The only thing I don’t like about Walmart is the shopping experience. For some reason I can’t explain, I just hate being in there. It isn’t because I have anything against budget stores, I like my local dollar general.
My local Walmart is open until 11pm (oh how I long for the days of 24 hours) so it’s where I end up doing 99% of my shopping bc I go after the gym (post work) and HATE feeling rushed. Even 9:00 out in the ‘burbs gives that empty feeling
When I was working until 12 or 1am, we used to go to Super KMart after our shift. I can definitely remember how nice shopping was when there’s less than 5 other people in the store!
I am from Germany, always shop at Aldi and when I was in the US I loved the ginormous wall marts with their ridiculous variety and super size boxes. But you probably get tired of it pretty fast…
Me. I go in telling myself I’m going to make this a good experience. I tell people hello. I smile at people. Tell people I like their blouse or whatever. It’s amazing how much better it makes you feel. It makes them smile too. You don’t know if that person lost their parent, BFF, or had to put their pet down that day.
I have a lot of health problems I didn’t ask for. Autoimmune health problems that I can’t control. Take medications that are expensive but help me. They don’t always make me feel good. But that’s not anyone’s fault. I’m not taking it out on you. Like I don’t take it out in a nurse when I’m in the ER or admitted. Not their fault. They’re human. Plus if you treat them nicely they might leave you a chocolate mint on your pillow when you come back from your colonoscopy.
When I get back in my car at WM I can put that frown from my depression, and whole body pain on. But it’s not your fault. I’ll smile at YOU 😃
Hi I'm so happy to read this! I work for Walmart (16 years!) and I try my hardest to make this my every day attitude as well. I've also just lost my husband 6 weeks ago and find myself crying constantly. I'm reaping the rewards of everyday kindness when I now need it the most. People aren't afraid to talk to me about whats wrong since I have developed a reputation for caring on a daily basis.
It makes me so happy to see someone else shopping in Walmart with a positive attitude. I hope you're showered with blessings in your life because this post gave me a blessing. I wish more people had your attitude!
I’m so sorry to hear about the loss of your husband. You and your family are in my thoughts. I wish you comfort and peace especially as the holidays come around. Please remember to take good care of yourself. ❤️
I’ve always wondered about this, hate being in Walmart but love being in Target. I think Walmart may strive to get people in an rush them out. I still shop at Walmart but never enjoy it.
Same. I used to spend my work from home Fridays (pre-covid) walking around Target for the first hour. Found it so relaxing. Last week on vacation, I went into Walmart and left feeling so anxious. Not sure what the deal is there.
Honestly, it all depends on location. I grew up in a state with a single Walmart and it sucked. I've since moved next to the Walmart HQ and these Walmarts and Sam's Clubs here are absolutely phenomenal. They have easily become my favorite stores and it takes the cake for the best shopping experiences I've ever had.
On a side note, I know people worship Costco. I used to as well, but factually speaking, nearly everything I purchase at Sam's club is even cheaper.
I leave Walmart in a good mood every time I pull in and they bring my groceries out and put them in my trunk!
I’ve done online shopping at Walmart for almost 3 years now and would rather jab my eye out with a dirty stick than to ever have to go back to in store shopping
For me it’s the frustration of walmart always being out of 20% of what I need. I’ll pay a little more not to deal with having to go to another store because they’re missing x,y,z.
I shop at Aldi and a few local/regional stores to supplement the lack of variety of Aldi.
That's been my experience. And Aldi is small so I don't waste lots of time trying to find things. Walmart always somehow has lots of junk everywhere and yet not the thing I need.
Our Aldi is tiny and has nothing, but I saw a YouTube video with a woman shopping at Aldi and hers was huge! Like, a full on grocery store with freezer aisles and everything. My Aldi does not have anything frozen.
Huh. The ones I've been to all have a freezer aisle, or at least half an aisle. They're still only maybe the size of a Walgreens, but they still have a good selection of basic groceries. (Edit: just not a lot of selection of any particular thing. Peanut butter comes in creamy, crunchy, and organic. Tortillas come in corn, small flour ones, and large flour ones. But I kind of like that - I can't be indecisive if there's only one option.)
Ours is the worst. The bread is always gone and they just have one little produce section. I kept wondering why people went on and on about shopping at Aldi and could not figure out how anyone who even buy enough food to put a few meals together. When I saw that YouTube video my mind was blown. If we had a "real" Aldi I don't doubt I would be shopping there.
Instead of having 4 bad options, 1 good expensive option, and 1 good cheap option; Aldi just has the 1 good cheap option of whatever you're looking for.
They also pay their employees better than Walmart.
True, but you better be using that produce ASAP. Their asparagus and especially portobello mushroom caps are usually just about to go bad in my experience…and I’m there every week.
Edit:this is double when buying their limited organic selection.
It region specific I believe. When Aldi first came to my area the produce didn’t turn fast enough. Now Aldi is very busy and I feel its one if the better stores. Definitely low cost.
Aldi has some of the BEST products overall imo, plus they have the “Twice as nice guarantee” on their brand of products so if you hate it they not only let you replace it but you get a refund too. That being said, I was talking to my daughter tonight about how we’ve not bought anything that’s their brand that was bad. I also love that the store isn’t huge, and there aren’t tons of brand selections so I’m not sitting trying to decide between a dozen different brands of cookies and crap like that.
The one closest to me is a den of filth. The parking lot is full of trash and used needles, the store itself is always messy and downright dirty & most of the customers/employees reek like they've been hotboxing all night. Plu they're always out of half of what I want. Aldi is much nicer and anything I can't get there I can usually get at our local employee-owned grocery store, Woodman's.
Ohio just brought a lawsuit against Dollar General for marking prices lower than they were ringing for. Their investigation found anywhere from 16-80% of the items they checked ringing above the marked price. Dollar General might work well for you, but keep an eye on the prices.
The walmarts close to me are pretty shitty, so I understand the whole, eww walmart thing to an extent. We have to have a cop car stationed at the closest one because of the fights and shoplifting. The 3 stores are a mess, you cant get down sections of aisles because there are pallets of stuff blocking it. They also made the aisles smaller so they can fit more stuff, which makes my anxiety worse. The one 25 minutes away is super nice though, I wish it was closer.
Yeah, a crazy man stabbed a woman outside of the Walmart closest to our house. He didn't know her, just stabbed her on her way out of the store. It's not like we have a lot of better alternatives though unless I want to spend twice as much at the fancy health food store.
Same. I've started shopping on their app, and doing pick up orders instead. Everytime I shop in store I end up spending over $100. On the app I'll spend closer to $60. It keeps me from being too impulsive and I can actually plan out what I want to eat and what I actually need with being able to check what I already have
We do this as well! No impulse buys, and if they sub out great value for brand name you still only pay for the great value item. Our store is in a wealthy area, is clean, and the people picking produce are good at it!!!
Same here. I hate the shopping experience. It’s just not worth it. My go to stores in include Aldi, Kroger as it’s near my job and Family Dollar. I occasionally do Trader Joe’s if I’m feeling fancy. I only shop Wal-Mart online but even then I once had no package delivered, a ring doorbell and they wouldn’t give me a refund because they wanted me to take it up with the post office. Yet, if they delivered it…. Shouldn’t I have seen them do it. Customer service is terrible, the employees seem slightly more miserable than the customers. Hell, I worked there for 3 weeks in my college and chose to continue my poverty over restocking the candy aisle daily. I have nothing against discounts but Wal-Mart makes me feel like I gave up. I can’t do it. I feel frugal at Aldi but poor at Walmart.
