Another Reason Why I Don't Like Wal-Mart

I don't even know where the local Wal-mart's are.

Thank you for writing about a place NOT to shop at.
Everything is made in China and the employees are practically minimum wage.

A ten for you. I hope the extra posts help.

Wal-Mart, a necessary evil

When I lived in Union, SC, Walmart was the only place to shop without going out of town and the nearest place to shop in any direction was 30+ miles. You can't always take the extra hour plus to just go get something not available in the other shopping areas. We had a Belk's but they were very expensive and some main-street traditional clothing stores which were also very expensive and no craft store so Walmart was literally all there was. Walmart was the community gathering place where everyone saw everyone else as the local Hardee's was the place where the senior citizens gathered for a communal breakfast most mornings. I spent a lot of time in Spartanburg, 30 miles to the Northeast because I had classes I took as a continuing teacher for certification and for years no movie theater so I went to Spartanburg for that as well but it was so much easier to simply go to Walmart and get what I needed and go home. They are not the best retailer but sometimes the only game in town.

What is the reason for these real estate aquisitions?

hi, well walmart reminds of a book I read by Bentley Little called" The Store". Its about a huge chain store run by satan, if you can believe that. just like Walmart this Store took over every state and town and ran all small business out of town.
I know that Walmart is the only store that some people can shop at, in my daughters town of Minot ND its the only store around she can afford. But I think we should all try to find smaller stores andn support them I love family owned business their service is better and they always try to make you happy. Stores like Walmart and target could care less if the customers are happy.... just my two cents

You people are definitely in the minority, everytime I go to Wal-mart to buy my Chinesse goods and laugh at the low paid workers, it's pretty busy.

I don't like to shop at Wall-mart because I hate driving in their parking lot. It was awful in California. And it's awful in Michigan.

Plus Wal-mart is always crowded with people acting like they're getting something for nothing.

But I can't criticize Wal-mart for chasing away the smaller stores. That would be hypocritical.

Borders Books did the same thing, and I shop there.

Large department stores such as Macy's did the same thing, and I shop there. (I realize some young people might not realize this, but I certainly remember shopping at one store for clothes, another for toys, another for jewelry, another for shoes, etc., and there was no large department store or mall to go to.)

Petco and Petsmart did the same thing, and I shop there.

I think I could think of more examples, but you get the idea. This is one criticism of Wal-mart that I have to say isn't a good one.

Another may be that their merchandise is from China. I agree that we should stay away from "made in China" products. But, believe me, we all buy products made in China, whether we realize it or not. Most of the stores we shop at carry them. It's disgusting, yes, sometimes horrible, as when so many pets died from pet food made in China. But why single out Wal-mart?

I'm not saying it's not busy, David. One town where I lived, the WalMart was the place to be on Friday night. People took their whole families out shopping. The kids ran wildly through the aisles. What a madhouse. It made it much easier to shop at the other stores, especially on Friday nights. :-)

Donna, I understand that sometimes WalMart is the only place nearby to shop. But you have to wonder if it was always that way. In one small town in Florida, there had once been a Ben Franklin store, a local hardware store, a thrift store, a pharmacy, and a barber shop. When I was there, those store fronts were all boarded up and had been since WalMart came to town.

Elizabeth, there have been department stores and small stores forever. The movie about Santa and the Macy's parade was about the 40s, wasnt' it? Back when I was a kid, though, there was room for those department stores and the small boutiques and "mom & pop" stores.

Im with Elizabeth on this one. You cant just point the finger at WalMart for this. Its all BIG chain retail stores. They look at the market in areas, then pick the ones that would be best for them. Its not just Walmart that does this, its ALL stores. WalMart is just being pin pointed for doing it. Its about time all big chain stores get the finger pointed at them, because they ALL do it. And no im not a HUGE Walmart shopper, I do most of my shopping at Meijers. But I do drop into Walmart once in awhile to get things like shampoo, shavers, soap, body soap, and other things. I save about 15-20 bucks everytime just buying them few things. So its worth my time to go there and save the extra money.

me too Patty. with me being on disability wal-mart is pretty much where I have to go if I want to be able to afford anything. I agree that it's all chain stores though.

I haven't shopped Walmart or Target, or any Doolr stores for over 7 years now, and I've survived. Convenience? Not really. I don't think having to work in sweat shops for pennies a day, in China, or child labor, is all that convenient, to me.

I live in a little biddy town, and many of this town drive 50 plus miles to the next town, to shop at Walmart. Many of these same people complain about Walmart not allowing their employees to say, Merry Christmas, etc...and they even talk about boycotting Walmart on such grounds, and yet, there they go. Off to Walmart. I constantly overhear different people talking about their trips to Walmart, after claiming to boycott such.

I really wonder about people, sometimes.

I just don't like Walmart because ours are disgusting. They are dirty and they couldn't pay me to shop there.

I made the mistake of stopping once in am emergency to pick up a few groceries, I had to leave with DD and use a shell station bathroom with her. It was beyond gross in Walmart, literally health hazard fece. I wont go back there.

