Target > Walmart

[GRIFFIN1]

Originally posted by: Mathcop
I also prefer Target to Wally World. Cleaner stores, nicer atmosphere, wider aisles, etc. Wallly has just become too large. Most (not all) Wally employees seem to know almost nothing about what they are doing. And forget about K-Mart. I gave up on them long ago. We have all 3 within a couple of blocks in my town and I choose Target whenever I can, meaning whenever I don't need something specific and exclusive to Wal-Mart - LOL (and K-mart is not even given a consideration).

However, I heard something disturbing yesterday about Target. A lady here at work was passing around printed copies of a letter about Target. At the moment I do not have a copy of this letter. If I can locate one, I may post parts of it. It stated thet Target refused to support the Vietnam War Memorial. It said they only support a few socailly acceptable, politically correct causes (my description ... the letter gave specific ones, I just don't remember off the top of my head). It went on to say that Target is French owned. The gist of it all seemed to be that Target is Anti-American. The obvious purpose was to inflame people into boycotting Target.

I am not naive enough to believe everything I read and I would never even consider this information without some documented proof. I'm just curious if anyone has heard any of this and/or knows if any if this is true. A couple of you have posted about working there ..... any truth to this? Does it matter?

The other side of the story.

As long as all the idiots are in Walmart, I'll keep going to Target.

 

[Vic]

I hate Wal-Mart.

Back when I was a kid struggling through the recession of the '70s, there was this huge chain of stores that sold products at very low prices and became very popular. But then people realized that the reason this chain was able to sell so cheaply was because the goods were of the lowest quality. That was K-Mart.
Such is Wal-Mart today.

And let me ask something... just how much money do you save driving all the way across town, fighting through a crowded parking lot, and fighting through a crowded store with inattentive CSR's who couldn't give a damn? Woohoo, you waste a quarter tank of gas and spend 2+ hours of your time frazzled just to save $5 bucks off your $200 receipt.

BTW, I think the same thing of the upscale Wal-Mart for the more affluent middle-class aka Costco.

edit: Target's alright, and I do shop there from time-to-time, but I'm not a big fan of their return policy.

 

[Mathcop]

Originally posted by: GRIFFIN1
The other side of the story.

As long as all the idiots are in Walmart, I'll keep going to Target.

Thanks for the link, however, the site is blocked from my work PC. How about some Cliff's notes?

 

[HiTek21]

I avoid the walmart around here. So many people shop there the parking lot is a zoo not to meantion the store.

 

[RagingBITCH]

I hate Walmart too. There's one just 5 minutes down the road from me. I've gone there at 7 in the morning, noon, 5 pm, 10pm, and 2 in the morning and have to wait 20+ minutes in line. Doesn't matter what time it is at all. Like stated, Target is cleaner and has a nicer atmosphere imo

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: wyvrn
Because I thought the Sears thread was cool, I started a Target thread

Walmart just upgraded their store to a supercenter in my town. It's huge but every time I go there, I get crappy selection and have to wait in LONG lines. For instance, whenever I go to buy diapers, they are sold out of Luvs (my fave brand) and the next best off-brand. I end up having to spring for overpriced pampers or huggies. It's the same with a lot of their merchandise. And whats up with the lines? They have 25 registers open (seriously) and 5-7 people lined up at each one of them. It takes 20 minutes waiting and I hate waiting. The only thing I like Walmart for is the specialty products, like the eyeglasses I bought last week for $100. Nice frames for $52 and the lenses for $40. That's a deal I cannot beat anywhere else, and I didn't have to wait in line. But for everyday stuff, I go to Target. The store is cleaner, has good selection and prices, and I rarely have to wait in line more than 5 minutes.

I'd have to agree pretty much with what you said. But I'd like to point out a couple of things:
1) Walmart has other registers hidden throughout the building, use them instead (gun counter, beauty counter, gardening, etc) and save yourself the wait.
2) Walmart only sells discontinued frames. Thus if you break anything, you likely will have to buy a whole new set of frames and lenses. The lense shape won't be able to be repeated if you need a new prescription either so if your prescription changes you usually need to buy a new set of frames (where if you buy up to date frames, you can just replace the lenses and keep the frames). Finally you are already several years behind in the fashion world by starting with discontinued frames (if fashion matters to you).

