My Wal-Mart Story
I've been to a Wal-Mart a total of only three times. Each time I have come away with a feeling that I wasted my time and should have gone elsewhere to get what I needed.
My last trip was to purchase gym shoes for my children. After wading through isles of "cheap" merchandise, we arrived at the shoe racks. Fighting our way through the crowds, we finally reached the gym-shoe racks where we proceeded to look at the available selections. The kids found a few favorites and began to try them on, but after a half hour of searching and fitting in vain I had enough. I didn't care even if the shoes were free.
In a moment of epiphany it occurred to me that if I wanted to buy gym shoes, Wal-Mart wasn't going to fit the bill. I needed to go to a sportswear store and try my luck there. And so we packed the kids in the car and headed straight to a Footlocker in the nearby mall. There we were waited on by one of the staff members who made sure that the shoes we bought were of the size and the style we wanted. The kids got what they wanted and I came away with a pleasant experience, and yes, I probably paid twice the amount I might have spent in Wal-Mart. And to me it was worth every penny.
Now who am I to knock Wal-Mart? Obviously the retail store is making all the right moves, judging by its overwhelming growth it has experienced through the years.
Maybe the next time I need paper towels, I would visit a Wal-Mart. But when the time comes for the kids to get their next pairs of gym shoes (and that won't take long), Wal-Mart will be off my list.
Give a few Sats