Wal-mart Runs Our Lives

Chants Evensong · Post by **Chants Evensong** » Thu May 22, 2003 6:05 am

I wonder if some of these artists complaining about Wal-mart inhibiting their exposure also complained about Napster.

Redspine Bladeslinge · Thu May 22, 2003 7:13 am

I have no idea why people rag on Wal-Mart as being a bad place to shop <shrug>.

Some Wal-Marts are getting kind of old, but the 2 I frequent, the one is just a few years old, and the other is less then 1 year old (and right next to Sams Club).
There are some Wal-Marts I don't go to because they are older and more trashy.

Where do you buy your day to day needs? Like toilet paper, shampoo, soap, etc? The local grocery store? K-Mart? Target? Wal-Greens?

It's convienent, I can do my food shopping there, buy our kidie needs (diapers, etc), day to day stuff you need, and the prices are better then just about anywhere else. How is that a bad thing?

Harlowe · Post by **Harlowe** » Thu May 22, 2003 7:22 am

I go to Target. I can't stand the atmosphere of Wal-Mart. The store layout, displays, the amazingly crappy clothes and dime-store products on display, the people that work there, the people that shop there....it just feels like walking onto the set of a Jerry Springer Show.

Eidolon Faer · Post by **Eidolon Faer** » Thu May 22, 2003 7:59 am

The difference between "censorship" and what WalMart is doing is this:

WalMart does not tell Sam Goody not to sell Madonna music.
WalMart does not tell Blockbuster to edit its' videos.
Walmart does not tell you that you cannot shop anywhere else you like.

I usually end up at WalMart once every week or two. They have a good lawn and garden section, they have good prices on canned dogfood, and good prices on cleaning supplies. And once you're in the store it makes sense to just get your other shopping over with.

I never buy music there. I cannot stand country-western or rap, and that's almost all they sell. I ALMOST never buy books there. For that I go to Barnes and Noble (rather like Borders if you're an East-Coasty type) I try to avoid Barnes and Noble though because that place is dangerous. I black out and wake up two hours later in my car with a sack full of books and a bankruptcy notice.

I occasionally buy DVD's there. The prices are usually lower than anywhere else locally, except buying previously viewed DVD's at Hollywood Video. Target and Best Buy have far better selections though.

WalMart stocks what sells. They're a overinflated dimestore that stocks what they know the average customer will buy. They don't cater to unusual tastes and really their whole music / books / movies section is an afterthought. They're more concerned about selling you Turfbuilder Plus Grass Seed, Shampoo, Mouse Traps, Cheap clothes, and Condoms.

Lugal Zaggisi · Post by **Lugal Zaggisi** » Thu May 22, 2003 8:12 am

I agree.

If music companies cannot sell new or controversial to Wal-Mart, they may just have to, gasp, tax the tiny brains of their marketing departments to find new ways. Or are they all busy designing ads about why to buy music instead of download?

Lurker · Post by **Lurker** » Thu May 22, 2003 8:18 am

Six people voted so far that it is censorship. If one of them would post we'd have a discussion!

Harlowe · Post by **Harlowe** » Thu May 22, 2003 8:20 am

I think Barnes and Noble is freakin everywhere. When I worked at a publishing company, they seemed like the Starbucks of bookstores, especially around college campuses and were the biggest abusers of our returns department. I swear their warehouses just shrink-wrap skids of old-damaged crap and throw a dart at a map to figure out where to send it just to get it out of there.

It wasn't odd to get 4-5 huge skids filled with boxes of random books we didn't publish from them.

rodric · Post by **rodric** » Thu May 22, 2003 8:25 am

Borders is relatively new to the Boston area. When I came here in 1988 there were several Barnes and Nobles stores in key locations, but Borders opened their 1st Boston store around 1995 I think.

Rhodric

Partha · Post by **Partha** » Thu May 22, 2003 8:37 am

I try to avoid Barnes and Noble though because that place is dangerous. I black out and wake up two hours later in my car with a sack full of books and a bankruptcy notice.

I agree. I refer to them in public as "The Two-Name Place". Badbadbadbadbad for my wallet, they are.

Dammit, now you made me want to go!

Harlowe · Post by **Harlowe** » Thu May 22, 2003 8:50 am

Oy, I can relate. I can't leave B&N empty-handed. Just last week I left with 3 books, 2 magazines and Anoushka Shankar playing sitar at Carnegie Hall cd.

You can spend hours in the CD section alone (you can listen to anything) not to mention all the great books.