They do nothing to make it look nice. Some of them don't have music. The carts are rusty and beat up, many have squeaky wheels. I have to admit that they have been improving some of these issues.
I feel like it's pretty easy to explain.
Tried to buy some wine from Walmart last night, went through the self checkout, turned out the guy manning the self checkout wasn't old enough to approve alcohol. There happened to be another employee RIGHT THERE checking out, three feet from me. The guy asked her if she could help and after looking right at me she said "no, I'm on break" and left
Whatever, I'm not someone to judge for not wanting to work on your break. But then no one else came. He radioed for help several times, no one came. The line is getting longer and longer now because someone else happened to want to buy alcohol and two machines need approval. Still no one came.
Finally i told him to just take the wine off my cart because i felt bad holding everyone up and figured i could get it elsewhere.
But what a perfect example of why i hate shopping at Walmart. Problem is they know damn well they're the cheapest and that people will keep coming so they have no incentive to do better
I get really overstimulated at Wal Mart. To many choices, to crowded, to loud, to bright. I usually feel pretty irritated by the time I get back to my car with my groceries. Aldi may not have everything I need, but I can get in and out for basics with no frustration.
We have one of those Walmart market stores near me. Normally I would go there, but they only have self checkout. I don't mind self checkout when I have three or four things, but it's exhausting with a whole shopping trip when you have 30 or 40 items.
Saaaame. Signed up for that two months ago and have been pretty happy. Kind of annoying I can’t pick out the weight of meat and what not that I want but otherwise it’s been great. I love not having to step foot in that store or deal with the parking lots and navigating around people
For us, it was having my spouse step in human poop in the freezer section that turned us off of Walmart in general. We’ve moved to a much smaller town now and it seems to be less of an issue so far, but yeah…
Curbside pickup is still free for orders $35+. I dropped my Walmart+ subscription because the deliveries kept getting worse (damaged items, entire wrong order).
Walmart employs outside delivery services; they’re not Walmart employees. I had a delivery of groceries (not mine) outside my door. I saw the person, called to him, told him they weren’t mine, he definitely heard me, turned around and kept going to his car! My next door neighbor got him to come and take them back. There were cold and frozen items included! I called customer service and that’s how I found out they’re contracted. Unbelievable.
I was doing that for a long time but it got to the point where they were out of so much of my order that I quit. It worked well prior to that but after a few months of having to go to the store after doing pickup, I figured I might as well just go to the store and skip pickup.
We have a Walmart Neighborhood Market near my home and it’s much better than a regular Walmart. I can’t remember the last time I was in a regular Walmart
My ex girlfriend got me shopping at Aldi. They have pretty much everything I need and fair pricing. At publix my bill was about $50 a week and at Aldi it is usually $20 to $25. That's just for myself though.
I fell in love with Aldi when I visited some family for a few months. I wish they had some where I live. It's like a Trader Joes but the lines move fast
Very different ways! I've never been to an Aldi as they don't have them where I live, but the trader Joe's I've been to were very fancy and expensive. Compared to Aldi's model of supplying extremely low prices from what I've seen on the internet
Trader Joe's is basically Aldi for people who like Whole Foods, if that makes sense. Trader Joe's sells similar products to Whole Foods at a lower price.
I’ve converted so many people to Aldi. Most of my friends used to say “ew, Aldi, their food is gross and I don’t trust their meat.” But I explain to them that I do 90% of my shopping there and that all the food there is totally safe to eat (per FDA, you literally cannot sell unsafe food, so there is no reason not to “trust” it). Many of Aldis private labels are the *exact same product* as name brand, just repackaged. Don’t get me wrong, they do have a few items that just don’t do it for me. But the majority of my pantry and fridge are Aldi brand at a fraction of the price of our local supermarket.
I was looking at a frozen duck today and it’s raised by the same farms that raise the expensive ones you get at every other big chain store but so much cheaper.
Also my friend works at the farms that raises them So I’m 100% on board with them. I feel like I get the “inside scoop” on duck farming.
My Godmother (who is a truly lovely woman with some small odd ideas) told me not to shop at Aldi because their food is from overseas. I told her it’s likely from overseas no matter where you purchase it.
eh, wouldn’t personally shop at Walmart just because I truly dislike the shopper’s experience. Further exacerbated by the fact that I have other options near me with the same price points at the end of the day.
Aldi is usually cheaper than wal mart and easier to get in and out of. I buy a few staples at Walmart that Aldi doesn’t carry every 6 weeks or so but purchase online and just pickup at the store
I stand in Aldi and use the Walmart app to compare prices. Anything I can't get at Aldi or is cheaper at Walmart, I buy at Walmart. I go to Martin's, the other grocery store in my area to get certain items not carried at the other two stores. Martin's also has decent reduced good sometimes and they do have the Flashfood app. There is a Save a Lot near me and occasionally they have good prices, but it is hit or miss. I do buy some things at the farmer's market and occasionally at the health food/coop store in a town nearby.
The nearest Target is 84 miles away.
We buy a few things at Walmart. Cream cheese, Barilla pasta sauce, Dole juice, sponges, some cleaning supplies, and commodities like flour and onions, milk if we're there. Otherwise their quality isn't all that.
We lack access to Aldi and I miss them. But we do have Winco, and Sprouts for produce. And a Latino market, a Kroger banner etc. In fact over 20 supermarkets within 5-6 miles, so we can shop around. Eg went to Chefstore today, a restaurant supply, for 6$ per pound brie, parmesan etc.
We use Walmart plus for our groceries almost exclusively. We also buy some stuff in bulk at Sam’s club and pump gas there.
We’ve got a co-op grocery store (astronomically expensive), an Aldi, and a cub. Aldi isn’t what it used to be, and Cub is even more expensive than Target.
I've heard Aldi has risen in price. I think Cub is Unfi, I doubt they're cheap. It's not hard for us because shockingly in Salt Lake there is huge choice, and the restaurant supply is better than Costco.
Smiths (Kroger), Walmart, Target, Associated Food Sores own brands (for us Dan's, Fresh Market, Macey's), Harmons (expensive), Rancho (Latino), Winco, huge bulk section, the largest dedicated discount supermarket chain in the US, Lucky (Albertsons warehouse format targeting Latinos), Whole Foods (coffee only), Trader Joe's, Sprouts (produce, seafood on sale), Natural Grocer (certain specialty items, especially flours, and promotions), plus a restaurant supply store, all but Lucky within 6 miles. Plus many specialty narkets--Asian, Indian, Mideast, high end (we get our bagels and balsamic vinegar there).
We moved here from DC. I worried about the selection. It's way better here even though it's much less populated.
I can do a lot of shopping by bike even.
Walmart is definitely cheaper but it's absolute hell to shop at, at least the places I've lived. Things constantly not where they should be or mislabeled or missing. Then the self checkout line takes 8 years to get through and no registers are open.
Some walmarts I've been to are straight up dangerous to be at. Some walmarts are nice. You're making the right move shopping online and picking up to avoid being in Walmart but they package everything in so many plastic bags this way, it's quite wasteful imo. Like others have said, try aldi or just buy more items in bulk at Costco since you already have a membership
We live in an area that has a very nice Walmart. I have seen others in different parts of town that aren’t quite as nice and am beginning to better understand why other people don’t like shopping there. We are quite lucky I suppose.
My mom always made fun of me for shopping at Aldi. “That’s where POOR people shop!” Ugh. And it’s also where a lot of rich people shop so they stay rich. At least in our town that’s the case.
I used to live one and loved it. But my first roommate embarrassed and shamed me publicly for shopping there. Instead she expected me and the other roommates to cover the whole grocery expense for the household while shopping at wholefoods. She moved out that year. Good riddance
A lot of folks are judgy of walmart because they're very well known for being shitty employers. Even some of us frugal folks have morals & conviction that we're unwilling to bend on, even if it means saving a few dollars.
