How do you feel about Wal-Mart?

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-04-2008
How do you feel about Wal-Mart?
383
Wed, 11-26-2008 - 6:23pm

I read this op/ed (it's tied in with the automotive industry issues) http://www.indystar.com/article/20081119/OPINION12/811190304/1301/ARCHIVE the other day and it got me thinking. I've always heard about the lousy way they treat their employees but...it's their prices that keep me going back. Since I've moved to the South it's been even worse. They have Super Wal-Marts here where there is a grocery store in the Wal-Mart.

Now, there was an article the other day in my local newspaper with the mayor asking people to do their Christmas shopping downtown and buy local to support our mom & pop stores. Now, I'd love to do that but I have three kids and you know where I'm going.

Part of me really doesn't like what Wal-Mart stands for but the other part of me feels like "why should I pay more when I know I can get it cheaper there?"

Any thoughts?

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iVillage Member
Registered: 08-28-2008
Fri, 11-28-2008 - 5:17pm
Wal-Mart Sucks.
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-20-2008
Fri, 11-28-2008 - 5:39pm
I remember that. i also remember a bunch of counterfeit ones coming out at the same time. Thinking about it, the only thing that drives this sort of thing to happen is the media. would we ever have known what a cabbage patch doll was if adverts weren't so rampant about it? *LOL* i have to say i hate the media more than i hate walmart...haha! ;)
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-20-2008
Fri, 11-28-2008 - 5:44pm

This isn't walmart, but what is wrong with people today????

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,458890,00.html

2 Shot Dead at California Toys R Us

Friday, November 28, 2008


Two men were shot and killed Friday inside a Toys R Us in Palm Desert, Calif., during a confrontation apparently involving rival groups, city officials said.

Palm Desert Councilman Jim Ferguson said police told him two men with handguns shot and killed each other. Ferguson said he asked police whether the incident was a dispute over a toy or whether it was gang-related. He said police told him they were not going to release further details until the victims' relatives were notified.

"I think the obvious question everyone has is who takes loaded weapons into a Toys "R" Us?" he said. "I doubt it was the casual holiday shopper."

City spokeswoman Sheila Gilligan said police told her the shooting broke out between "two groups of individuals that have a dispute with each other."

Riverside County sheriff's Sgt. Dennis Gutierrez said Palm Desert police got a call saying shots had been fired inside the store around 11:35 a.m.

"We have two dead individuals inside the store," Gutierrez said. "The events of why the shots were fired is still ongoing."

Witnesses are calling the incident a murder-suicide, but that could not be immediately confirmed.

Shopper Sarah Pacia, of Cathedral City, Calif., told The Desert Sun that she was browsing through the coloring books in the store with her two young sons, ages 4 and 6, when she heard a ruckus coming from the next aisle.

At first, she thought it was a Black Friday scuffle over a toy on sale, the paper reported. Then she heard three or four shots ring out. Store employees quickly escorted her outside.

She said her terrified 4-year-old son Jayden clung to her leg and told her that he didn't want to die.

"This is Toys R Us. There are kids shopping in there," Pacia told the Sun.

Immediately after the shooting, about 20 people rushed into the World Gym across the street from Toys 'R' Us, the gym's assistant manager Glenn Splain told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

"They were crying, tearing and shaking," Splain said, adding that one woman came in cradling a baby.

"Some people got into a fight," said Splain, who spoke with some of the customers. "One of the guys here thought it was over a toy but it got louder and louder and then there were gunshots."

Palm Desert is about two hours southeast of Los Angeles.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-04-2003
Fri, 11-28-2008 - 6:09pm

You beat me to it. This is ridiculous!


iVillage Member
Registered: 07-03-2008
Fri, 11-28-2008 - 6:17pm

Yes, it is ridiculous. I know friends who buy everything online. So many places have free shipping if you spend a certain amount. I have bought lots online. Sometines because you can't buy it in the stores. I just bough and got a Cd from a group called Celtic Crossroads. They are from Ireland. The CD was mailed from Ireland also. We are going to see them perform locally in January.


People are crazy at times, knocking other people over for good buys. In the movie Christmas with the Kranks---very funny movie Jamie Lee Curtis plays the Mom wanting to buy a canned Honey glazed Ham, and what she went through was histerical.

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-05-2008
Fri, 11-28-2008 - 6:59pm
And "rush" concert seating was pretty much outlawed everywhere after that horrific incident. Wonder what changes Walmart will make?

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iVillage Member
Registered: 11-19-2008
Fri, 11-28-2008 - 7:01pm

>>> Both sides of that debate have an 'agenda' so the 'truth' is difficult to discern. One groups 'truth' is frequently labeled 'lies and propaganda' by the opposition - happens all the time.

