looks like I am the odd woman out, I do shop at WalMart. I live in a town with no grocery store, no other store, so I shop WalMart. No I don't like their practices either. I have two members that work there, and they don't like what is coming down from Bentonville these days. I try to support the local economy. But most of my members shop there, and often I end up doing pastoral care there. All the employees know me and my kids. Its not a Super one so it is still kind of homey and friendly. And I yes will go shop Target on occasion when I am in the town that it is in. Okay there I admitted it. But I also shop Dollar General, Family Dollar, Freds, Dollar Tree, and yes I do Pastoral Care and visitation there too.
No. I haven't shopped at Walmart in years. Mostly because I find most of their practices morally reprehensible. Of course I realize I can afford to ride the high horse and some other folks can't. Locally owned stores may go the way of the milkman, but I don't want to be the one who pushes them over the edge.
We have a new Walmart in town - after years of our town wanting one, we now have one. I see they are employing people with special needs and some of the senior citizens who might not otherwise be employed. I do some people that get benefits that would not have that option in other jobs locally.
I realize Walmart is not perfect - I know it has kept people spending money in our town (including me) instead of having to travel out of town to get items we have not been able to get before. It has boosted our economy, and I have yet to hear of any local business who has said that it has hurt their business.
Even the people that swore they wouldn't walked into a Walmart have and have found items they would have had to travel over an hour to locate.
I try not to shop there; I have questions about their practices and I just find them depressing stores to go into. TOO big.
In the past I've gone about 6 months without shopping at a Walmart because my mother works there and they were mean to her so I boycotted. But I despise KMart and WM is the only place I can get a few things in town so I drag myself kicking and screaming from time to time.
I won't shop at Wal-Mart unless I am completely out of other choices. (Which is very seldom indeed.)
I don't find their prices, especially grocery prices, significantly cheaper.
I don't shop there either, but not because of moral or political objections to the company, unlike some of the others who have responded.
I just hate tramping around giant discount stores. Period. And I am a shopping snob who is fortunate enough to be able to afford the higher prices in smaller stores elsewhere. Not everyone is.
Walmart revolutionized merchandizing and is successful because it is able to offer lower prices than other retailers which is important to many, many people.
And consider this: the Walton family foundation gave an award of $25,000 to my church a number of years ago when it recognized us as an "outstanding new church" in the PCUSA. Sam Walton was a very active and committed Presbyterian elder.
That doesn't make Walmart perfect, although it does some things that benefit the community. No company is perfect because it is the creation of imperfect humans. In my humble Calvinist opinion.
I gave up Wal-mart a few weeks ago. I really didn't like going there anyway. Then I read The Wal-mart Effect, and I have no interest in ever going there again.
it's funny to see this because I just went to walmart on sunday...I was looking for a drying rack and had been to both target and kmart. None of the three had what I was looking for and then I was chatting with a friend and admitted to walmart shopping. She told me what I was really looking for could be found at the local hardware store. Duh. I never even considered them. I went there and indeed they had what I wanted and helped me put it into my trunk.
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