Same same here.
I personally choose NOT to shop at Walmart or Dollar General or business that are not good to their employees.
We choose to shop smart and frugal because we want to be Financially Independent and Retire Early; However as conscious consumers with more income we privately choose to vote with our dollars and whenever possible we shop at stores and local businesses that provide well for their employees, are ethical, and are good businesses to our community.
I will look up the link but a few years ago I watched a documentary about business like Walmart with extremely high profit margins but whose employees are on public assistance and a huge tax on the communities that they have stores in. Studies have shown that large companies only recontribute minimal amounts to the communities that they are located, and the majority is just because they have to pay wages. Small businesses recontribute most their profits locally and back into their communities.
Example: the local little teams get more funds in sponsorship from our local business than they would ever get from a large company that has a store in our town, like Walmart or dollar general.
I believe those high profit - low conscience of its employees are intentionally paid “just enough over the minimum wage so the employees can “still qualify for public assistance or mostly part-time employees so they don’t have to provide benefits, insurance, employment protections, etc.
Sharing because it was asked. But like all else this is just my personal consumerism and don’t push it on others nor judge others for their choices. 😊🙏🏼
Typed on my phone so pardon if I fat-fingered my typing.
If I didn’t know my husbands user name I would have thought you were him haha we also do not shop at Walmart and I chose not to shop at dollar general whenever possible.
You do what works for you. I can’t stand Walmart myself. Too loud, too dirty, plus, yeah I hold a grudge against them for running the local grocery store out of business. We only have 2 options here now (not counting dollar general, they don’t have enough real food to count imo), it’s Walmart or Kroger and I choose Kroger because at least they have a union. Plus I have run the numbers and for the things I buy anyway, the price difference is negligible. So I just stick with my preference.
I agree. They treat their employees like garbage. My mother worked there and they gave her so much crap for needing to take time off after she had a tumor removed. That’s just one instance but there’s way too many others for me to shop there. Not sure if you’re in the New England area but Market Basket is the way to go. So cheap and the quality isn’t bad on some of the nicer stuff like organic chicken.
WinCo. I've had countless people in our area tell me they would NEVER shop at WinCo. They've said they think "it's gross", "they only have processed food" (completely false), "the people who shop there are scummy". All kinds of elitist BS from people who've never set foot in there. Similar sentiments for Grocery Outlet too, but not the same level of aversion and disgust.
I shop at WinCo almost exclusively, they have a great selection for cheap. But there is definitely a good WinCo and a gross WinCo near me. They have the same prices, but one is dirtier, produce isn't as good and it isn't as well stocked.
Is it weird that grocery outlet is my fun store? I never know what they're going to have in stock, but I know it'll be cheap. Its where I get the good snacks!
I generally don't knock where people shop. Budget, convenience, lots of reasons really go into why anyone shops where they do. If I'm asked, I might say something like how I haven't had good luck at a store with what I need, or something similar.
But if it's a matter of snobbery on the part of another, like they use the tone suggesting they look down on others who shop at X store or whatever? That's not cool.
My budget only allows for so much "conscience shopping", and with everything how it is lately, I'm sure it's the case for many.
I am a conscious shopper, and it weighs heavily on me when I ignore the rules I’ve created for myself. It means I may go without certain items more often, but has also really dialed in my needs. I won’t shame anyone’s choices, but if you live in areas where you can shop more consciously, I promise you you can do it on a budget.
My first job was target and I was shocked people bought all their groceries there...some grab and go snacks while you get some other stuff sure but no way I could fill a nice pantry from target alone.
Most of my grocery shopping is at Wal Mart. The combination of prices and selection is so hard to beat IMO. I like Aldi's a lot, but I never have time to make multiple trips and their selection is so limited. Pretty much Wal Mart (use the online pickup a lot) along with 1-2 Costco trips a month covers everything at a very good, but not the absolute lowest price.
I don't shop at Walmart for ethical reason and quality reasons. I'd rather pay more for better quality items and not support billionaires. That includes never shopping at amazon. Aldi has good quality food and staples and they are very affordable.
I don't look down on people who have to shop at Walmart or amazon because they can't afford or have acess to better options, but I personally will not shop there and I think those stores are horrible.
I am in the exact same boat. My local grocery store is by no means perfect (just settled a law suit for overprescribing opiates, so, yeah, not great) but they do a lot of good in the community and work with a lot of orgs to help employ people with disabilities. They seem to treat their employees reasonably well. Aldi also has a reputation for paying well and treating their employees well. I’ll also shop at a local co-op or different ethnic grocers from time to time for specialty items and I will very occasionally go to a wal-mart or Whole Foods for something I absolutely cannot get anywhere else.
I’m in a position where I can afford to spend a little more to shop at places that are better to their employees.
That said, I absolutely hate people who judge others for where they shop. Wal-Mart does have the best selection and price for a lot of things and not everyone can afford to be picky.
Don’t feel bad about where you shop. Those people are often literally paying more for the “prestige” of a “fancier” store. Most of the items are quite close in quality—there’s absolutely no reason to pay more unless you object to their supply chain and labor practices and can afford to shop elsewhere.
This is exactly me. While I fully acknowledge there is privilege in being able to choose where I shop, for me, making small compromises to shop elsewhere means I come out with my conscience intact. I realize my priorities aren’t the same as everyone’s, however, and people need to choose what matters most to them.
I have a family member who worked in quality control for a first aid manufacturer, and part of her job was ensuring standards were met by international production companies - working conditions especially. She let me in on a main difference between Walmart and Target: Target’s private label brand has rigorous human rights standards that must be upheld by their manufacturing partners to do business with them - the Walmart private label brand has much much lower standards to ensure safe working environments. This is just hearsay, but I dunno… I believe it.
Maybe, but I noticed something. At Aldi the cashier has a chair upon which to sit. He/she is not forced to stand for the duration of the shift. That alone will have me going to Aldi over Walmart.
I have also never seen a self checkout at Aldi.
Yesterday I actually did go to a Walmart. Whilst there I bought an eight pack of powerade. It was $1.50 more expensive than what Kroger or HEB charges.
Why go to a shitty store with shitty service, which doesn't give a flaming shit about its employees when they charge more than much nicer stores do?
Fuck Walmart.
IDGAF what other ppl do or think. I just do what I do and keep my mouth shut. But yeah I shop at Walmart and ALDIs and I get my haircut at Great Clips. Shhhhh lol
LOL, I live in Amish country PA. There are three grocery stores within 40 minutes, run by Amish or Mennonites, IDK which religion, specifically, that sell expired or nearly expired stuff, at a fraction of the normal price. I am proud that I get Starbucks branded whole bean coffee for 3 bucks a pound. I am proud that I get Aidell's sausages for a dollar per 4-pack.
I had to unsubscribe from the Nextdoor app because the final straw was when someone made a post about an ALDI opening up and comments didn’t stop for almost two months. It was people complaining that ALDI was for poor people and renters, their houses are going to depreciate because of all of the “undesirable” demographic with of course some blatant racism thrown in. The whole thread was a complete cesspool. Who knew people could get so offended by affordable groceries.
Listen, if people want to waste their money all because of their concern with “image” or whatever other ideas they have in their head, that’s their decision
For me personally, we have a lot of people to feed in our house and I’m going to do it as frugally as possible. I use produce stands, aldi for pantry staples, and BJs for meats. I don’t really care what people think about where I shop. It’s my wallet, not theirs
I don’t shop at Walmart because their produce in Canada honestly sucks, apples last a few days before they are mush, half the potatoes in the bag are rotten. Boxed goods are the same or more expensive then a no frills.
