Target or Walmart

Yeah, especially around Christmas there's a mass exodus of Torontonians going to Buffalo because the American prices are cheaper in general, not to mention the exchange rate, even with gas & hotel! :P

(We have Walmart here too; I just meant we used to pat & cheer because we had a semi-Canadian and semi-unionized discount store to choose over the Walmarts)

I know, but it is funny to me because crossing the border is such a hassle to me that I can't imagine doing it even to save some money.

I love Target but their food section sucks esp at the one I live less than a 5 min walk from. I like it for home/health/beauty stuff in addition to cheap plain basics like t-shirts, leggings, underwear. I like the design stuff that The Late Great mentioned too. "The Shops at Target" thing has mostly been disappointing though. Dumb idea all around.

I've been to one Walmart once. It was really depressing.

I was once thrown out of a wal-mart for having a magazine in a bag (Modern Drummer) that they had never carried! Of course, i had lost the receipt. I tried to explain the injustice but since I had red hair and I was 16 they just kicked me out.

Spending too much time in either makes me a bit nauseous.

I'm about to say something just tragic but...the Gwen Stefani line of children's clothes for Target is super, super-cute and if it's wrong to clothe Aero Jr. in Gwen's Target line then I cannot & will not be right

tragic kingdom indeed

Walmart has carts like these, which lends my kids the feeling of being on a really bright hay ride.

http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/2176/photo144z.jpg

Also at our Walmart, the greeter is a midget who gives Beeps a sticker every time.

If we ever want to ever enjoy the tuneful stylings of a female Tom Waits in 2040, I'm doing my best.

it's hard to get away from Walmart here

when I enter charges to them in my checkbook register, I shorten the name to "satan"

― pixel farmer, Tuesday, December 7, 2010 10:38 AM (1 year ago)

If I know I have a trip to Tupelo coming in the next few days, I try to hold out on shopping until then, so I can go to Kroger.

There aren't any Targets in this vicinity.

http://target.scene7.com/s7viewers/dhtml/images/spacer.gif

bah humbug

charming story about Walmart: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/k2dwy/iama_walmart_store_manager_try_your_best_not_to/c2h0mjw

I've never been inside a Walmart. I don't like Target either but my wife insists on buying various things there.

i kind of like target and usually pick up my cat food there -- it's rarely that crowded and there's something kind of pleasant and un-hateful about the vibe and aesthetic. the big red plastic shopping carts!

fact: if you voice any criticism of wal-mart to a libertarian, they WILL flip out at you. wal-mart is like the embodiment of everything they cherish in this life.

like others have said, wal-mart is depressing. the place is dismal, the staff are zombies and the customers are worse. i'm sure there's something classist in my revulsion, but i just don't like being there. i get less weirded and grossed by dusty christian thrift shops that smell of urine and rot.

target may be just as hard on its suppliers and bad for local business, but i like the place. their products and premises are well-designed and inviting, and the staff seem at least roughly cognizant of their surroundings. it's the discount department store as a modern ideal. i always looks forward to target trips, though i rarely do much but wander around looking at toys and DVDs i have no intention of buying.

I go to Target roughly once every two weeks for detergent, paper towels, stuff like that. I frequently wind up walking out with what I came for, plus some random norteno CD or cheap DVD (Bullitt for $5!) that caught my eye.

I have been in Walmart twice and will never go again. The one I was in was disorganized and everything looked dirty. I didn't want to touch anything, so wound up buying nothing. By the time I walked back out into the sunlight I was on the edge of doing that "bugs on me" frantic self-brushing thing.

xp p sure walmart is the embodiment of 'crony capitalism'? some entry level libertarians you're dealing with

Target and Walmart pretty much both suck to work at.

Two things I'll give Target is that they don't go out of their way to pull controversial stuff from the shelves (you can buy the Daily Show's America book, complete with Supreme Court genitalia, if you'd like.)

Also, there is no peopleoftarget.com, that I'm aware of.

But as far as what I'm shopping for and the prices I'm willing to pay, Walmart wins over Target.

ist easy to blow your wad of cash at target

things you never knew you needed

though i rarely do much but wander around looking at toys and DVDs i have no intention of buying.

i wondered whether someone might rep for walmart itt out of creepy fascination/out of appreciation for its weird dystopian late capitalist John Carpenter/mall-horror vibe. like with 24 hour supermarkets, just intriguingly artificial & sense-overloading places to drift around.

i don't really go to either, but if i do go to one of them it's target

I bet walmarts of the future will have no human staff, all robots

ist easy to blow your wad of cash at target

things you never knew you needed

^^^ this. I go every weekend and blow more than I expect on V-necks and shorts when all I wanted was coffee and toilet paper.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xcJRrhi7RQ

i wondered whether someone might rep for walmart itt out of creepy fascination/out of appreciation for its weird dystopian late capitalist John Carpenter/mall-horror vibe. like with 24 hour supermarkets, just intriguingly artificial & sense-overloading places to drift around.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1OCD35Ih27M/Ti51RFq3uCI/AAAAAAAACNk/aeox4NBxLME/s1600/careeropportunities030bx0.png

otm but isn't that target

think that was the point

one thing that really impresses me about target is the quality of their "house brand" stuff. toys, clothes, even food - it's often at least as well-designed as the name brand stuff they carry.

