All this wal-mart talk and I've never been to one

[Jersey Devil]

I know that might sound strange but I've never been to a wal-mart. There is only one in Bergen County NJ, about a half hour from me. I have no idea why they are not in my county since it is one of the most populous in NJ, almost a million people, and has one of the highest per capita incomes in the US. Could that be it, that they target lower income areas?

[sepia_steel]

1. Absolutely they do.

They also target high-cost areas. When in a pinch, lots of 'well-to-do' people shop there, too.

[Jersey Devil]

2. Well, we have everything else under the sun except wal-mart

Home Depots & Lowes all over the place, Costco, Macys, Nordstrom, Bloomingdales, 4 major malls and many, many mini malls, but only 1 wal-mart. It just seems odd to me that they are not really a presence in one of the best retail markets in the country.

[sepia_steel]

7. Maybe you're one of the lucky people wo live in an area

where the town said NO WAY. Here's hoping :toast:

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. They are everywhere here

I was in CT a few weeks ago and couldn't help but notice there were hardly any WalMarts there. But here in the midwest, we have as many WalMarts as there are Dunkin Donuts back east.

[Cleita]

4. OMG a virgin!

That's really an accomplishment. I have been in towns where you had to go to Walmart if you needed groceries and the basics of life. It was the only place you could get these things in town. I have also been in towns that were so isolated and economically depressed that you had to rely on a local grocer to be there. These places weren't worth the bother for Walmart or many other big store companies.

[jannyk]

5. Me neither.

I live in San Francisco and I don't know where there is one in the Bay Area.

[NMMNG]

6. Trust me, you aren't missing anything

Avoid them like the plague. They are evil.

[Zookeeper]

8. Mall-wart used to be only on the outskirts...

of the Mpls./St. Paul metro area, but now they are creeping closer to the cities.

Out of curiosity, I went to a Mall-Wart a couple of years ago. I'm not convinced that the prices are that much better than Target or other discount stores. And the social costs of shopping there certainly outweigh the buck or two one might save (not to mention the taxes paid to subsidize their employee's health costs and food stamps). I also didn't like the layout of the store and found the overall experience kind of depressing. At the time, I was looking at the kid's clothing and found it to be totally gender stereotypical (war-like images for the boys, princess/tart stuff for the girls). The toy department was pretty much the same story. Yuck!

[MercutioATC]

9. If you have one nearby, try Costco!

http://www.laborresearch.org/page_src.php?id=391&src=co...

[Zookeeper]

10. I'm waiting for more Costco stores....

I think there are only two in the Twin Cities metro. The closest to me is about 30-40 minutes away. We do have Target stores everywhere around here (including the FIRST Target, which has now been rebuilt into a gi-normous superstore). They have a good record of supporting arts and the local community. Unfortunately, when I investigated their political contributions prior to the 2004 election, they didn't seem to be as supportive of the Democratic party as in previous years. Hopefully, that was just temporary insanity.

[MercutioATC]

11. Costco does have an issue with the number of stores.

There are about 10x as many Wal-Marts as Costcos. Hopefully that will change.

[darkmaestro019]

12. I temp-ed in a Walmart, gods help me

Worked almost four weeks; job bore extremely little resemblance to the description (overnight redecoration/construction, which turned out to mean shoving huge aisle-shelving two feet to the left for the whole store, which turned into doing stock and cleaning up filthy dangerous construction-waste in the pitch-black back-parking lot) Found out I was no longer employed by showing up and having nobody have any idea what I was doing there or what I had ever been doing there.

And I got one paycheck, after about six weeks, when I should have had at least two, since I worked spanning two pay periods. The same shrug. People referred me to other people and none of them had ever heard of me, basically. I had no records; little computer-time card, and since never before or since had I EVER had a company not pay me I had no idea I should even worry about keeping my own records.

I deal with them now because they're the ONLY pharmacy in town that has or will get my prescription. And believe me, I tried EVERYWHERE ELSE.


edit: clarity, not that it's done much good. need nap. : )

[upi402]

13. I have always hated WalMart too. Some cons do as well

cuz their relatives' businesses were crushed. But it's not on TV news so it never happens....right:sarcasm: