In A Wal-Mart Kind Of Hell

SF Chronicle ^ | Wednesday, June 18, 2003 | Mark Morford, confused liberal

[presidio9]

Stop. You've found it. This is the place. Americana HQ. Patriotism in a giant tin bucket. This is where souls recoil, children wail, dreams die.

This is Wal-Mart. The glorious consumer mecca, the epic wonderland/wasteland of prefab landfill merch, not only the world's largest and most powerful retailer and the most aggressive snarling frightening happy-place marketer and quite possibly the most hideously overlit soul-draining monster empire you will ever know in your entire lifetime, but also the very multibillion-dollar pseudo-Christian kingdom that censors their offerings and refuses to sell certain music CDs and bans "risqu

[Under the Radar]

I tried to read this article, I really did. Of course I disagreed with it's premise, but I thought I should at least try to listen to the other side. Sadly, the writing is so poor I cannot decipher the thought processes trying to be expressed, even though I may be able to guess them.

FWIW, I applaud Wal-Mart's stand. I am sure many parents who just want to go buy groceries and not start a sex-ed class in the middle of the express lane do as well.

[ErnBatavia]

Down here in Houston, Wal-Marts are dirty, cluttered,

Ditto here in Southern Kalifornia.....I think they have a secret crew that comes in under cover and darkness to just mess things up, to give the place that "heavily shopped" look.....kinda like Ross Dress For Less and most any Rite Aid drugstore.

[dogbyte12]

It's not conservative culture that Wal-Mart promotes, it is bland mass market culture. That is my problem with Wal-Mart.

There are no more bookstores in town. Wal-Mart sells tens of thousands of copies of the top booksellers at low margins, that a smaller store can't compete with at all.

The bookseller goes out of business because the profit margins on their business are top sellers.

But we do lose something. The small bookseller, also stocks things such as The federalist papers, Doesteovsky, Melville, Twain, Plato, etc... the Wal-Mart won't.

You like music? Well, if ya want Britney Spears, you can get dozens upon dozens of copies of her latest album. Ya want to find a funky jazz CD, the London Philarmonic playing a mozart concerto... you can forget about it. You could have gone to your local music store, but again, the top vanilla items are what they made money on, Wal-Mart beats their price in volume. It is not always the small people ripping you off btw.

A small bookstore say buys the latest Tom Clancy book. They buy 20 copies at $20... retail price is $27.95. Wal-Mart on the other hand goes to the publisher, and says I will buy 50,000 copies of the book for $18 each. They sell the books for $19.95. You think wow, great deal. It is a great deal. But when you want lower margin books, music, tools, etc, Wal-Mart won't carry it. You have no local hardware, music, video, book store left as a competitor.

This is why I boycott Wal-Mart. I enjoy american culture. All of them. It is great to go to the deep south, and go to a local restaurant that is not McDonald's. It is nice to go to Vermont and talk to a local hardware shop owned by a craftsman that isn't called Home Depot. It is nice to go to Portland and sip coffee at a place that isn't Starbucks. Wal-Mart is only just the largest player in this trend. Regional culture, choice, and local identity is being killed by these bohemeth retailers and we are allowing it to happen. I enjoy our culture too much to be an active participant in it's destruction.

Those who continue can enjoy their "authentic cajun Mcchicken sandwiches at Mcdonalds" in 10 years when they visit New Orleans, not me.

[nina0113]

I believe Mark's favorite magazine is something like "Man's man."

More likely Playgirl, which Wal-Mart also doesn't sell.

[whoozit]

This guy is whacko.. found some more commentary here...

[Labyrinthos]

pornography like Maxim.

Maxim is not even close to pornography.

[presidio9]

psssst: literature and "funky jazz" are readily available on the internet. So is porn. Pass it on...

[A_perfect_lady]

We must try to focus. We must zero in. Innumerable are the intellectual insults and karmic assaults Wal-Mart represents...