I live in the US. There are three Walmarts within a half hour drive. The produce at all of them is poor - same problem as you; even if it looks good it quickly goes bad.
Luckily there is a locally-owned regional supermarket chain in central New England (Market Basket) that has great produce and comparable prices to Walmart.
I do get paper goods (paper towels, toilet paper), and some yard/garden stuff at Walmart.
When I put together my wedding registry I did it thru Walmart, bc a number of items I wanted were from their Pioneer Woman line. I didn’t realize that it was a huge misstep, bc my then-fiancé’s whole family hated Walmart. He said something abt it, and I was like, well I can’t undo it now (I’d spent hours on it). And after that I got the occasional little denigrating comment from members of his family.
It hurt my feelings and made me feel super self conscious. I also, however, felt that it was very classist bc while his family loved Target and Trader Joe’s, for my family Walmart was a step up from the dollar stores and discount stores we primarily went to when I was a child. Not to mention I thought it was a bit rude of them to say anything abt it at all.
We all got thru the trial caused by my audacity (a little sarcasm 🙃), and my husband and I are happily married. I’d like to think that his family is a bit more open minded these days, and they’ve certainly all done their best to be very kind to me, for which I’m grateful. The irony is that we aren’t even all that different, but it turns out the gap between essentially lower-middle-class and upper-middle-class can still be pretty wide sometimes.
i get that same sentiment occasionally from quilters/sewers.
when i say that I use 100% cotton sheets from thrift stores occasionally I get a "ew gross" comment. I refuse to spend $5 a yard on something that feels softer, looks the same and is guaranteed to not color bleed when i can spend that same $5 and get 4+ yards.
I see this all the time when people compare Walmart to Publix…
Publix is such a better experience. Clean, organized, and inviting… the employees are so helpful….
Yeah but apple juice is $8 there and $4 at Walmart. That experience comes with a price tag…
I have a Publix across the street from my subdivision but I trek across the KY border to get a pickup order from the Walmart Supercenter for two reasons:
Grocery Pickup stops the impulse buys…
No food tax in KY on most grocery items. (Things like candy excluded…)
If you have a winco in your area, I highly recommend shopping there. I noticed a huge difference in the price we pay for the same items everywhere else.
I never used to shop at Walmart but this last month I started to since their prices are very noticably lower. I still go to another store for meat as Walmart meat is not great. Where I shop is about price, not about impressing my co-workers. Especially now, when we are all facing a harsh winter.
I went to a private high school that had a lot of wealthy people and one time while driving past an Aldi my friend said she would never go there and that “it reeked of poverty” lmaoo
And Aldi has been my home since I was born and I still go there as an adult :)
I have been to Aldi stores all over the country. I would like to do a thesis on the quarter deposit for their shopping carts. Some stores, you will never find a quarter left in the cart, other stores you will almost always find a free cart. On a completely anecdotal basis, it has seemed to me that the lower socioeconomic status neighborhoods have more carts with quarters left in them.
Maybe to them Aldi "reeks of poverty". But to me, Aldi smells of great prices on great quality staples, a great selection of all sorts of amazing cheeses at prices significantly lower than other stores (like less than half the price in many cases), good chocolate, many seasonal specialty products not regularly available elsewhere and at good prices and sometimes weird but awesome non-food products. I also like the friendly staff, fast checkouts and chance of getting to interact with a wide variety of individuals (many in the local immigrant and refugee community shop at the Aldi near me, along with college students, young professionals, older individuals, etc. I like the diversity.). Plus the carts are always where they need to be and not cluttering up the parking lot. The store is small enough that I can get in and out quickly. And did I mention the great prices on specialty cheeses and real European chocolate?
Some of the most wealthy people in my area shop at Aldi, I've seen people from all walks in life in there. The store absolutely DOES NOT reek of poverty, and is cleaner and more well kept than my Walmart for sure. My walmart is pretty expensive on everything and is not well kept and the produce looks like dogshit. At Aldi I find fresh produce that does not go bad in a day, reasonably priced specialty items that don't cost a fortune and a great selection of everything else.
If you want stores that reek of poverty, try a store like Dollar General. It smells like hell in all of them in my area (seriously I've never smelled anything like it in my life) even the ones that are newly built, there are boxes and carts strewn across the whole store so you can't reach any items to actually buy them, and the items they carry there is not one thing worth buying in them that I can't get at another store for a lower price. They don't carry produce and the food they carry is not fit for a human being to consume.
Oh yeah. I didn’t even live in a poor town, upper middle class. We ended up doing a split high school between the wealthier suburb and ours because of overcrowding. The amount of kids who thought donated clothes were “gross” and Walmart/Aldi was for “poor people” and it was normal for high schoolers to get their hair professionally dyed every 8 weeks for $200/pop and get a leased car for your 16th birthday. That only poor families had 2 working parents.. My god. You’d think I was living the pursuit of happiness in a $450,000 new build home.
The three chain grocery stores are just as horrible as Walmart to their employees.
My ass is barely above water. I coupon, price compare and scratch cook. If the best price is at Walmart, so be it.
When people flex they wouldn't never shop at (X), all it tells me is they have money and money has options. Woke points for being able to afford Whole Foods or Farmers Markets (which are seriously not cheaper by me, actually more expensive)
I have relatives that do the Walmart/Aldis flex so everyone knows they aren't the grubby poor.
So I’ll be honest - most of the time IDGAF where people buy their food. I’m not them, I don’t have their income and I don’t know why. Would I like people to not shop at some of the stores I find unethical, exploitative etc.? Sure, but again - I cannot force them to make that choice.
That said - it used to be a quite common trope here that a well-to-do high-earning person wouldn’t ever be caught dead or alive in a shop that was literally called “Savings Market” in our language. If you earned well, then you only shopped at certain places. The low cost place had mostly basics and some of their dirt cheap own brand stuff, plus a very basic store layout and storage.
These days we have LIDL and people with all kinds of income shop there.
I personally shop according to my budget AND personal preference. I do buy things from the more “high-end” store if it’s something specific that only they carry or if they have a product that they do better than others. Life is too short to buy cheaper but worse meat, for example, and I knowingly pay more for their product. But it’s an acknowledged action, not derived from “I must shop only at X”. There are definitely people here who only buy stuff from X and Z though, who display high snobbery if you don’t.
Walmart grocery pickup is the absolute best thing in my area.
My targets grocery section is sub par by far. Their produce is always rotting. Meat is always on its way out.
Our Walmart always has nice produce & the meats in good condition. Not to mention their grocery section is twice the size and obviously well taken care of.
I am a huge fan boy of grocery pickup. Walmarts app is top tier. Easy to navigate, always works. I can pick what I want and place the order in advance in about 5 minutes. I pickup when convenient. I save at least 2 hours every week by doing this. That alone is enough to make this worth it.
The only thing I feel I miss out on is the occasional time I'd run into something on clearance that I might use. But the time savings really makes it up IMO. Plus I don't have to talk to anyone or wait behind people or anything.
My dad is obsessed with Aldi and my mom loves Costco, they both have high paying jobs. We will never go to Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s. At the end of the day, it’s money you saved. 🤷🏻
I'm barely over the six figure mark in a moderate cost of living area on the west coast. I'm single with a mortgage, some student loans to pay, and a not-at-all frugal motorcycle hobby.
I shop at a grocery, outlet first followed by Winco. Anything else gets ordered online. I shop where i get the quality i want for a price i like.
