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December 28, 2006
Target is not my kinda store
My good friend, CalTechGirl, had an awful experience at Target this week. They have a very dumb policy that Christmas gifts, with no receipt, have to be exchanged for a "like" item. For example, if you get a blanket that you don't need because you already have plenty of blankets, you have to exchange it for something of equal or greater value in the bedding department. Can't go to the kitchen area or the tools area, or books or anything. And, it has to be done the same day.
I admit, I was not at all surprised to read about her story. I don't like Target. The store has always left me cold. They don't have clothes my size that I like. They don't have great prices.
In the past 10 years, I have probably bought a total of 3 things at Target.
The people at every Target I have gone to have been rather surly.
Last year, Target banned the Salvation Army Ringers from having a kettle and bellringer there - now, I get a bit tired of the constant begging, but I can walk by if I don't feel like throwing money into the pot, and it is for a very good cause.
I am not impressed with their merchandising. The only thing I like about Target is the music in their commercials - sometimes.
I know that many, many people disagree with me. They think that Target is the cat's pajamas (in my dad's lingo), and look down their noses at Walmart and K-Mart.
Well, I also look down my nose at K-Mart, but I love our local Walmart. The people there usually have a smile on their face and are willing to help me to find things.
The prices are great.
The quality is pretty good, especially for the money.
Some of you consider going to Walmart, "Slumming it", because the people who shop there must be poor, or they would not shop there.
I ain't poor. I buy tons of stuff at Walmart, from kitchen appliances (which I can return without a receipt and buy ANYTHING in the store) to blue jeans and t-shirts to great garden things.
Walmart serves a grand purpose in my small town of 35,000 people. There are plenty of home-owned shops that are healthy and survive just fine - the smart shop keepers have made a niche for themselves. We have a shop that sells everything English, from tea to clotted cream to Christmas pudding to fine china.
We have a great furniture store, with the odd name of Sadtke's - they carry most interesting furniture - not the normal chain store stuff. We have a great pet supply store - Horse Country - and the owners run it beautifully. We buy all our dog, cat and horse supplies from them, not from Walmart. With our herd, that adds up to a pretty penny! We have a couple of Polish hand-painted china shops - oh, I love the patterns!! And we have at least 3 paint stores - and they are not chain stores.
We even have a hardware store, Gronis Hardware, which is quite unique. It is in downtown Leavenworth, and it snakes thru about 5 buildings. They have everything. And they are nice and helpful. Always.
Target has nothing unique, different or exciting. They don't have good prices, they are often more than Walmart for very similar items.
I don't get the love that some people have for Target. Yech.
Posted by Beth at December 28, 2006 06:25 PM
Comments
For some reason trackbacks are not working... My comments are here.
Posted by: Amy at December 28, 2006 07:20 PM
Heh.
I quit on Target back in about '96. The reason the employees are surly is because they treat us like crap. I was a student. A full time student working two jobs(one at Target the other as a TA) and they 'forgot my availibility', which we filled out in triplicate and had to honor, and started scheduling me during classes about two weeks before finals. So I quit right then and there.
THe system sucks.
I just don't like what's at Walmart though. That's a matter of subjective opinion and not haughty-ness. I ate gov't cheese and still love the taste of Velveta and brown label foods. I just don't like Walmart.
I don't get the Walmart hatred. I simply don't. It's just a business. No better and no worse than K-mart or Target(way back in the day when Target was the low price kid on the block).
Glad you and The Armorer had a good X-mas.
Posted by: ry at December 28, 2006 10:47 PM
I'll say this much about Wal Mart. The one in Durham, NC that we frequented when we lived there was clean, bright, friendly, etc. Every WM I have been to in CA is dingy, messy, inconvenient, and staffed with surly employees.
I willingly chose WM in the past, now it looks like I'll have to shop around.
Posted by: caltechgirl at December 29, 2006 12:42 AM
I haven't shopped at Target in so many years I've no idea what they sell...
Wal-Mart, I just loathe. Don't worry, I'm a capitalist, it's just that they are freaking huge places usually packed to the brim with people pushing each other. It's worse than the mall.
Of course, at the mall I usually go right into Dillard's or Macy's at their entrance... ;)
I'm very glad you brought up the fact that small local retailers can still carve out a niche for themselves and survive, because many people still remember Wally World coming into their town and taking over... forcing all the small shops out of business.
Well, maybe just people my age remember. ;)
Posted by: pam at December 29, 2006 07:32 AM
I so agree with you about Target. They are on my sh** list anyway. For months they advertised Nintendo Wiis for Christmas, but couldn't pull it off. It was the only thing my son asked for and his mother was unable to produce. Yes, I know he is spoiled and doesn't really need one, but is that ever the point???
A few years back, I read a great book, 'Nickeled and Dimed: On Not Getting By in America' by Barbara Ehrenreigh. The book gave me a new appreciation and respect for people who work in places like Walmart and Target. A lot of hard work for very little pay and a lot of crap.
Walmart was, in the beginning, a great idea. As someone who in her past struggled to make ends meet, I think Walmart offered some of us the opportunity to purchase things we wouldn't have otherwise been able to have. When I was a child, discount stores really sucked, the merchandise was cheaply made and not much was available.
I think sometimes it depends on the particular Walmart/Target. We have a Sam's Club in a predominately Hispanic area of town here in Orlando and that store ROCKS!!!
I do find Walmart employees overall to be much more helpful, friendly and knowledgeable.
Posted by: Kerri at December 29, 2006 08:48 AM
Definitely depends on where you are. In SoCal, I went into a WM once, and was repulsed. Where I live now, there isn't one within my normal travel range - instead I have Fred Meyers or Target. I've found both of them to have about the same quality and selection of many things, but there are a few where Target wins hands down:
> Cheap DVD's and CD's, which I buy to pop into care packages for the troops
> I found Christmas stockings there for a buck a piece to contribute to the Santa's Stocking pack-out (beat EVERYBODY's prices).
> Better selection of snacks - both for care packages, and for the Hubster and I ... they have the Zone bars that I like in 6-pack boxes.
So in my case, Target wins hands down.
Posted by: Barb at December 29, 2006 11:39 AM
See? Capitalism works... we have a choice, and we make it.
And I'm with Pam - the Commerce Department actually has a pretty extensive assistance effort designed completely around helping local businesses survive Wal-Mart.
And it's - Adapt or Die, Stratgies for Adapting.
One of the few government programs I've run across that is actually useful, and not flavored by politics.
Posted by: John of Argghhh! at December 29, 2006 05:49 PM
Hey, what's the name of the English shop? That sounds like one that Mom & I would love the next time we're in your area. (I grew up in Jackson Co.) We're both tea freaks.
Posted by: LadyGunn at January 3, 2007 10:22 AM
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