As for employees being "practically minimum wage," as one person said, that's a pretty silly criticism. No one is making their employees work there.

I once worked in a very high-priced department store for minimum wage. That's what all the sales clerks made. Frankly, I was glad to have such an easy job. Nowadays it's even easier; they don't even have to count change!

Marilyn, I guess you're right about department stores. I suppose you could go back to the 19th century or earlier in the 20th century and see department stores taking over. But you're right. Sears has been around for a long, long time, too.

I did see a tiny bookstore near where I lived in the 80s put out of business by Barnes & Noble, though. And I shop there. Maybe you don't shop at the large book stores, though.

I like the small book stores, if I can find them. :-) Actually, I like small stores of all kinds. For clothes, you find things no one else has. I like that. Doesn't mean I get to shop much. I'm pretty much a thrift store gal these days...since I haven't had any income of my own in years.

Wherever you shop, the employees are going to be low pain and wihtout health insurance. and if you want manufactured goods, they're all coming from the same place unless you only buy homemade stuff.

I boycott Walmart's but I doubt if they have noticed.

I buy at small local stores when I can.

I don't like Walmart either for lots of reasons...

I shop at walmart because I can get my things I need for cheap...being a single mom every penny that I save counts.

When I first returned to the United States in 1998, I shopped at Walmart because the prices were low. I hadn't heard about the reasons not to shop there. It was only later when I was more informed that I ceased to shop there. I have to say to their credit that I learned where things were, and I found it easy to maneuver around in almost every Walmart store I visited without asking for help. Not all stores have such user-friendly layouts, and don't expect to find sales staff that will help you any more; that's a thing of the past. I can't support a business that exploits its workers and sells mostly imported Chinese junk, but other businesses would do well to learn from some of the things they do well.

If Wal-mart hadden've done somebody else would've.

I'm not a big fan of Wal-mart (if I can, I go to target or Food Lion). Its sad to see a lot of mom and pop stores closing down. We recently had a Lowes built here about a year ago and because of it, several local stores that had tools, home & garden supplies, paint etc have closed down.

I am in the minority since I like WalMart just for the fact I can stretch my money a little bit further. I also shop at places like Target, thrift stores and Big K, too, but I see kids running around almost crashing into other customers and making a mess at these stores as well.

I guess I can understand why you wouldn't want to shop at WalMart anymore especially if they don't care about tearing down a unique tourist attraction to expand their store. It would be different if they were willing to relocate it to another location, but that doesn't sound to be the case.

walmart in our are still mentally abuses their employees its sad that i have no choice in having to shop there to survive.

Not a huge fan, but I have to say there are some things I just have to purchase there either because of price or availability...I live in a small area....

Thanks for posting and sharing the 411. It comes down to one word and that's greed.

My mom went into Macy's to look for a nice dress for a special occasion and she was looking at all the labels. The sales clerk told my mom not to bother, because there wasn't one dress in the department that was made in the U.S.

I also went into a small, exclusive shop where the suits were $400.00. I looked at brand names like Pendleton and these clothes were all made in China. I was floored.

Throughout my career, I've worked in retail a lot and have worked in classy department stores and discount stores. The wages are terrible in all of them.

I just had a discussion with my mom the other day about prices of towels. If you want to have principles, you must be willing to pay for them. You can't have it both ways. The working class person just doesn't have the income to pay the higher prices so they end up at Walmart, Target, Kohls or any of the other discount chains.

My suggestion is that we all band together and start our own home-grown businesses. Let's make some decent clothes that don't fall apart after one or two washings. Let's make toys that our children can play with and not get poisoned. We need more manufacturing, even on a small family type business basis. We do need to support each other. Our country needs to start over like the pioneers did. We did it once and I bet we could do it again.

I work at Wal-Mart and I think that the employment policies are pretty good. Better than any other job I have had. I am also paid well above minimum wage. We are not the only retail chain that distributes foreign made merchandise. I don't know about other Wal-Mart's but my store has contributed over 100,00$ to children's charities and has paid over 500,000$ to employees in need. I don't think we are all that greedy. Wal-Mart wouldn't be moving into all these little towns if it wasn't such a popular place to shope. Obviously we are doing something righ.

I am glad you haave the EXTRA Pennies to spend, I believe in Wal mart, for they have done no wrong to me nor my husband who been employed there 5 yreas and maxed out on raises every year, and with his discount and other saving thing I have save over $700 this year alone in food and other things....
and there are still the mom and pop store in the areas where our walmart are.

by the way is there alot of american spending our money in china now as we talk/write.

Walmart... 2 pairs of shoes for 23 dollars can't beat that. Better check you labels or the fine print on those "better class" of stores like Macys and Big Five etc. All thier junk is from china too.

I haven't shopped at Mallwart since 1990 or so. If more people cared about what happened to small businesses and jobs, instead of just whining as they spend their money at mallwart(which, btw, isn't so much cheaper), we might just still be a 1st world country.

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do shop at Walmaer and it is cheaper. But the main reason is that they have what I want when I want it, Most of the smalll businesses in my town cater to a rich crowd that comes from out of town. The others shops rarely have what I need, and the customer service is so poor that all I get is frustration. We do shop local too, when we can, and I certainly am a friend of the thrift store, but I don't want to shop where everything is more expensive and I don't get treated well.