I love their English muffins and meatballs.

the target brand cheezits are an abomination in the eyes of the lord

Target in the Motion Pictures: Career Opportunities
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Career_Opportunities_(film)

Yes, Target has awesome food ... even frozen Indian! I got samosas there. It's great underwear selection. Good booze selection too.

You can't even buy beer at our Target. Wal-Mart's got it covered though.

Target political contributions

Neither

Target: slightly better housewares, also use them for some cosmetics and cheap shoes
Walmart: Royal Oak Charcoal is about the only thing we ever buy from them, for Mr Veg's bbq

I've never had a good experience with any food item from Target's house brands.

they had some house brand fizzy lemonade thing that was pretty good that we used to buy

Is Archer Farms the Target food brand? (Google says yes.) I tried the chocolate covered almonds and the "chocolate" was virtually tasteless, which put me off the brand for a while. I've since had the roasted nuts/trail mixes and they're OK, but the Trader Joe's versions are cheaper. Also had one of the granolas - same story.

Used to pride myself in never have been in a Walmart (except once in desparation in Missouri), but I've since shopped there a few times, and is a little depressing, but no big deal. They do have a better selection in the camping dept than any other big department store. The neasrest store is 6-8 miles away, so I don't go there except when I'm in the area anyway and need something.

Target's in-house foie gras is tres declassé

Distance from my house to local Wal-Mart: 0.9 miles.
Distance from my house to local Target: 1.5 miles.

I would not go to that Wal-Mart if my dick was on fire and they had all the water in the world,

The lines would terrible anyhow

I buy plastic bins/storage shit/tupperware/etc. at Walmart b/c they have shit 4 cheap that is way more durable than the dollar-store equivalent. Also, they are the only place I know of in my area that stocks these (even in the winter!), so sometimes I go on special popsicle quests to WM.

http://static.caloriecount.about.com/images/medium/edys-lemonade-fruit-bar-53734.jpg

Although I am by no means a fan of their business model, the WM cultural experience has for me not been profoundly different than that of the Michigan-based chain, Meijer, which are everywhere there.

I'm pretty sure I've been to Target all of 3-5 times maybe - again, I try to avoid b/c not too keen on their business practices. I did, however, pick up some decent bedding there on some ridiculous clearance sale for like 80% off, so maybe I should stop thru more often & what other exciting bargains I've been missing out on!

Walmart staff seems to 70% middle-aged women sporting injuries - eyepatches, slings, neckbraces...it's v weird.

Target seems to have barely any floor staff anywhere, half of them discreetly checking their phones every 10 mins. And their checkout system is a nightmare. Piggybacked checkouts, at least, what 10 lanes...and only 3 randoms open. EVER. I've never seen them running full checkout lines, even during Christmas.
and I hate their stupid big red plastic toy carts and baskets. HATE.

No trouble at mine! Smiling employees who speak English and Spanish. I think they're drugged.

I've been to Target all of 3-5 times maybe - again, I try to avoid b/c not too keen on their business practices

And yet you still shop at Wal-Mart? I mean, I'm not a fan of a lot of Target's practices either, but they are light years ahead of the shit Wal-Mart does.

yeah well, as I mentioned, I do buy plastic bins and popsicles at Wal Mart, yeah.

The Target near me is pretty good about opening more registers when the lines get too long. I have never seen that at Wal-Mart.

ha, x-post with VG!

OTOH there's this. Not that there are any large retail chains that AREN'T union busters, but still.

http://gawker.com/5912363/targets-getting-another-union-vote-thanks-to-company-misconduct

this is the Target ad I love, mostly because when it came out my SIL and her partner were moving into a new house and my wife and I joked that this is what they did while unpacking:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfqEG7ZPO1k

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/10/1141724/-Walmart-fuels-inequality-epidemic-taking-advantage-of-our-safety-net#

Walmart has become the number one driver behind the growing use of food stamps in the United States with "as many as 80 percent of workers in Wal-Mart stores using food stamps."

