Wednesday, August 20, 2008

The Dark Side

Well I did it. I crossed over.

First things first... Walmart had the biggest shopping carts I had ever seen! I had no problem fitting my huge purse, Kid, and all the stuff I could ever want to buy in there. Clever Walmart very clever... but I'm not falling for it!


Overall I will say that aesthetically Walmart has nothing on Target. It's akin to Meijer or Kmart. This SuperCenter had almost no organic foods so I wasn't able to do a price comparison there... but I can say that the prices on a whole are very similar to Target's. You are not saving more by shopping there. While somethings were a bit cheaper others (like $3 more for diapers!) were a bit more expensive.

One thing I found to be hilarious was the staging of this nightstand in the furniture department. What's wrong with this picture?

I don't think I've ever even seen an ashtray at Target... much less one used in an alluring bedside tablescape!

33 comments:

Michelle said...

Say it isn't soooo!!! NOT WALMART!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I may take back my offer for coffee! LOL joking

Ewee an ashtray on the nightstand. Reminds me of Mad Men, it shows them smoking in bed. During one show I cant to count how many are lit up.

Michelle

Michelle said...

***want

Sorry I am a typo freak!!

artsci said...

Dude, Meijer is NOT as bad as Wal-Mart. In fact, that is what we say every time we go there.

"I just bought tomatoes, pears, grapes, and goat cheese at Meijer - you know, it is NOT as bad as Wal-Mart."

Or, "I can't believe how lucky we were that there was a Meijer here(Holland), I thought that we were going to have to go to Wal-Mart." To which my husband replied, "I know, I really didn't want to deal with that."

Julie said...

Too funny.

ashtray?! That is so telling of the typical clientele at Walmart, ya know.

Diapers were always so much cheaper at Walmart for me than at Target. Actually the cheap diapers are what got me to go into Walmart in the first place. Yes, I would pass over into the dark side for a couple of bucks.

Jaime said...

I find Walmart cathartic....but that's probably because we only have Walmart or the Canadian version which is Zellers and for the most part Zellers sucks. I guess I relate to Walmart here the way you relate to Target in the US.

The ashtray is curious and hilarious. I have never seen anything like that at any of our Walmarts.

As for the comment made about Mad Men...we joke that the smoking in the show is like a drinking game. Every time someone lights up, we shout "drink". I could be hammered in 20 minutes. :)

Michelle said...

LOL yeah between them smoking and drinking you'd have a good buzz.

Guess what is for lunch? Takeout from Lucky O.

Anonymous said...

We drive the same van too. I NEVER go to Walmart, I love Target and only the lure of a Martha Stewart sectional for my porch could make me go to KMart. I don't know why I feel this way but I do...I drive 45 minutes to get to Trader Joes. My local grocery has been making the switch to a great Organic section.Even mixing in with all of the other stuff in each section a decent amount of organic choices. My kids snubbed Newmans cookies. I would raher bake my own anyway. Did I tell you that I bought all organic last trip? You inspired me.

Suzy said...

Well I guess desperate times call for desperate measures, eh? That ash tray sums it up perfectly...including their corporate policies. Hee hee. Did you feel like you needed to wash your hands afterwards? Score on the Amish romance novels though. :)

SUNSHINE MOM said...

I know this has nothing to do with your Wal-Mart trip...but I am random...what can I say?

ANyways....I just got back from Pa visiting my bro and...thought of you.....I saw lots of Amish....I didn not have my camera the day we saw them so I got a few pics with my camera phone and will be posting them soon. I too....am very intrigued by the Amish

Elizabeth said...

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH.

Wal-Mart. I went there pretty much every day this summer. That's what happens when you do theater in the middle of no where. Still hated it every time.

Where were ubiquitous ashtrays when I needed one? In Boston I wanted one for my friends (to contain the butts they would otherwise just throw off my balcony ick!) and I couldn't find ANY!

Torey said...

Wow! You found it! It's a beast to find.

Sorry you had to suffer through the darkside. Next thing you know, your kids will be wearing Nascar shirts and daisy dukes!


(I'm totally kidding, but it might help you fit in!)

Mrs Furious said...

Amy,
It's true that at Meijer at least I always felt good about supporting a local business. Plus they have a fair amount of Organic stuff now... and you can always get a gold fish while you're there if the impulse should come over you ;)


Supermom,
"I may take back my offer for coffee!"
oh phew that was a close one ;)

Julie,
I can only go buy the Huggies price which was $20.99 for what would have been $17.99 at Target. I did buy the Walmart brand while I was there... since we were actually completely out of diapers and they are much nicer than the Target brand (get on it Target!).

bi0nicw0man,
Oh just wait until you can get yourself into a Target... it's like Heaven ;)

Out of Hand,
I don't want to tell you this BUT Walmart does have a line of Martha Stewart crafts...I was momentarily sucked in...

I'm about to drive 3 hours to the closest TJs so I can stock up on my "must haves".... I need my chocolate croissants, and chicken broth, and pancake mix, frozen veggies, and dark chocolate caramels!!!! So I completely understand.

Also once you go all organic I think things actually stat to become cheaper... there are a lot less random impulse buys in my cart now. Good work on you last trip!

Suzy,
It was actually a pretty funny shopping trip since I was both trying to check out everything but also trying to do it as quickly as possible so I wouldn't get sucked in to buying anything. I was afraid it would be more tempting than it was... thankfully there is no reason to ever go back.


Sunshine Mom,
The Amish are never off topic! ;)


Elizabeth,
too bad you couldn't just swipe one from Mame ;)


Torey,
"Next thing you know, your kids will be wearing Nascar shirts and daisy dukes!"

hahahaha

P.O.M. said...