But there is also an empirical truth...jobs are created...customers do buy goods...taxes are paid...etc

>>> If the community has done their research they have likely looked at what occurs when Wal-Mart moves into an area. For some economies it has been devastating, for others not so much, but the communities should be the ones to make the final decision - for better or worse - about allowing or disallowing a new business. It happens all the time, it's just harder to fight Wal-Mart's 'big pockets'.

When, and in what way, has a Wal-Mart been "devastating" to a community? Specifically please.

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-19-2008
Fri, 11-28-2008 - 7:40pm

>>> I'm beginning to see the disconnect between you and the majority of the rest of the entire world. You classify Walmart's goods as "quality"? There it is.

LOL! I'm afraid that it's you who's "disconnected" if you imagine "the majority of the rest of the entire world" thinks like you do...as evidenced by the millions and millions who avail themselves of Wal-Mart's goods and services every day and walk away happy and satisfied. Quality is relative...except for liberal elitists and snobs. Most people can't afford $1000 suits or $10,000 flat screen TVs. For those of us who aren't liberal elitists and snobs, Wal-Mart provides products that are reliable and meet the needs of average Americans at a price average Americans can afford.

>>> Low prices, some times, especially on all their "imported" stuff. Service, not much. 20 checkout lanes, and 4 checkers. Service desk rarely manned. The "stuff" someone bought that they want to return because of defects or just junk after it's opened, save an hour or two out of your day cause that's how long it will take to get a refund.

Oh, Heavens...you weren't inconvenienced by having to wait a few moments to check out or return something, were you? I can't speak for the experiences of elitist liberal snobs, but when I've been to Wal-Mart I've had pretty quick checkouts, and the return process has been comparable with Target or Kmart or Sears or Home Depot, etc.

>>> And they do close down the mom and pop businesses, "historically" speaking where I live with the exception of quality clothing stores, thank goodness.

Who cares? I'm sure the auto companies put a lot of livery stables out of business too...oops, the world marched on! The internet is putting a lot of mom and pop stores out of business too, but I don't see elitist liberal snobs campaigning against the internet. If you can't compete, off you go...the people have spoken.

>>> People might find if they buy quality clothing, you can wash it more than three times before it's shrunk, faded or falling apart. You actually end up saving money.

As I said, most people aren't elitist snobs. They're trying to get by on a budget, and buying little Bobby and Cindy $100 jeans or $200 shoes that they'll outgrow in 6 months doesn't really end up being the savings you might think it is.

>>> Buy American, not Chinease if after what the neo-conservatives have done to you allows you to be able to afford it.

LOL! It's the Dems that have screwed the country and are too gutless to admit their mistake...no big surprise. Who has ever accused Democrats of having integrity? As for your other silly point...most Americans aren't anal enough to look at the tags. They buy the quality goods they need at a price they can afford...regardless of where they're made.

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-19-2008
Fri, 11-28-2008 - 7:42pm
Thank God Wal-Mart's there to help provide these poor people with the jobs they need.
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-19-2008
Fri, 11-28-2008 - 7:58pm

>>> On balance I don't wish to delve too far into this debate, but I question whether Wal-Mart is good for local communities - or good for our nation.

Of course it is...otherwise it wouldn't exist.

>>> It is not good on an economic level - because it sucks money out of local communities. Yeah, I know, there are signs saying 'x amount of dollars given to..." That amount is peanuts as compared to what they generate in revenue out of that one store.

Wal-Mart stores are revenue GENERATORS for communities...HUGE revenue GENERATORS.

>>> The taxes paid... still does not add much compared to what flows out.

What revenue "flows out?"

>>> The jobs... the jobs would be there.

Really? Where would they come from?

>>> In general, I do not see large retail chains as good for a community overall, because they are consuming machines that take in cash, not generate it.

LOL! The kind of business that doles out cash usually doesn't last very long. Wal-Mart on the other hand, brings in serious cash...and pays serious cash to the community in the form of taxes...not to mention the taxes that the employees pay. And I don't know about your area, but I don't think I've ever seen a lone Wal-Mart sitting in a field. Invariably, there are usually other stores and restaurants that have opened nearby to take advantage of the crows shopping at Wal-Mart. These other business also generate large amounts of taxes...all good for the community, all thanks to Wal-Mart.

>>> And on a purely personal level, when I travel to say... California, walk through a city, or whatever, happen to walk into a store, do I really wish to see the exact same stuff that exists at home? I love unique communities, tht offer a different character, a different feel, a different experience. I can go to Montreal or Quebec City and feel that - one is 250 miles away, the other is 500 (300 as the crow flies.) Yet I cannot go to another part of the nation and find something different. That is a shame. Bring back a local flavour and character to each area!

Have you ever been to a McDonald's in a foreign country? Most people don't go into a McDonald's to be surprised by the menu. It seems equally ridiculous to go to a Wal-Mart and then complain because it ended up being a Wal-Mart.

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