Target or Walmart

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

Oh yeah, I'm not defending Target in the least, I know how awful they are - I spent a couple moths working for them when I was between architecture jobs a few years ago. But I also had a sister who worked for Wal-Mart and, Target treats their employees light years better than Wal-Mart.

I live in an at-work state where there aren't any unions for anyone. (Except teachers and electricians, basically.) I know workers get treated horribly there, but I have to say that at least half of the employees I run into there seem to have bought into that Walmart spirit.

And what they've begun in regards to the environment and offering same-sex couples benefits and cutting prices on prescription drugs... look, I'm not defending them or even saying that the "depressing" vibe doesn't fit. But at least Walmart acts like Walmart.

Target, on the other hand, trying to act like this hipster Trader Joe's version of Sear's... Nah, I'm not buying it.

Yeah I kind of feel you on that pplains

the target i go 2 has helpful staff (actually the same 1 lady helped me both times) when i wanted to find season w/e of mad men to give as a gift and didnt see it on display and also to buy a mid size flat screen tv. all i had 2 do was stand around and look helpless

i like the archer brand cereals ok. im sure it's not @ all 'healthy' but i eat it like granola usu

i also bought some throw pillows from target that i like a lot

oh I also eat Archer Brand chicken-spinach sausages -- tasty!

x-post

I have 6 throw pillows in the living room. 5 are from Target. The other one has pugs on it and was a gift.

Also everyone totally otm about spending extra money at Target. What I need = dog food and tp. What I walk out with = dog food, tp, a cute lipstick, oh what a nice little notebook, man these Archer Farms fruit snacks sure look good, oh don't I need some greeting cards etc.

^^^

otm

I also should add that Target is 1.1 miles from me (significantly less if I walk), while the nearest WalMart is 4.6 miles away.

There are two Targets 1.8 miles from each other on Broadway here in town. I don't get it. My family is all jealous. "There's nothing more fun than Target-hopping!" NB we all just shop the clearance racks most of the time.

I haven't gone to Target in a long time because the closest one is always too busy for me and I end up feeling claustrophobic. No great loss.

yeah target is too close to my office and they just built a brand shiny new one not far from my house. watch $$$ fly out of my wallet.

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.