 

[Dulanic]

I shop at the Super Target here all the time, it's where I do the majority of my grocery shopping. However they need a little help, a few items are majorly overpriced, and that forces me to go somewhere else for a few items which always pisses me off. Their also VERY bad with stocking... there is ALWAYS a few items on my list that are out of stock when I go in.

 

[Stark]

i can't understand how walmart became the behemoth it is.

stupid workers making minimum wage.
cheap, shoddy chinese merchandise (so much for "buy american" policies)
aisles so narrow two shopping carts can barely get past each other
snack selection that makes dr atkins spin in his grave

and yet the place is always busy.

 

[ATLien247]

I've found that grocery prices are a lot lower at the local Wal-Mart Supercenter than they are at the local Super Target, and most other local grocers for that matter.

So long as I avoid shopping at Wal-Mart on Saturdays, I also find that it's not all that busy...

 

[wyvrn]

Originally posted by: dullard
I'd have to agree pretty much with what you said. But I'd like to point out a couple of things:
1) Walmart has other registers hidden throughout the building, use them instead (gun counter, beauty counter, gardening, etc) and save yourself the wait.
2) Walmart only sells discontinued frames. Thus if you break anything, you likely will have to buy a whole new set of frames and lenses. The lense shape won't be able to be repeated if you need a new prescription either so if your prescription changes you usually need to buy a new set of frames (where if you buy up to date frames, you can just replace the lenses and keep the frames). Finally you are already several years behind in the fashion world by starting with discontinued frames (if fashion matters to you).

1) Yeah I knew about that, but even those lines are busy a lot of the time. My walmart is literally crawling with people. And most of the time there aren't people at those counters anyway.

2) I didn't know about the discounted frames, but that works in my favor. The worse I have done to my glasses was a small chip near the edge, and even then I wore them for an additional year before buying these. I am also pretty relaxed on fashion, I buy what I think looks good and don't go for the fads. Fits my needs perfectly. The expensive lightweights I bought from Pearl last time were nice but not worth the price in the end.

When I shop at Target, I pay a bit more but I feel like I get a better product. I have started to use Walmart only for those items that are exactly the same in quality/brand but have a significantly lower price (which is rare). I am using Costo more and more lately because their warranty is excellent and they run a clean store near me, like Target. I quit going to Sams a few years ago because their prices are near retail and Costo beats them soundly.

 

[conjur]

Originally posted by: Mathcop

Originally posted by: GRIFFIN1
The other side of the story.

As long as all the idiots are in Walmart, I'll keep going to Target.

Thanks for the link, however, the site is blocked from my work PC. How about some Cliff's notes?

Comments: I contacted the Target Corporation, which informed me that the above incident did actually happen, but it was a case of miscommunication, not a blanket refusal on the company's part to support Vietnam Veterans.

The specific request was turned down, Target says, because company policy prohibits individual stores from handing out donations except in the form of gift cards. Requests for cash grants must go through corporate headquarters.

"Unfortunately," Target's statement continues, "the veteran and his organization were not provided the proper information to facilitate consideration of a grant from either the store or our corporate office. We are truly sorry for the manner in which this was handled and the resulting confusion that has taken place."

According to a Veterans of Foreign Wars press release defending the company, Target has agreed to be a corporate sponsor of the 2003 tour of The Wall that Heals, a traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Update - 2003 Variants: What began as an exaggerated account of a real incident grows more and more false as additional claims and comments are anonymously added to the message:


In February 2003 (six months after the message first began circulating) a variant appeared containing the addendum "Also, TARGET STORES will not donate to the Marines for Toys For Tots either!" I couldn't find any information to substantiate this claim ? indeed, historically, Target stores have participated in the Toys for Tots program, though it appears the decision whether or not to do so is made on an individual, store-by-store basis.

In March 2003 yet another variant appeared in which the sentence "They only donate to the areas of arts, social actions and education" was changed to read, "We only donate to the areas of the arts, social actions, gay and lesbian causes, and education." Like the previous allegation about Toys for Tots, the phrase "gay and lesbian causes" was obviously inserted into the message ? by someone other than its original author ? for no other purpose than to incite fury and outrage in its intended audience.