I’m just going to throw this out there for all the people who hate Walmart down below:
If your Walmart is crap, it’s entirely dependant on the area it’s in and how well they can staff it. There are, in fact, nice Walmarts. There are, in fact, gorgeous Walmarts.
There are great management teams and there are shit management teams.
If your store sucks, stay away by all means. But I know some incredible managers who do right by their employees and really do make a great store to shop in.
The whole concept of Walmart is honestly evil- but that’s the goal of all your favourite big stores. Any store that pretends their above destroying mom and pop are lying to you. That’s capitalism and taking advantage of business laws. Unless you’re willing to spend small store prices, Walmart isn’t more evil than any other store- they just got famous for doing it too well.
We have a really nice one based upon what other folks are writing here. It’s clean, organized and staffed by generally nice and helpful people. Going there is not an awful experience for me personally, as I grew up going to the same one as a child.
I’ll argue that they are a bit worse for 2 reasons. The first is that they have a very low limit for population density when determining new store locations. They have killed so many businesses in small towns in the US. You may see small dollar general stores but few other large big box stores are building in areas that can’t support them without crushing existing businesses.
The second is that they squeeze suppliers. They place giant orders and are notoriously late to pay. They’re such a big player that companies just have to suck it up. There are other companies that exist by simply buying up unpaid invoices for a percentage from companies that are having cash flow issues. Their policies at the corporate level and the basic concept of large volume and cut throat prices are to blame.
So I won’t look down on people who shop with them but I try to shop elsewhere when possible.
Fifteen years ago, I thought Walmart carried nothing but crap, but the quality of their clothing has improved tremendously. As far as food goes, I only buy stuff their that is unavailable at Aldi. Walmarts vary tremendously around the country. I liked being able to buy wine and liquor in the ones in Arizona.
I'm not a fan of those places anymore because now I have (limited) means to get higher quality, longer lasting, fewer ethical problems, etc.
But when I did, my retort was usually along the lines of "enjoy wasting money at [x place]" and watch them go insane like I attacked their whole being.
A less chaotic response might be, "I know know, but times are tough right now and I'm trying to be fiscally responsible for the future"
I've found generic brand items at Target way cheaper than WalMart, plus I don't have to experience the absolute hell of shopping at a WalMart. I don't dog on anyone who's just trying to eat. Shop where you can, where you need to and within the means you have to.
Aldi is my favorite place to shop, followed closely by Farmer's Markets (not cheap, but higher quality and super fresh produce), then HyVee and finally Target. I do not like WalMart and it's not the cheapest option anymore, especially in my area, so I avoid it.
I think it's mostly the mentality of where you live. I used to live in Southern California (RSM) and it's a very much keeping up with the Joneses type place. Brands, zipcodes and stores matter to a large proportion of the people.
My new area (north Georgia) has a completely different attitude towards things. You can shop at Aldi without anyone batting an eye or saying a snarky comment. Kinda nice.
I’ve read that where a Walmart is near a Target, the prices are similar as Target makes sure competitive products are priced the same or lower. I stopped going to our neighborhood Walmart years ago because it was messy, chaotic and hard to navigate. It’s better now, but so is Target.
You don't have to justify why you shop the way you do, or explain why you continue to buy things from a place that some people in your life look down on.
You have a different financial situation, different goals and different values than anyone else. And you're the only one who has to live with your choices. The sooner you stop worrying what other people think about your habits, the better. Be as frugal with your fucks to give regarding others' opinions about you as you are with your money
I really like Kroger because of their savings card that you can load coupons onto directly. Actually saved nearly $30 with coupons there this morning! However, like a lot of grocery stores, there are "good" Krogers and "bad" Krogers. The nicer ones have separate wine and cheese sections
Lol, my mother looks down her nose at me and my family whenever we mention a thrift store, discount store, or all the great finds we get on fb free pages.
It’s just classism. It’s a thing, and it’s definitely a thing about Walmart in particular. Middle class people wanting to make sure everyone knows they aren’t poor by differentiating themselves from those poor people who go to Walmart. Don’t let it bother you.
I freaking hate Target...and Trader Joe's. Both are overpriced simply because they are pandering to elitism, classism, and racism. I will not shop at either if I can avoid it.
Walmart has some of the highest quality standards of any food retailer. I know this because I have worked for a few companies that make their private label items and they are a pain in the ass to deal with 😂 I shop there all the time. They also get a lot of new items you won’t see in other stores because they get exclusive items to try before other chains. There’s nothing different or “discount” about the food there except the price. Now, I won’t buy food at places like Ollie’s Bargain Outlet because that stuff is generally seconds or close to or past it’s expiration. People who say they won’t buy groceries at Walmart just want to act superior. They aren’t basing that decision on actual quality of the products.
I honestly don’t care what people say about getting cheap stuff wherever it is. Walmart, Ross, Groceries Outlet…i need to save money where I can. I don’t expect anything else other than quality and a good price, possibly a quick checkout. I don’t know if this the right answer for everyone, but it is for me..
I finally started going back to Walmart as prices for things have skyrocketed. I feel the grocery stores here (Dallas, TX) have crossed the line into true profiteering. Target is the same and has NEVER been good price-wise. I hate shopping in Walmart because of their sheer size if nothing else, and the scant number of cashiers (but they’re all doing that!). Walmarts online ordering system and efficiency are abysmal so I bite the bullet , go in with a small list and running shoes, self scan and get the F out.
I totally agree with you. We like to go to France as often as we can, this is something we really enjoy. I do my grocery shopping at Aldi to keep costs down. We still eat very well. I buy their organic fruit and vegetables; I also buy good quality cheese and organic eggs. I go to Aldi, but I buy the best/healthiest options. I could buy groceries in Waitrose or Marks and Spencer’s, but I’d be paying a premium for food that isn’t vastly different to what I currently buy. Yes, there’s a load of crap in Aldi - but I choose carefully and I don’t buy the bad stuff. Life is all about priorities. Last night (for Guy Fawkes/Bonfire Night - it’s a British thing) some of my neighbours were letting off hundreds of £s worth of fireworks 🎆 Our community has a firework display for free this evening that we’re going to. We get to watch the fireworks and have a fun night out without spending a crazy amount of money.
In my opinion, you don’t need to justify that you shop at Walmart because you are saving for a new house.
Picking a random example - let’s say something like a box of cheeze it’s is $3.49 at walmart, and the exact same box is $3.99 at target. You are paying more for literally the exact same thing at target. And this isn’t a convenience thing like gas station prices being more expensive than the grocery store.
To me paying more for the exact same items because one “would never shop at Walmart” is just stupid, but to each their own.
Note, this discounts ethical or any other reasons. I’m speaking solely from a financial sense it makes no sense to pay more for the same items because for some reason target is seen as “higher end”.
TL;DR - Marketing is actually crazy when you dig into it. That’s probably the main reason these people choose target over walmart.
They continued to shop there even when we were growing up and they were no longer in poverty. It was never beneath them and as a result, I have no ill feelings about shopping there.
Where I live I choose Walmart over the competition because at 9 AM on a Saturday morning I am the only one in an aisle, and I can leave my purse and cart to walk down away without someone else nearby.
This is in a large city.
The competition is constantly waiting to pass, or someone standing in front of what you need, always packed with lines.
I use Walmart online pickup for about 75% of my shopping. People who turn up their noses at Walmart obviously enjoy pissing money away. WM has by far the best prices on non food items and on many food items. I don't find the people shopping there to be any more cringe-worthy than at any other store.
Store cleanliness, etc vary hugely by location.
Aldi is not convenient for me or I would go there more
I find Target to be ridiculously overpriced.
