Walmart
Instapundit's got some comments about Walmart vs Target vs internet vs no one ever buying anything. Several thoughts: 1) The super Walmart near my parents' Tiny Texas Town is the place to go. The area isn't big enough to support a Target, but the Walmart is clean, well lit, and reasonably well liked. I don't know if it has driven other places out of business. 2) The super Walmart opening in Galveston led to the shutdown of a couple of smaller grocery stores, and the Kroger building a new, bigger store. I shop at a variety of grocery stores. I usually go to Kroger because overall it tends to be cheaper than Walmart [my grocery purchases are rather price dependent - I buy coke or pepsi brands depending on what's on sale that week], I think the produce looks better, and the lines are shorter and the self checkout works [I've had a couple of problems doing self checkout in Walmart]. I don't shop at Randalls just because I don't want to have to get another preferred shopper card. Finally, I go to Central Market in Houston when I visit some friends in Houston and want something special or unusual. They shop exclusively at Central Market and Costco because they think the quality is better, and are willing to pay for it.
- posted by owlish @ 11/30/2004 07:23:00 AM