At approximately the same time, a variant appeared combining into one message all the charges above with unrelated allegations that the auto parts retailer Pep Boys has summarily fired all military reserve and National Guard employees called to active duty.

And, in a France-bashing April 2003 revision, the false claim "TARGET IS FRENCH-OWNED ? WHAT WOULD YOU EXPECT?" was anonymously appended to the message.

 

[Ns1]

yeah target is a little bit more expensive than walmart....


but their stuff is always on the ground not on the shelves, not overrun by 30750834503845 people, and lines that are acceptable in length


crappy place to work however

 

[CraigRT]

I HATE WAL-MART

long lines, pushy ignorant people in the hallways.. that place is HELL!

 

[Stark]

the walmart you don't know

 

[JBT]

Target PWNZ Walmart, who smells like hotdogs and gross ness

 

[DT4K]

Originally posted by: Vic
I hate Wal-Mart.

Back when I was a kid struggling through the recession of the '70s, there was this huge chain of stores that sold products at very low prices and became very popular. But then people realized that the reason this chain was able to sell so cheaply was because the goods were of the lowest quality. That was K-Mart.
Such is Wal-Mart today.

And let me ask something... just how much money do you save driving all the way across town, fighting through a crowded parking lot, and fighting through a crowded store with inattentive CSR's who couldn't give a damn? Woohoo, you waste a quarter tank of gas and spend 2+ hours of your time frazzled just to save $5 bucks off your $200 receipt.

BTW, I think the same thing of the upscale Wal-Mart for the more affluent middle-class aka Costco.

edit: Target's alright, and I do shop there from time-to-time, but I'm not a big fan of their return policy.

Yes, walmart sells some low quality stuff, but the majority of their products are name brand things that are the same quality no matter where you buy them. Just look at their prices on digital cameras. They can't be beat at another B&M store. Kodak DX4530 - $299. Canon A70 - $274.
I buy a lot of stuff at wal-mart because they generally have the lowest prices when I compare to places like Circuit City, Target, Fred Meyer, Office Depot, Staples, etc.

Costco has very good prices on a lot of good quality products and rarely has cheap, poor quality stuff. The only reason I sometimes go to wal-mart over Costco is that I am looking for something really cheap and Costco only carries the higher end models of the product.

EDIT: I do agree that wal-mart employees are idiots. I stopped bothering to ask them any questions. None of them have ever had a clue about whether or not they carried a certain product or where to find it.

I also agree that the lines and crowds at Costco can suck. But who cares when you get a nice high-quality $1000 mattress set for $649. Or a new PC game that is $50 everywhere else for $34.99 at Costco. But the best deal is the books. New hardcover books that would cost $28 at a bookstore and are $14.99 at Costco.

 

[Thegonagle]

I prefer Target stores. Target has nicer things for the home.

I also think Target is a better corporate citizen, so I feel slightly better when my dollars go in their till instead of Walmart's.

 

[EMPshockwave82]

is that why people talk about how when walmart falls the US economy will be about the same as a group of rats in a sewer / landfill...

target is good and not quite the huge giant as walmart, but walmart still has a huge edge on target and many other retail stores across the US...

 

[Vic]

Wal-Mart is a retailer, nothing more. They are not God. If they fall, it won't be because the US economy tanked, but because other retailer(s) took up the business. Monty Ward's and K-Mart were once behemoths and no one even cared when they fell (yes, I know K-Mart will survive bankruptcy). Why? Because Wal-Mart and Costco stepped in to take up the business (or were in fact actually the cause). If Wal-Mart ever falls -- same thing, different names.

 

[Mathcop]

Originally posted by: NeuroSynapsis
not overrun by 30750834503845 people

I've never seen more than 30750834503844 people there at one time. I think you are exaggerating!

BTW, Thanks for the informative post Conjur. It described the letter I saw exactly. At least I got to see the freshest version of that hoax. It included the French owned line. LOL. Anyway, pretty much what I thought ... all a bunch of hooey over a misunderstanding and incorrect information.

Thanks again.

 

[GambiT]

Walmart is a redneck version of Target.