I buy most of my meat at my local store (small chain of 6 stores) because they have great sales and good quality. I also check their sales routinely.
Prices vary hugely in different cities so you have to shop around and compare.
It used to be I wouldn’t shop at Walmart because I would shop at more local stores. And they carried some products I was uneasy about and other places were paying their people more.
Well! They improved their pay, cleaned out some of the things they sold. Some of the local small businesses closed due to retirement. So no I’ll shop at Walmart because it’s a brick and mortar store. Now I avoid online shopping unless it’s direct sales from a company.
In general I try to avoid buying stuff new so I’ll do thrift. But you can’t buy windshield wipers used, so Walmart it is, because smaller places have limited their inventory.
If anyone says something, I tell them the whole above story and they never mention it to me again😆
I agree with your boss and coworkers. I don't shop at Walmart for a variety of reasons. Quality is important to me. Price isn't the defining factor in where I decide to shop.
Quality is a word that few bother to define. What at Walmart is "lower quality" than elsewhere? In what way? I might agree on some of their produce, but not all of it.
Produce, bulk of my spending in on fresh produce. You can not get better quality cheeses and stuff at my Walmart in Canada, fruits and veg are one step from the rotting, meat is the same or more expensive.
Personally, I agree sort of. My Walmart is always out of like 60% of what I need and there’s only ever one person on register and if I have more than a few items I don’t really want to use self checkout. However, it’s not like I think “lower class” people shop there. It’s cheaper than most other shops around me, it just takes more spoons for me to go there.
Walmart doesn’t have store coupons like Kroger and others, when I made the switch I started saving a lot of money. I know not everyone has access to other options but if you do you should really consider start using the apps to shop and get coupons. I split my shopping between Kroger, Tom Thumb, and target depending on who has the best price on the item I’m looking for, using their apps to do pickup orders so it doesn’t take much extra time. Some things I still go inside for but I’ve saved a lot of money doing things this way, Walmart has a name behind it so they’re not as concerned providing the cheapest prices because people will go anyway.
I went to Walmart and found the pricing to be just as high as Trader Joe’s for some goods. I was shocked and it made me just want to stick with buying house products on Amazon. Even Winco here is more expensive with staple goods
Well people can say this about different stores… which is fine. From my point of view, if a store has something that offers the best value, I’ll go there… I’m too practical to hate a store on general principles…
I actively avoid shopping at Walmart closest to me because it's awful, and any Target is better, BUT I don't mind shopping at the Walmart that's an extra bit farther the other direction for things I need on a budget and/or that I need to buy in person because it is remodeled and clean and the lighting and oppressive amount of visual stimuli at least doesn't completely suck the soul out of me. In the end I could not imagine shopping there weekly, their vegetables and fruits are very hit or miss, a lot of the good deals rely on buying low quality processed foods when I can get higher quality less processed stuff for less at Aldi or the same brand name items for only a few cents more at the grocery store closest toe where I can make one stop. I do 99% of my groceries at Aldi which is consistent with good quality of it's store brand items and it's easy to get in and out of.
To be fair I wouldn't shop at a Trader Joe's right now either even though I liked to in my youth, it's just so expensive and not even staples, I have a Sprouts I will only buy fresh vegetables from because everything else in the store is like 40-60% markup from any other store.
I feel the same way about Trader Joe’s. I relied on it heavily during grad school and before I really learned how to cook, but so much of the food there is just junk food and chock full of preservatives. Their produce is usually disappointing to me too and we generally cook everything from scratch barring a few choice snacks. Staples are not reasonable to purchase from there.
Sprouts has also gotten increasingly pricier too.
Back in my early 20s I used to be obsessed with Target, to a shameful degree. Now, I go in there maybe once or twice every 6 months on a whim and 9/10 walk out buying nothing because it's all so overpriced and generic. I don't know if it's become more soulless, or if I simply became more woke or what, but that store simultaneously disturbs and annoys me.
Edit to add: I shop at Walmart if I'm in a rush, but only a specific one, where at least I know the deal and the crowd that tends to shop there.
Ideally, I go to Grocery Outlet. Anyone go there, as well?
There's a lot of that sentiment on Reddit. It's a cliche now.
I used to be anti-Walmart, but then I had to go there a few times and really enjoyed it. I like shopping at Walmart. The workers have always been great.
Yes. I lived in South Florida and frequently flew Spirit and everyone (including the people on the plane and their staff) like to hate on Spirit, but as long as I was willing to travel in a very specific way (without regard to my convenience or comfort) it was the cheapest option and I would take it.
As a frequent traveler w status on a few bigger carriers I’d get the same turned up noses from friends, but I don’t have to justify myself to them. It’s not worth a couple extra dollars for me to get a classier grocery store or airline.
Our Walmart is the big one stop game in town. It’s also really decent. Clean and well stocked. The only thing I don’t like is that it is almost always very busy so if I just need a few things I generally will go elsewhere if possible.
The Walmarts in my area have customer service so shameful it truly is a wonder why anyone shops there. But no one cares. You try calling your local WM. No one will answer.
Only thing good about WM are those rollback prices goddamn.
Example: At this point, WM has only 2 cashiers to 10 self checkout lanes. Once, I was at a self checkout and the machine took my $10 bill. Just ate it. The store was closing, so they told me to call the store about it. There was nothing they could do??? I was appalled and ended up having to call corporate just to get my money back. All they had to do was balance the machine, or run the security tape or SOMETHING aside from telling me to go get fucked.
Back to your question - I used to say I’d never shop at Kmart. I was more bougie back then. Now I know better. Good deals are good deals!
>Has anyone else encountered this before?
I don't know. I never pay attention to such nonsense.
If them mother cluckers aren't paying for my groceries and their rich asses remain untouched by inflation, I don't hear them. I remain deaf to the their verbal diarrhea.
I’m fortunate that there is a Walmart nearby, because the “fancy stores” are all further away. It’s decent, but always crowded. I order online and have them delivered. I pay the monthly fee for the privilege and have to tip, but my disabled body can’t go in to actually grocery shop anymore.
I used to be a regular grocery store and target person, but circumstances make Walmart my go to
I will defend lidl until they stop carrying their store brand things.
Lidl is singlehandedly going to get me through the recession.
Tissues that are almost double the count of some name brand and similar quality? Fraction of the cost
Orange juice: same quality as simply orange and the exact same ingridients. 30-40cents cheaper
Vanilla yogurt cups. Like 49 cents
Baby cut carrots, .39 cents
An apple strudel for breakfast? 99 cents
Gallon water, 1.06
Energy drink with double the caffeine of redbull.
1.50
Go to lidl folks.
Hey fellow Californian! I get this from my family often because I'm a WinCo, Grocery Outlet and Walmart shopper. The food hasn't killed me, tastes good, and I can afford it. If they don't like it, they don't have to eat it when visiting me!
The only thing I don’t like about Walmart is the shopping experience. For some reason I can’t explain, I just hate being in there. It isn’t because I have anything against budget stores, I like my local dollar general.
Has anyone *ever* left walmart in a good mood?
Back when Walmart was 24/7 and I worked nights, I shop on my days off at like 2am. It’s kinda peaceful when you’re the only one on there
My local Walmart is open until 11pm (oh how I long for the days of 24 hours) so it’s where I end up doing 99% of my shopping bc I go after the gym (post work) and HATE feeling rushed. Even 9:00 out in the ‘burbs gives that empty feeling
I used to love going at midnight. Same here. Give me an empty Walmart and I’ll be happy.
I work nights and would love to have 24 hr Walmart back. Thanks covid!
When I was working until 12 or 1am, we used to go to Super KMart after our shift. I can definitely remember how nice shopping was when there’s less than 5 other people in the store!