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2012_11/the_walmart_way_is_not_the_onl041379.php

Costco pays employees more

Costco is a members-only place with an emphasis on bulk goods, but the Sam's Club/Costco comparison is a good one and Wal-Mart comes out looking horrible.

I think the "you have to have a big family" aspect of Costco is greatly exaggerated, although you do have to have a bit of discipline in order to make optimal use of the place.

In a statement from the United States, Wal-Mart said, “While we are trying to determine if the factory has a current relationship with Walmart or one of our suppliers, fire safety is a critically important area of Walmart’s factory audit program and we have been working across the apparel industry to improve fire safety education and training in Bangladesh.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/26/world/asia/bangladesh-fire-kills-more-than-100-and-injures-many.html

I worked for Walmart in 1999-2001 as a cashier and I was making pretty good money ($10+/hr by the end of it) and working plenty of full-time weeks. Though yeah that was over 10 years ago so maybe things have changed. They were pretty anti-union back then too fwiw.

walmart for president

Rented a RugDoctor from the kiosk at Wal-Mart yesterday. I attempted to return it today and see nothing but a blank screen at the kiosk. I ask an employee if the machine is not working, and she takes one cursory glance at it, and says "must be down", and walks away. Then I ask her what I'm supposed to do with the heavy machine I'm holding and need to return, presuming that since there's a machine in their store, they know who to contact.

Instead, she says "Be right back", then comes back with a supervisor who says "It must be down. You'll need to call RugDoctor and explain the situation to them. We'll vouch for you." They also tell me I can return it at another Walmart with the kiosks (I think this is BS - the kiosks only have enough door slots for the machines that originated at their location).

I really do not want to haul the thing back to my car and into another Walmart, as they're heavy, plus I know RugDoctor isn't going to magically 'waive' my late fees just because I call them, but I do anyway. When I call, it's readily apparently that the store is the one supposed to be calling, because the instructions say for the store to report a kiosk issue at their local district number. All I could do was leave a voicemail.

A couple comes up to rent one and I explain what's going on, and then one of them realizes THE FUCKING THING IS UNPLUGGED, so he plugs it in. Problem solved, we think, but it gets hung up at the startup menu. I found a CS manager to tell her it's plugged in, but stuck at the main menu, and she clearly isn't listening, and walks away, thinking we just need to let it boot. After about fifteen minutes passing and other employees telling us to call RugDoctor ourselves, I called corporate to complain, and one of the other customers found the manager again to tell her we still needed help, as the machine hadn't booted (since she wasn't listening).

First supervisor comes back and basically barks at me "I told you I was gonna call, didn't you hear me" (which she didn't), then finally picks up the phone to call them (it's been about 45 minutes now). The other supervisors have no idea what to do or if they even have a key to open it. Then, the manager asks the CUSTOMER to unplug it and replug it in, and after 5 minutes, it's working.

So basically, wasted an hour in a Walmart talking to five managers over a goddamn unplugged machine. This is why I never visit Wal-Marts (well that and because of the people that typically visit them!)

Those people are just Neanderthals.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/23127186

If Walmart paid its workers a living wage, the price of your macaroni and cheese would go up by one penny

but even a penny more might cause walmart to lose a customer. and walmart can't . . . bear . . . to . . . lose . . . even . . . one . . . customer.

http://cdn.smosh.com/sites/default/files/ftpuploads/bloguploads/0513/more-mentalnicktoons-krabs2.jpg

i love target's fascist aesthetic; plus the one here has actual sidewalks (some of the few in my town!) extending out into the parking lot, so you can push your whisper-quiet plastic fascist shopping cart to yr car without checking behind yr shoulder every two seconds. plus there are three or four trees planted nearby! it's like versailles.

my hometown wal-mart has been a dud since i was in high school and it stopped staying open 24 hrs cuz we used to go there ~2AM to play sardines.

maybe walmart does to but target has good surveillance, it p much caught this kidnapper/murderer this was an interesting/terrifying true crime ep i saw recently

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Kelsey_Smith

Alice Walton knows where her bread is buttered

http://usuncut.com/politics/alice-walton-hillary-clinton/

uh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EUxCGnkWcI

http://i.imgur.com/8G3O0Pv.jpg

some of the Targets near us are hilariously incompetent at delivering products.

Last December, I was over one of my close friends' houses, and Target had delivered a bunch of christmas gifts to the door, but instead of putting the toy inside a Target box, they just slapped a Target sticker on the product's box, and their daughter found it at the door so they had to give her gift early.

but today, another one of my friends ordered Nintendo Switch controllers, paying $80 for them. instead of getting a box with two switch controllers, they got an envelope with a cardboard endcap display featuring a picture of both controllers. i feel bad for the friend but i'm having a hard time not giggling at the image they shared.