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Walmart has found that many prefer Target

Good God, another voice of reason! What is becoming of this thread? Right on; we have a Walmart and Target in Huntington Beach.

The Walmart is brand new, but still leaves a poor shopping experience due to the crowded aisles and general zoo like atmosphere. Target has wider aisles and a more relaxed shopping experience.

As Adam Smith observed, the market pricing mechanism is a marvelous thing. It allows competitors to find whichever particular niche consumers are willing to pay for respective value.

We do have a Wal-Mart and a Target near each other. I prefer the Target. Wal-Mart is so "successful" with their cheap crap that if I wanted to save money on flour or Chinese Alarm clocks, I would be waiting in line for a good 45 minutes. See, they are saving money by not putting enough $8 an hour cashiers out. The ones who are out, are the people who could not get the $15 jobs at Albertsons or Ralphs.

It's simple economics. If you have a choice of checking for 30 hours and getting paid $450, or have to work 58 hours to get the same amount of money, with no benefits, if you are competent, where do you apply for a job?

When Wal-Mart is the only game in town, their employees do get better, I will grant that. I was in a Super Wal-Mart in Gonzales Louisiana this spring, being asked to pay $2.00 each for red bell peppers. There is only 1 Supermarket left now. The others shut down after the Super Wal-Mart moved in.

I will buy chinese food at an american restaurant, but just refuse to buy Chi-Com crap at Wal-Mart.

Maybe Target is bright enough not to let loudspeakers rant at employees constantly during business hours. Boy that wears me out when I have to shop at Wal-mart. It wouldn't be a tenth as noisy if they'd just communicate with their employees in some quieter fashion.

"The Walmart is brand new, but still leaves a poor shopping experience due to the crowded aisles and general zoo like atmosphere. Target has wider aisles and a more relaxed shopping experience."

Wally World has crowded aisles because they carry more products so more shoppers show up and clog the aisles. Target carries fewer items per sq ft, so it can have wider aisles and fewer customers.

Here is Nashville, we have a local grocery chain named HG Hills, which runs lots of TV spots claiming (and showing) wide aisles and PRACTICALLY NO CUSTOMERS! They claim you can come right in and check right out, and they're right. Because they have almost NO CUSTOMERS.

It's been my experience that crowded aisles and "zoo-like atmospheres" are the product of the CUSTOMERS, not the store. If customers come in dragging 9 pre-school churldrin with them, that is the customer's fault, not the store. You go to an area where the houses and the people in them are low-rent, you're going to find those low-rent shoppers at that Wally World. You go to a nice area, and you find things a little better in that area's Wal-Mart.

Michael