Stopped here, fell asleep, sorry. Pseudo-intellectual, pseudo-spiritual, self-indulgent types make me sleepy.

[Corin Stormhands]

During the summers, my wife works part time in the local Wal-Mart accounting office. Wal-Mart has been good to the Stormhands household.

But Wal-Marts vary from store to store. She's in a Wal-Mart that is in an upper middle income area. The store is clean and well stocked.

We don't shop at the urban blight Wal-Mart. It's a completely different store. Same stock, same layout, same company. But worlds apart.

[Under the Radar]

It's bashing when you seemingly search out Wal-Mart threads to add comments that lend nothing of value to the thread. Then again, maybe I just like Wal-Mart because their stock tends to move upward.

Xenalyte was defending Wal-Mart in her post, while pointing out that, in her experience, shopping Wal-Mart was not pleasant. That isn't bashing. Her post was constructive and useful. I do wish I could say the same about the one to which I am responding.

[dogbyte12]

there is a quantitative difference between buying a book sight unseen on the internet as opposed to being in a book store, browsing the shelves, opening the cover jacket, admiring the prose of the first chapter before buying the book.

Yeah, you can get your book at amazon... you can buy your music there too... it still isn't the same as being in a record store with a knowledgeable owner/clerk who knows what you like, who steers you to a new act.

Our culture is becoming vanilla and boring. I just don't like it.

[MalcolmS]

>>>hence we shall concentrate on the censorship issue.<<<

To put the shoe on the other foot, I guess this means that it's censorship if "Adult" bookstores and Video Emporia don't carry The Jesus Video, the Bible, and the Prayer of Jabez!!!

[presidio9]

Maxim is not even close to pornography.

That's the great thing about this country: If you want to subject your 8 year-old to Maxim, you are free to buy him a copy. Wallmart has determined that it customer base would rather steer their kids clear of that garbage. They are free not to sell it.

[Cogadh na Sith]

Down here in Houston, Wal-Marts are dirty, cluttered, loud, and generally zoolike.

Like every other bazaar in the world. I kinda like it....

[Under the Radar]

Yeah, you can get your book at amazon... you can buy your music there too... it still isn't the same as being in a record store with a knowledgeable owner/clerk who knows what you like, who steers you to a new act.

Your posts do raise good points. What solution do you propose, other than boycotting Wal-Mart (which doesn't work, unfortunately).

[steve8714]

I can't take a karmic shower...drain stopped up with dead soul lice.

[Trust but Verify]

Ditto. All Walmart stores that I've been in are the same as you describe. I'll lose my mind and go in there once in awhile, anyway. Like a moth to the flame......

[mountainfolk]

Morford needs to get pro-active. Get Home Depot to carry all the magazines and other consumer items the third sex enjoys. That will sure run Walmart out of business in a hurry. Then all of Walmarts laid off employees will just have to depend on Disney World for jobs. Puke.

[discostu]

WalMart doesn't promote any kind of culture, they promote profit. If they could make money selling the Federalist Papers they would. They can't so the don't. It's not about the culture it's about the return on the shelfspace investment.

And if you want something off the beaten path, that's what Amazon is for. They're the anti-WalMart, they make their money by not having shelves and being able to sell you any damn thing you want even if you're the first person in your town to want it since the Revolution.

And anyway, WalMart was the first place I frequent to start stocking John Wayne DVDs, that's gotta be worth something.

[jrhepfer]

Boycotting Wal-Mart DOES work, but not in a "boycot" sense. I go to my local hardware stores and drug stores instead of Lowe's and WalMart. I pay a little more for my supplies there but I know I'm supporting my local economy. The people in the little stores know my name. I can find what I need quickly and easily. This is opposed to fighting my way through WalMart, dodging clumps of conversationalists clogging the isles, searching forever for what I need, and rarely finding anyone who can help me with anything.

I can save 20 minutes going to my local stores, but I pay $1.50 more... it's worth it for my time and superior service.