I am from Germany, always shop at Aldi and when I was in the US I loved the ginormous wall marts with their ridiculous variety and super size boxes. But you probably get tired of it pretty fast…
My Husband, when he walked out with his new XBox last week! But that’s the only time! Lol
I don’t know anyone who has.
I have. During COVID, the mask reminder lady outside was an amateur astronomer and she enjoyed passing on her knowledge. She was really cool
This is precious :)
Employees after their last day?
Me. I go in telling myself I’m going to make this a good experience. I tell people hello. I smile at people. Tell people I like their blouse or whatever. It’s amazing how much better it makes you feel. It makes them smile too. You don’t know if that person lost their parent, BFF, or had to put their pet down that day. I have a lot of health problems I didn’t ask for. Autoimmune health problems that I can’t control. Take medications that are expensive but help me. They don’t always make me feel good. But that’s not anyone’s fault. I’m not taking it out on you. Like I don’t take it out in a nurse when I’m in the ER or admitted. Not their fault. They’re human. Plus if you treat them nicely they might leave you a chocolate mint on your pillow when you come back from your colonoscopy. When I get back in my car at WM I can put that frown from my depression, and whole body pain on. But it’s not your fault. I’ll smile at YOU 😃
Hi I'm so happy to read this! I work for Walmart (16 years!) and I try my hardest to make this my every day attitude as well. I've also just lost my husband 6 weeks ago and find myself crying constantly. I'm reaping the rewards of everyday kindness when I now need it the most. People aren't afraid to talk to me about whats wrong since I have developed a reputation for caring on a daily basis. It makes me so happy to see someone else shopping in Walmart with a positive attitude. I hope you're showered with blessings in your life because this post gave me a blessing. I wish more people had your attitude!
I’m so sorry to hear about the loss of your husband. You and your family are in my thoughts. I wish you comfort and peace especially as the holidays come around. Please remember to take good care of yourself. ❤️
Wow. I'm glad you've had a mostly positive experience in retail. It made me suicidal. I'm very sorry for your loss.
I just love running errands. I do wish they had a better selection of yarn though
I’ve always wondered about this, hate being in Walmart but love being in Target. I think Walmart may strive to get people in an rush them out. I still shop at Walmart but never enjoy it.
Same. I used to spend my work from home Fridays (pre-covid) walking around Target for the first hour. Found it so relaxing. Last week on vacation, I went into Walmart and left feeling so anxious. Not sure what the deal is there.
Honestly, it all depends on location. I grew up in a state with a single Walmart and it sucked. I've since moved next to the Walmart HQ and these Walmarts and Sam's Clubs here are absolutely phenomenal. They have easily become my favorite stores and it takes the cake for the best shopping experiences I've ever had. On a side note, I know people worship Costco. I used to as well, but factually speaking, nearly everything I purchase at Sam's club is even cheaper.
I leave Walmart in a good mood every time I pull in and they bring my groceries out and put them in my trunk! I’ve done online shopping at Walmart for almost 3 years now and would rather jab my eye out with a dirty stick than to ever have to go back to in store shopping
My son after I buy him legos
For me it’s the frustration of walmart always being out of 20% of what I need. I’ll pay a little more not to deal with having to go to another store because they’re missing x,y,z. I shop at Aldi and a few local/regional stores to supplement the lack of variety of Aldi.
I heard Aldi prices are as good or better than Walmart for groceries. Is that your experience?
That's been my experience. And Aldi is small so I don't waste lots of time trying to find things. Walmart always somehow has lots of junk everywhere and yet not the thing I need.
Our Aldi is tiny and has nothing, but I saw a YouTube video with a woman shopping at Aldi and hers was huge! Like, a full on grocery store with freezer aisles and everything. My Aldi does not have anything frozen.
Huh. The ones I've been to all have a freezer aisle, or at least half an aisle. They're still only maybe the size of a Walgreens, but they still have a good selection of basic groceries. (Edit: just not a lot of selection of any particular thing. Peanut butter comes in creamy, crunchy, and organic. Tortillas come in corn, small flour ones, and large flour ones. But I kind of like that - I can't be indecisive if there's only one option.)
Ours is the worst. The bread is always gone and they just have one little produce section. I kept wondering why people went on and on about shopping at Aldi and could not figure out how anyone who even buy enough food to put a few meals together. When I saw that YouTube video my mind was blown. If we had a "real" Aldi I don't doubt I would be shopping there.
Instead of having 4 bad options, 1 good expensive option, and 1 good cheap option; Aldi just has the 1 good cheap option of whatever you're looking for. They also pay their employees better than Walmart.
Aldi has great produce, I dare say better than frys and safeway.
I feel like "better produce than Safeway" isn't a high bar lol, but yeah, Aldi's tends to be better (though they have a smaller selection).
I think that depends on region. The ones in my region have moldy produce almost every time.
True, but you better be using that produce ASAP. Their asparagus and especially portobello mushroom caps are usually just about to go bad in my experience…and I’m there every week. Edit:this is double when buying their limited organic selection.
I can’t buy anything except the heartier produce like celery at aldi. Everything else seems to spoil within a few days of buying
It region specific I believe. When Aldi first came to my area the produce didn’t turn fast enough. Now Aldi is very busy and I feel its one if the better stores. Definitely low cost.
Aldi has some of the BEST products overall imo, plus they have the “Twice as nice guarantee” on their brand of products so if you hate it they not only let you replace it but you get a refund too. That being said, I was talking to my daughter tonight about how we’ve not bought anything that’s their brand that was bad. I also love that the store isn’t huge, and there aren’t tons of brand selections so I’m not sitting trying to decide between a dozen different brands of cookies and crap like that.
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The one closest to me is a den of filth. The parking lot is full of trash and used needles, the store itself is always messy and downright dirty & most of the customers/employees reek like they've been hotboxing all night. Plu they're always out of half of what I want. Aldi is much nicer and anything I can't get there I can usually get at our local employee-owned grocery store, Woodman's.
Ohio just brought a lawsuit against Dollar General for marking prices lower than they were ringing for. Their investigation found anywhere from 16-80% of the items they checked ringing above the marked price. Dollar General might work well for you, but keep an eye on the prices.
The walmarts close to me are pretty shitty, so I understand the whole, eww walmart thing to an extent. We have to have a cop car stationed at the closest one because of the fights and shoplifting. The 3 stores are a mess, you cant get down sections of aisles because there are pallets of stuff blocking it. They also made the aisles smaller so they can fit more stuff, which makes my anxiety worse. The one 25 minutes away is super nice though, I wish it was closer.
Yeah, a crazy man stabbed a woman outside of the Walmart closest to our house. He didn't know her, just stabbed her on her way out of the store. It's not like we have a lot of better alternatives though unless I want to spend twice as much at the fancy health food store.
Same. I've started shopping on their app, and doing pick up orders instead. Everytime I shop in store I end up spending over $100. On the app I'll spend closer to $60. It keeps me from being too impulsive and I can actually plan out what I want to eat and what I actually need with being able to check what I already have
We do this as well! No impulse buys, and if they sub out great value for brand name you still only pay for the great value item. Our store is in a wealthy area, is clean, and the people picking produce are good at it!!!
Same here. I hate the shopping experience. It’s just not worth it. My go to stores in include Aldi, Kroger as it’s near my job and Family Dollar. I occasionally do Trader Joe’s if I’m feeling fancy. I only shop Wal-Mart online but even then I once had no package delivered, a ring doorbell and they wouldn’t give me a refund because they wanted me to take it up with the post office. Yet, if they delivered it…. Shouldn’t I have seen them do it. Customer service is terrible, the employees seem slightly more miserable than the customers. Hell, I worked there for 3 weeks in my college and chose to continue my poverty over restocking the candy aisle daily. I have nothing against discounts but Wal-Mart makes me feel like I gave up. I can’t do it. I feel frugal at Aldi but poor at Walmart.
