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we haven't shopped at Walmart for....five years or so.
It didn't start out as some protest against their corrupt ways--in fact, I didn't know how horrible Walmart was until I came to DU about 3 years ago.
However, our experiences at Walmart were always horrendous.
The products fell apart easily---forget about washing any clothes you buy there b/c even when following the directions on the tags, they fell apart, shrunk, had seams and hems just disentegrate...
The prices were never good, and the people that shopped there were just horrible---taking things out of your cart, pushing you around, etc.
The service was shoddy to say the least. I never enjoyed waiting in line for 45 minutes just to buy a pack of toilet paper. The store we went to never had more than 3 registers open, and they always treated you like criminals when you walked in there.
We stopped shopping there because of just the horrible way we felt when we walked in there. It's like when you walk through the door every bit of hope and aspiration is just sucked out of you. You're walking through this mass of unahppy, overworked and underpaid working poor and working middle-class.
It was a lesson in depression (sorry for the rhyme :) )
When we moved to Seattle, we finally had a Target we could go to. Much more cheery. The people that shopped at Target, as opposed to Walmart, were just different. Still working poor & middle class, but a different attitude.
I've never bought clothes from Target, but the things we get there dont' fall apart after 2 months. The prices are decent. The staff is friendly, and we never wait in line for more than 3 minutes.
When we first moved to Seattle, we went to Walmart---luckily, there's only 2 within driving range (and even those are 30 minutes away)---in SC where we used to live, there was a Walmart every 3 miles. They were blights on the landscape. HOrrible horrible store.
Anyways, when we first moved here we drove down to Walmart---it was worse than I remembered it.
It was like Kmart, and I HATE Kmart----merchandise on the floor, nearly everything was opened and out of the packages. Packages had been re-packed and sealed with scotch-tape.
People walked through the aisles like Zombies. Stray children ran through the store, parents oblivious to the hell they were causing.
we walked right out. DIdn't even get what we went in for.
And that was the LAST time we ever stepped foot into a Walmart.
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Out here, in Seattle, it's not hard to convince people not to shop there, because most of them don't anways.
In SC, it's a bit harder. They've only recently opened a Target there, but Walmart still dominates the landscape.
My mother, for instance, is a true progressive---but she can't NOT shop at Walmart b/c target is too far away, and all the other stores are closed--where else is she supposed to go? She's working poor as well, and she can't afford to pay $1.00 more for a pack of TP at the grocery store, or $14 more for a pair of jeans at the mall.
My in-laws live in very rural Kansas. The only place they can shop for necessities is Walmart, and even that is a 3 hour drive away from them. THey go once a month---there's no where else for them to go.
I think the problem with Walmart isn't people's reluctance to do anything about the company, but it's the fact that Walmart has crushed all opposition and competition in the towns it sets down in.
In a city like Seattle, you do have choices---but in rural America, you don't. And Walmart, I believe, SPECIFICALLY sets up in small towns like that JUST so they have a dedicated base. Target's not going to open a store in a town of 10,000 people, but Walmart will.
THOSE are the people that have no choice.
The working poor have no choice. WHen all other choices have been taken away from them, their only option is shopping at Walmart. They dno't necessarily think they're getting a great deal, but where else can you buy kid's clothes for so cheap, or toilet paper or dish detergent for less than the Grocery STore.
The fact is, for those people, they can't NOT shop at Walmart. THey can't afford to. When you're raising a family of four on less than $30,000 a year, you can't afford to pay more for the same services.
The thing that needs to be done is to have other alternatives for these people---and that's a big task. Again, especially for rural America (where Walmart has the biggest hold)---what store is going to be able to open an establishment and charge less than Walmart? Very few, and very few are willing to take the risk of opening a store in a Walmart stronghold for fear of having to close down within 2 years.
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