Oh lordy. "Alluring bedside tablescape" my ass.

I'm sure there were some exciting observations (people, etc) that we would love hear about. Although, it could get you in trouble again. But "trouble" is your middle name.

HC said...

I just bought a big old 40 inch flat screen TV for my bedroom at Walmart today, replacing my old 19 incher. It was the biggest purchase I have ever made, and I'm still kinda freaked out about it. Enjoying it, but freaking out.

I called Adam at work to tell him what I bought and I think he spontaneously orgasmed.

michelline said...

Walmart was the only place we could find D batteries to get us through the power outages we're expecting for Tropical Storm Fay. Otherwise, we try to avoid it at all costs.

Heather said...

re: diapers: how about diapers.com? Are those prices comparable?

Mrs Furious said...

Heather,
just checked the prices at diapers.com and they are not cheaper than Target.

Chris Howard said...

I don't know what kind of fancy shopping carts you guys had up north :), but that's a standard shopping cart round these parts. Looks just like a Winn Dixie or Publix cart. Food Lion always had these weird carts that they used instead of having a checkout belt thingy.

Mr Furious said...

Ingles is a local grocery chain and they have some wacky carts. They take the cart on the cashier side and unpack it. One of the stores has those wacky high carts with the tailgate that flops down to unload—I haven't seen one of those since I was a kid...

Mr Furious said...

I think we went to Wal*Mart one time when we lived in MI. I don't think we bought anything, we were checking out the outdoor patio stuff...

I'm glad it sucked, because I'd really prefer not to support them in any way.

Mrs F might have an interesting follow-up story on some of her "goods."

Kiki said...

Ummm, I think I am one of the few who doesn't mind WalMart so much...sometimes its a little too much sensory overload and I find people shopping with their SMALL children at midnight to be curious...but who am I too judge, single mom, no one to watch your kid(s)...rock on with your bad self!

I have been completely coveting the MS stuff at WalMart....and Out of Hand...you know you go to WalMart when you are here, visiting us!!! You love it, admit it!!!

Mrs Furious said...

Chris,
you can't tell from that angle but it was like 1.5 times the size of a Target cart... it was truly super sized.


Haley,
Oprah would not agree with that... but Mr F probably would ;)


P.O.M.,
"Although, it could get you in trouble again."
Tell me about it... oh I'm about to stir up some trouble something fierce... just you wait ;)


Kiki,
I was wondering if some are nicer than others. I thought this one might be a *good* one but now I'm not so sure. Shhh.... I bought some MS crafts ;)

Chris Howard said...

Ingles is a local grocery chain and they have some wacky carts.

We don't have those here but I've been to them in Georgia. Food Lion was kind of like that too.

Kiki said...

Oh no...none of them are "nice", but I just know what to expect...and the people who cashier there, I make it my mission to be especially kind to them because they get beat on so badly. It is cardio for my heart to make them enjoy my visit with them!!! Oh and when my sweet momma first moved here and she and my dad had no jobs... she was a cashier at WalMart, when she tells me stories of how she was treated (by customers) it brings tears to my eyes...that was several years ago, now she works at the newspaper here, much better!!!

Kiki said...

Will we see the pics of the goods that you scored??? Please???!!

Amy said...

that looks like some cheap redneck motel. lol! nice, walmart

Missives From Suburbia said...

I wonder if it's about the brand of diapers or the regional area of the country. Diapers.com kicks Target's butt on Pampers unless there's a sale, in which case the per-diaper price is absolute parity. (Man, I feel like a dork even saying that, particularly because it brings to mind the image of me standing in the aisle with my calculator, actually doing the math.) I haven't checked Wal-Mart, because the Wal-Marts in the Twin Cities are in the most life-threatening parts of town.

How often are you going to make the trip to TJ's? I'm gauging your level of dedication. ;)

Mrs Furious said...

Deb,
That all depends on whether I get a chest freezer or not.
I don't buy pampers so I can't speak to their prices only Huggies. Pampers smell ;)

Jaime said...

There are definitely "nicer" Walmarts and "shittier" Walmarts...up here anyway. Generally referred to as "new" and "old".

We had a couple back home. The old shitty one was poorly laid out and always dirty, and super-duper crowded....like makes you want to pull your hair out crowded.

But there was a new one out in the suburbs next to all the other big box stores and it was way better. Good layout, generally cleaner, easy to get around. Worth the 20 minute drive.

I've noticed a similar situation here in Halifax. We actually seem to have 4 or 5 of them here. The one closest to our place is somewhere in between the new and old, so it's OK but not great. However, I recently discovered a brand new 24 hour one over by our friends place and it's pretty great.

Like I said, we don't have much choice up here. Walmart actually bought out our old Woolco's (which were old and crappy anyway)...we no longer have K-Mart (anywhere that I've lived)...and Zellers never has the right items or the lower price.

lucinda said...

Did I tell you that when we were in Jamestown I wen to Walmart with David's sister and we saw Amish there shopping? For real.

Mrs Furious said...

Mother why do you not call me anymore!?!?

Mrs Furious said...

bi0nicw0man,
now I'm left wondering if this was a *good* one or *bad* one....

Missives From Suburbia said...

Hey... thought of you this morning when I saw this post:

http://formeforonce.blogspot.com/2008/08/organics-simplified.html

And Pampers DO smell. They didn't used to, but a while after the kid was born, they started building in a urine-like smell. Sadly, they're the only things that fit my assless kid, so we stay with them, and my discerning nose has learned the difference between real pee and manufactured pee.

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