I dont have a walmart in my area :(
but oh well im more of a target girl so it doesnt matter

There are like three wal-marts in my area all within like 20 minutes of each other.
We're getting a new shopping center/plaza and getting a Target. I'll be in heaven.

Tina, I'm glad you're paid well over minimum. In Texas, my friends made 50 cents over minimum wage at WalMart. At mall across the street, they could have made $10 an hour at Dillards with much better benefits. (But many would not give up their piercings or cover tatoos.) My neighbor next door makes just over minimum wage now too.

As long as people say, "Oh well, they are the cheapest in town", they'll keep offering the cheapest stuff from wherever. They have no reason not to do so. Those few of us who refuse to shop there don't make much difference.

I do look at labels when I shop. And I do try to get US made things. Often, for clothes, that means going to arts and craft fairs and finding REAL local made products. Not that I can do that much now, without any income.

Addendum to above... But with local merchants, one can often trade or barter. I have done that and gotten some great deals that way.

This is part of my post on Wal Mart ---

I applied to work there in January of 2005, with the thought that this was going to be a 5-11 type job because I was substitute teaching at the time. I got called for an interview and got the position. The HR person asked us, "Do you have any conflicts?" Not wanting to lie, I told her that I needed to have my mornings free due to working for the public school system and that I could not do Sunday mornings because of my church commitments.

I may as well have been speaking Greek to this person. They scheduled me for every shift possible. 7-4, 8-5, you name it. I not only missed several chances to work in a school but also missed Ash Wednesday twice, Holy Thursday and Good Friday as well as having to work on Easter Sunday, a HUGE day of obligation. I've also had to deal with associates that act as if they are management as well as management that is as clueless as the current Bush administration. You asked the question, I answered it as honestly as possible. You chose to ignore that information. As Dr. Phil once said, "Don't ask the questions if you don't like the answers."

Then came a chance to go to Miami and audition at Florida International University, after I had been accepted by the school. The notice of the acceptance was in April of 2006 but they needed me down there in December. So I made a request for that time off in April, following "their" guidelines. Did I get the time off? No. Their reasoning (if you could call it reasoning) was that I could not be spared for that time because it was Christmas. That is bullshit in the highest form. I played by your rules, you ruined my personal life as well as my liturgical life and now you're telling me I can't go for four days during this time because it's a personal matter.

Wal Mart says they care for the individual. They say they are a family friendly company. If you believe those lies, then there's going to be ice skating in hell in the morning. I am actually waiting and praying for the day that Wal Mart goes belly up, like a goldfish in a bowl. They drive out smaller stores, including the mom and pop stores, they don't play by the rules, their own or anyone elses, they throw out enough pet food to keep a kennel in business for two years, waste more food than a person can eat and want you to dance to their tune. I want their workers to go union as soon as possible to send them a message. Respect our time and right to go to church. If we tell you that we have commitments that are important to us, respect that. You're bullies and it's time someone cleaned your clock!

So as you can see, it seems that I am not the only person with a beef against Wally. Their practices would send them to hell (no, wait. They'd try to take that over!).

Well I love Wal-mart. It is a great company.

Keep up the good fight.

I absolutely REFUSE sto step foot in Wal-marts of any kind....my husband is a union trucker, and they've gotten tons and tons of info about why NOT to shop Wal-mart.......there is also a DVD out now about all the bad, negative stuff Wal-mart is doing/has done in the past.......I will drive miles out of my way to avoid Wal-mart at ALL costs..........
Actually, Super Target is much, much nicer.......also, much nicer, cleaner stores, with very colorful department areas......it's a much more pleasant shopping experience. They also offer a huge selection of food products not available at the typical grocery store........
I cannot EVER seeing myself in a Wal-mart store as long as I live......but this comes from a UNION family, too!!!!!

i shop there because its cheap, have not heard anything bad about them around here

All you people that say it saves you money are wrong. Since I've stopped shopping there I have saved 100's of dollars. It's like this Walmart trys to avoid accepting money saving coupons. Most won't even try printed coupons, that's money you are flushing down the pot right there.

Next they have a great way of getting you to buy stuff you don't need, how many times did you go in for one thing and walk out with a cart? Yes it happens at other stores but with walmart being so big there is a lot more to tempt you with and in most cases you still come out with more than had you gone to say Target.

Next - Quality, I stopped shopping there 2 1/2 years ago and recently I did an inventory, I have almost nothing left from Walmart. I've hard to replace almost everything. If it's not going to last, it isn't going to save you money. When it comes to them you get what you pay for.

Service - HA what service.

Returns - don't get me started.

Smell - walk by the dressing rooms in any walmart and tell me it doesn't smell like butt.

People - People who shop at walmart in my areas seriously are slobs. Not only do they not care about themselves, the store, the parking lot, their carts, their manners, but they don't give a darn about you. You are worthless to them, they'll run you over (yes i mean with their cart OR car).

It's just a god awful place.