I always thought that shopping at a "supercenter" would make my life simpler because after all, it is supposed to be a "one stop shopping place". Instead of simple though, I feel as if it made my life more chaotic.
Why do we shop at those places? We Americans definitely want to get the most bang for our buck so I think the "cheapness" of it all lures us in. But I do believe that you get what you pay for and much of what we get in turn are cheap clothes, cheap shoes, cheap toys, cheap homewares, cheap food...and by "cheap" I am referring to quality. You pay little and you receive little.
And even though you may pay little financially, how much are you paying emotionally? Whenever I leave Walmart, I feel terrible. The parking lot is a nightmare. Listening to yelling mothers at young children makes my blood pressure boil. The lighting makes my head hurt. The endless choices raises my anxiety. The checkout lines irritate my nerves. The lack of customer service heightens my "aloneness". And it fuels a consumeristic mindset in myself and my children who see so many things they want in there. I leave with a little more money in my wallet than I would have if I had shopped down the street but I feel bankrupt emotionally because of all that stress.
There are other reasons to switch your shopping venue. The way these supercenters treat their workers, support overseas sweatshops, mow down beautiful land for just one more building and put local businesses out of business. These reasons added to the emotional strain of shopping there gave me the impetus I needed to stop the addiction to what seemed like "a really good deal".
I now shop at Publix...our local grocery store. I know the manager now and he helps me with finding things when I need help (he has kids too and knows how hard it is to bring 4 children to the grocery store). One day he helped load things in the van and found a can of food that I had missed paying for. I felt terrible and he very quickly said "you are in a hurry, go ahead with it, and have a great day!" You will NEVER experience that at Walmart.
Publix has a wonderful organic section and now offers organic milk and meats. They care about the environment and carry organic cleaners and recycled paper goods. Their prices are higher but I save money because I am only there to buy groceries and not bombarded by lots of other stuff not on my list. I don't go into supercenters anymore therefore I don't buy a bunch of stuff that I think I need.
It's so clean in there. No screaming people. The music is soothing. The shelves are stocked nicely, and the selection can't be beat. They encourage using cloth shopping bags and have a spot to recycle plastic bags and egg cartons. They load my van while I am able to get the kids in their car seats.
Is my grocery budget higher now? Yes. But the savings I am making emotionally are huge. I actually enjoy grocery shopping now and taking my children there is a delightful experience.
Enjoy simple grocery shopping locally today!
11 comments:
Hi
I'm here from Randi's. Interesting post. Our town prohibited a SuperWalMart from opening here. I wish there were more of the privately owned grocery stores instead of the huge chains!!
:)
Although I do shop Wal-mart we also shop our other local markets. I'm grateful for both for different reasons (although we did stop shopping Walmart for a while, for the very reasons you stated). I do appreciate the smaller stores more though.
I really enjoy reading through your posts and will be back again!!
Yeah, that's my motto. Grocery shopping is on my "least favorite" things to do. If I *must* do it, I will go somewhere *pleasant*. Less choice, less stress, too!
I've been trying to shop in locally owned stores and shops as much as possible. This means smaller, and less selection. Some things I "need" are not carried in these smaller venues, but I leave feeling more connected to my community and to the people who work there. I also shop at a farmers' market year round, which I love.
Hi! I'm from Randi's too, and I appreciate the link as I enjoyed reading your posts. I've written about our saga with Walmart and haven't shopped with them since last Sept or Oct--whenever the big hoopla began on the gay issues. We now shop our local Martin's...yes, some items are a little higher, but I shop the sales and also clip the double coupons and buy their gas which saves 20cents per gallon. I've also enjoyed going to their lounge/coffee shop and sitting by their fireplace and dialing up their free wi-fi. Lots of reasons for not going back to Walmart.
Would you believe of all things, my husband received a Walmart gift card for Christmas from some co-workers. He just went in this week to spend it...glad that's done! :)
Thanks for your post.
I dont know...I am so thankful for our Super Walmart. I do understand your complaints, however, but I have seen screaming and chaos at our local store as well. The price at our private grocery store is so ridiculously high that I couldnt afford to feed my family of five boys properly. We just did without before Super Walmart. We are a one income family of 7, and Im thankful for the choice.
HI! I just found you via Randi's blog and I will be back to read more!
Hi there! Another friend of Randi's dropping in! I have enjoyed reading through your entries, and I am looking forward to more. *Smile*
Yes! My husband and I refer to Wal-mart as "the store of which we do not speak" and avoid it as much as possible. This often means, running into pharmacies, hardware stores, feed stores, whatever in effort to find what we need. But we live in a very small town and sometimes we just can't find what we need anywhere else. But that is rare.
I'm also here from Randi's. Glad she pointed us your way. Your blog is lovely, and I look forward to reading more.
Plus my husband is a Publix manager! I gotta love a Publix shopper!
While I do agree that Walmart shopping is a hellish experience, I am still a regular Walmart shopper for many reasons. Yes, there are many things I dislike about it, but there are just as many that often make it the most practical for me.
One thing I don't understand about the big Walmart debate is why some other store choices are considered more socially conscious and responsible. Super Target is one alternative people often opt for in place of Walmart, but it seems much the same to me. Kroger, Safeway, and even Publix (from the information I found via internet search) are all chains. They aren't mom and pop businesses. They may be smaller chains and perhaps some have a better selection of organic foods and a better atmosphere, but why does that make them the responsible choice? I also know people who work for Kroger (Dillon's here in KS) and they don't seem to feel they are treated better than Walmart employees.
I have known people who worked at Walmart who felt they were treated rather well, and the pay scale, etc, is similar to Target's, so I don't buy that argument.
Wow. This is a long comment:o) It isn't really all in response to your post, either, but more to what I am hearing in so many places lately. I did enjoy reading your thoughts about it. I just have a lot of questions. If I had better choices here, perhaps a Publix, maybe I would shop Walmart less.
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