Goodbye Wal-Mart

So this post has been brewing for awhile, but I just haven’t written it down till now. 😉 I have said goodbye to Wal-Mart for good! Well, the one that’s closest to us at least. I have mentioned from time to time the issues with that store. From standing in the check out lane for 45 minutes to shelves that are completely empty, to incompetent employees that won’t put forth even the teeeeeeniest effort to assist a customer, to the outlandish number of vagrants that troll the parking lot trying to get change from everyone. Yeah, it’s a pit.

But my frugal side has been driving me to shop there because they typically are cheaper than any other grocery store in the area. Until I started thinking…. They actually are NOT cheaper on fresh food items. Their meat is always outrageously high, and their milk is always higher than Safeway. Their fruits and veggies are usually the same or higher than Safeway’s price as well. So what WAS cheaper?? The canned/boxed items.

Still, I usually shopped there to get most of those things, and I’d jaunt over to Safeway to get meat on sale and milk. But I hate to go to a bunch of different places, and since it’s a 45 min drive to town anyway, it already seems like a chore, so I found myself shopping at the Wal-Mart for the convenience and cheapness sake and just swallowing my irritation every time I went. BUT that ever impressive straw that broke poor humpy’s back finally came. A few weeks ago on a Sunday afternoon (because that’s when we were already in town) I dropped off my men at the “depot” as Myles calls it (Home Depot) and Ella and I ran over to WM to get the groceries. Well, I got de Bella out of her seat and was making my way across the parking lot high stepping over piles of trash and filth! Seriously, it looked like a trash truck with a severe leak had been making it’s rounds through there! Just as I was about to step onto the sidewalk, I had to hop over a used condom. (insert fury)

I was beyond done with that place at that point. That store is making money hand over fist, if the hordes of people constantly in the store and shelves that they simply cannot keep stocked are any indication. They could put a leeeeetle effort into keeping that store presentable and decent. I’m done with them. I refuse, even going against my frugal bent (which is saying a lot) to shop at that store. I’m not going to put up with it any more! I will be writing the manager a letter, not that they will care of course, just to appease my conscience, and then I’m moving my business to Safeway.

I have decided in an effort to reconcile my thrifty self and my outraged sense of propriety to stock up on the nonperishable items that I would normally get at that store. That way, I can still feel like I’m getting the best deal for my money, and I can shop at Safeway for the meat, dairy and produce. 🙂

I will be going to wal-mart stores in other locations. While I feel like the quality of service has declined dramatically in Walmart, they do have good prices on a lot of goods, and not every store is as much of a slum as the one we have access to.

I’m anticipating my shopping trips to be much more pleasant now that I know I won’t have to deal with the multitude of irritations that are present in that WM store. Safeway has a clean environment, helpful and FRIENDLY employees, and security to keep the parking lot clear! Plus they have a Starbucks!!! Ahhhhh…. bliss. 😉

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