AAAUUURGH! This is SO true!
I had never been in a Wal-Mart before moving to the South from the SF Bay Area. When people here learn this, they are shocked, I tell you SHOCKED. Then they ask how come I'd never been in a Wal-Mart in the SF Bay Area, and I tell 'em the truth: "The SF Bay Area doesn't "allow" Wal-marts."
And the universal feedback I get to this truthfulness, from my so-called "hick" hayseed rednecks is: Well, no WONDER CA is going broke!