The "Big Box" Store

I know...I know...there are a lot of them out there...but Walmart is the one. The worst one, in my opinion.

I loathe Walmart, yet, I shop there. Occasionally. In the middle of the night. When they are the only thing open. When none of my friends will see me.

Ok, I sometimes go in the daytime to visit the $1/yd fabric table. Are you happy now, Johanna?

Here's my main objection to Walmart. They censor the merchandise. They make a huge deal of reassuring parents that they don't carry CD's or videogames that are labelled with parental warnings. Personally, I don't think parents should be reassured by this. They are turning what should be a parental prerogative over to a corporation. Walmart doesn't have anyone's "best interest" at "heart." It's a marketing gimmick. What it does do is limit the choices of millions of Americans.

In the small towns, where Walmart has become a mainstay, where everyone knows everyone, and everybody shops there, people wind up wearing a sort of "Walmart uniform." Because they might carry only three or four styles of Easter dress, the same dress shows up on many different women. The mantra, "If you can't get it at Walmart, you don't need it," becomes the unspoken philosophy of large numbers of Americans. It's the lazy shopper's dream, after all. Everything from groceries to guns under the same roof. So what, if there are only three brands of cat food available. Who needs more than that, anyway?

The CEO of Walmart dreams of an America where people are dressed alike, eat the same food, listen to the same music, and, dare I say it...?

...Think alike.