Lately I've been seeing more and more disparaging remarks and snide references concerning an old friend of mine.
I like to think of myself as a pretty loyal person. If I am friends with someone, I may have a little light-hearted fun at their expense. But for the most part I don't like mean things being said about someone I care about.
And lately it seems that all I hear about this old friend is negative.
I am more than aware of the shortcomings involved here but it really burns me that you never hear of the good.
This good old friend of mine does have a name.
A name that all of you know. I even suspect that a few of you may agree with me more than disagree.
I am talking about my good, longtime friend, Wal-mart.
Yes that's right.
Wal-mart.
I love Wal-mart.
I'm a real stickler when it comes to lower prices. I don't have a problem paying a higher price for something that is of a higher quality.
But.
If you've seen one can of Campbell's Tomato soup, if you need a box of band-aids, if you're after a bottle of Tide, in other words if the quality of the item is already established,
Then why not buy it wherever it's sold for the lowest price?
Ten times out of eleven that place would have to be Wal-mart.
Lately it seems that the biggest slander of all are the people shouting about Target being so much better than Wal-mart.
Now I also love Target.
Therefore I will not denigrate it at all seeing as how it is another old friend. Target has a calm, well arranged, almost soothing, feeling to it. Their prices are also kept pretty low. I like Target and I will always shop there.
I just don't understand why with so many people you have to pick either to support team Wal-mart or team Target.
WHY?
It reminds me of the people who many years ago used to feel that if you liked the "Beatles" then you couldn't also like the "Stones".
Isn't that one of the most ridiculous things.
Well I like Wal-mart and I'm not ashamed to admit it.
Granted, I'm not a fan of going there every day, sometimes even a couple of times a day.
(That would be Shawn's agenda.)
There really are very few things that I wouldn't buy at Wal-mart.
The critics, like to say, that Wal-mart's clothing is atrocious. I don't agree.
If you are a plus sized or an extra large type girl as I happen to be, you'll find that Wal-mart's section of clothing is quite vast.
And as much as I like Target, they don't seem to offer anything more than the most basic items for the Larger woman. Lately their maternity section has been squeezing out their plus sizes.
So I buy quite a few of my wardrobe pieces at Wal-mart. That leaves me with a lot more money to spend at Macy's or J C Penney's (I have known people who have the audacity to look down their noses at Penney's as well. Which is funny because they carry a few of the same lines that Macy's does.)
Anyway, Wal-mart has made it possible for me to drop eighty bucks on a jacket from Macy's since the top to go with it cost only fourteen at Wally's World.
One of my favorite bargains in the Men's clothing section of Wal-mart would have to be their own brand of Men's jeans that sell for eight dollars a pop. Shawn loves them.
He's secure enough to not care if they don't have a Levi's or Abercrombie tag on them.
In fact, I kind of think, that it takes a certain amount of self esteem to shop at Wal-mart.
People who claim to hate it, I think that at least a little of that, is being afraid of looking like losers who admit to shopping at Wal-mart.
Well, I am NOT a loser. And I have a healthy enough sense of self to gladly admit to liking Wal-mart.
Now I'm the first to agree that the people who work there aren't always the brightest or best trained. But I have never been treated rudely or badly by them. Instead I find them as helpful as they can be. And as pleasant as they can be.
Many of them wouldn't know how to speak one sentence without butchering the English language. Quite a few may have missing teeth or outdated hairstyles, but you know what? That is only skin deep.
In my experience they are good, kind, helpful, people who are just happy to have a job.
I have only been treated poorly one or two times. And I have been shopping there for more than twenty years.
I realize that other parts of the country may have Wal-marts closer to the image that they are usually portrayed as.
With mean and surly employees. Where the stores are filthy and the shelves are a disordered mess. Dirty walls and floors and a bathroom in worse condition than the one down the street at the local Gas Station.
The Wal-marts we have here in the Tri-Cities however are quite clean. With nice, high, well lit, ceilings. Wide aisles. Clean floors. Well organized racks. I certainly don't feel like I need to shower after leaving the store.
And yes, the customers can be, very much, the underbelly of society.
But even those people can be thoughtful and kind.
So the next time you read or hear of the "Lowly Wal-mart" please don't be so quick to agree.
Wal-mart started out as one, smallish, local, backwater little store. The fact that it has grown to be a retail giant proves that it must be doing something right.
I know that in this country it's, for some reason, become popular to hate those small businesses that have found success. Isn't that anyone's goal when starting out?
I say stop punishing those companies that have found success. Be glad for them.
After all, isn't that the "Real" American Way?
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