Zyllen · Post by **Zyllen** » Thu May 22, 2003 9:25 am

Bookstores, B&N, Borders, you name it, are da debil!

I cannot walk into a half decent bookstore without walking out with multiple books, most of which are only half-read the next time I end up at a bookstore.

I have a lot of half-read books

Eidolon Faer · Post by **Eidolon Faer** » Thu May 22, 2003 9:48 am

Actually the REALLY cruel thing is what B&N does to their employees.

They give them a store discount.

Doesn't sound too bad until you realize that they've never actually issued a paycheck yet, they just rake it all back in employee purchases

They can't afford food or a place to live but DAMN theyve got good reading material.

Reiper · Post by **Reiper** » Thu May 22, 2003 10:03 am

That is why I'm glad I dont read books. If I start reading one I will read it, but I learned to not do that a long time ago, glad I never went back to the dark side.

Reiper · Post by **Reiper** » Thu May 22, 2003 10:04 am

Six people voted so far that it is censorship. If one of them would post we'd have a discussion!

I'm one of those people, but I misread the question.

SicTimMitchell · Post by **SicTimMitchell** » Thu May 22, 2003 10:56 am

BTW, Borders has a porn section and B&N doesn't.

Harlowe · Post by **Harlowe** » Thu May 22, 2003 11:03 am

You can only see porn in B&N if you go to the women studies/gay/lesbian/bi section.

Ehron · Post by **Ehron** » Fri May 23, 2003 4:16 pm

Bah, Wal*Mart can do whatever they want, shopping there and getting whatever you want is not a right of all free men

Just because they are the most accesable store around and has become a way of life for many sub-urban communities doesn't mean they have become a federal institution that you can call unconstitutional.

As for veggie tales, it has good moral lessions. Dixie Chicks have excelent harmony (but they can bite me), WalMart didn't need to push them on people, Micheal Savage is the man, kinda over the top, but funny. Savage Nation! yea! They don't need anyone to push them on others.

If you are a huge chain in the bible belt and the majority of your shoppers are of a certain religion...then would it not be the best business decision of the company to tailor to the majority? Its just common business sense, thats why they are rich and we're not.

Why would they wanna sell about a dozen Marylin Manson cds per store at the cost of a bible belt boycot? Doesn't sound like they are trying to mold culture, just do what will make the most money. And to do that, they mold themselves to the culture already established.

One time I went there to buy the Green Day's greatest hits album cause I wanted the edited version...cause at the time I had little cousins that would listen to it....but when I got home it wasn't edited at all, lots of Fbombs. lol. They seem to pick and choose which albums they have edited. Another album I bought there...dunno why I did....they edited out "shit" and that was it, /boggle. Its a matter of how lazy I am at the time if I want to drive an hour to a better audio store.

Eidolon Faer · Post by **Eidolon Faer** » Fri May 23, 2003 5:09 pm

Borders has a pr0n section?

The things you miss when you're tired.

I was on a business trip to Danbury, CT (basically a suburb of NYC) and was looking for an audiobook or 2 for the drive back. I asked the people I was dealing with where was the nearest Barnes & Noble.

They said "WTF is a Barnes & Noble?"

I replied "Big bookstore. Usually has a coffee shop inside it."

They said "Oh. You want Borders. We don't have Barnes & Noble around here."

I said "Oh" and bought a Cadfael novel on audiobook CD. I missed the pr0n though.

Cindare Dreamangel · Post by **Cindare Dreamangel** » Sun May 25, 2003 2:36 pm

I guess I'm lucky...I live near one of the biggest used book retailers in North America. I can go in, find what I'm looking for (even rare, hard to find goodies) and buy a lot of it for not much money. They give generous store credit for bringing in used books and have an outstanding selection of new and used RPG materials.

Barnes and Noble really is a tool of the devil. Why pay more?

As far as buying music at Wally World...I think I've bought two CDs from them in the last five years. They don't stock much of what I listen to. /shrug

It's not their fault...they can't carry everything. And yes, they stock the stuff that will sell. Anything else would be uncivilized...

~Cindare

Partha · Post by **Partha** » Sun May 25, 2003 10:18 pm

I guess I'm lucky...I live near one of the biggest used book retailers in North America.

If you're an old book junkie, Sindarre, let me point you to Toad Hall Books and Records.

(won't give the addy, but will say it's an Amazon zShop.)

Brell Rants

Wal-mart Runs Our Lives

Is Wal-Mart censoring people's music and reading choices?

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