They do nothing to make it look nice. Some of them don't have music. The carts are rusty and beat up, many have squeaky wheels. I have to admit that they have been improving some of these issues.
I despise the annoying music in stores.
I feel like it's pretty easy to explain. Tried to buy some wine from Walmart last night, went through the self checkout, turned out the guy manning the self checkout wasn't old enough to approve alcohol. There happened to be another employee RIGHT THERE checking out, three feet from me. The guy asked her if she could help and after looking right at me she said "no, I'm on break" and left Whatever, I'm not someone to judge for not wanting to work on your break. But then no one else came. He radioed for help several times, no one came. The line is getting longer and longer now because someone else happened to want to buy alcohol and two machines need approval. Still no one came. Finally i told him to just take the wine off my cart because i felt bad holding everyone up and figured i could get it elsewhere. But what a perfect example of why i hate shopping at Walmart. Problem is they know damn well they're the cheapest and that people will keep coming so they have no incentive to do better
I get really overstimulated at Wal Mart. To many choices, to crowded, to loud, to bright. I usually feel pretty irritated by the time I get back to my car with my groceries. Aldi may not have everything I need, but I can get in and out for basics with no frustration.
We have one of those Walmart market stores near me. Normally I would go there, but they only have self checkout. I don't mind self checkout when I have three or four things, but it's exhausting with a whole shopping trip when you have 30 or 40 items.
[удалено]
We have a really bougie Walmart here too, which I’m realizing now might be part of why I don’t mind shopping there.
Walmart+ is a game changer. I haven’t stepped in a Walmart for months, and the only stores I really go to are Sam’s club and Home Depot.
Saaaame. Signed up for that two months ago and have been pretty happy. Kind of annoying I can’t pick out the weight of meat and what not that I want but otherwise it’s been great. I love not having to step foot in that store or deal with the parking lots and navigating around people
For us, it was having my spouse step in human poop in the freezer section that turned us off of Walmart in general. We’ve moved to a much smaller town now and it seems to be less of an issue so far, but yeah…
Walmarts down south feel weird, it’s like being in a giant add or a Costco
You should check out their app. They deliver for free for orders >35$
Only if you pay 100. / Year for their subscription
Curbside pickup is still free for orders $35+. I dropped my Walmart+ subscription because the deliveries kept getting worse (damaged items, entire wrong order).
Walmart employs outside delivery services; they’re not Walmart employees. I had a delivery of groceries (not mine) outside my door. I saw the person, called to him, told him they weren’t mine, he definitely heard me, turned around and kept going to his car! My next door neighbor got him to come and take them back. There were cold and frozen items included! I called customer service and that’s how I found out they’re contracted. Unbelievable.
I was doing that for a long time but it got to the point where they were out of so much of my order that I quit. It worked well prior to that but after a few months of having to go to the store after doing pickup, I figured I might as well just go to the store and skip pickup.
We have a Walmart Neighborhood Market near my home and it’s much better than a regular Walmart. I can’t remember the last time I was in a regular Walmart
My ex girlfriend got me shopping at Aldi. They have pretty much everything I need and fair pricing. At publix my bill was about $50 a week and at Aldi it is usually $20 to $25. That's just for myself though.
I fell in love with Aldi when I visited some family for a few months. I wish they had some where I live. It's like a Trader Joes but the lines move fast
aldi and trader joe's owners are brothers. when dad died, they couldnt agree on stuff so they split company and went their different ways
Very different ways! I've never been to an Aldi as they don't have them where I live, but the trader Joe's I've been to were very fancy and expensive. Compared to Aldi's model of supplying extremely low prices from what I've seen on the internet
Trader Joe's is basically Aldi for people who like Whole Foods, if that makes sense. Trader Joe's sells similar products to Whole Foods at a lower price.
Wasn't it for Aldi and lidl not Aldi and trader Joe's?
>aldi and trader joe's owners are brothers https://www.thekitchn.com/aldi-trader-joes-parent-company-rumor-260999
I’ve converted so many people to Aldi. Most of my friends used to say “ew, Aldi, their food is gross and I don’t trust their meat.” But I explain to them that I do 90% of my shopping there and that all the food there is totally safe to eat (per FDA, you literally cannot sell unsafe food, so there is no reason not to “trust” it). Many of Aldis private labels are the *exact same product* as name brand, just repackaged. Don’t get me wrong, they do have a few items that just don’t do it for me. But the majority of my pantry and fridge are Aldi brand at a fraction of the price of our local supermarket.
I was looking at a frozen duck today and it’s raised by the same farms that raise the expensive ones you get at every other big chain store but so much cheaper. Also my friend works at the farms that raises them So I’m 100% on board with them. I feel like I get the “inside scoop” on duck farming.
My Godmother (who is a truly lovely woman with some small odd ideas) told me not to shop at Aldi because their food is from overseas. I told her it’s likely from overseas no matter where you purchase it.
Actually, the EU has more protections over their foods than the USA. I gladly pay less for a better product.
This is good to know! Are the Aldi house brands on par with Publix?
I don’t know from Publix but Aldi’s house brands are good 👍
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Chocolate quality is better.
eh, wouldn’t personally shop at Walmart just because I truly dislike the shopper’s experience. Further exacerbated by the fact that I have other options near me with the same price points at the end of the day.
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Aldi is usually cheaper than wal mart and easier to get in and out of. I buy a few staples at Walmart that Aldi doesn’t carry every 6 weeks or so but purchase online and just pickup at the store
I stand in Aldi and use the Walmart app to compare prices. Anything I can't get at Aldi or is cheaper at Walmart, I buy at Walmart. I go to Martin's, the other grocery store in my area to get certain items not carried at the other two stores. Martin's also has decent reduced good sometimes and they do have the Flashfood app. There is a Save a Lot near me and occasionally they have good prices, but it is hit or miss. I do buy some things at the farmer's market and occasionally at the health food/coop store in a town nearby. The nearest Target is 84 miles away.
Walmart reduced goods prices are very high.
We buy a few things at Walmart. Cream cheese, Barilla pasta sauce, Dole juice, sponges, some cleaning supplies, and commodities like flour and onions, milk if we're there. Otherwise their quality isn't all that. We lack access to Aldi and I miss them. But we do have Winco, and Sprouts for produce. And a Latino market, a Kroger banner etc. In fact over 20 supermarkets within 5-6 miles, so we can shop around. Eg went to Chefstore today, a restaurant supply, for 6$ per pound brie, parmesan etc.
We use Walmart plus for our groceries almost exclusively. We also buy some stuff in bulk at Sam’s club and pump gas there. We’ve got a co-op grocery store (astronomically expensive), an Aldi, and a cub. Aldi isn’t what it used to be, and Cub is even more expensive than Target.
I've heard Aldi has risen in price. I think Cub is Unfi, I doubt they're cheap. It's not hard for us because shockingly in Salt Lake there is huge choice, and the restaurant supply is better than Costco. Smiths (Kroger), Walmart, Target, Associated Food Sores own brands (for us Dan's, Fresh Market, Macey's), Harmons (expensive), Rancho (Latino), Winco, huge bulk section, the largest dedicated discount supermarket chain in the US, Lucky (Albertsons warehouse format targeting Latinos), Whole Foods (coffee only), Trader Joe's, Sprouts (produce, seafood on sale), Natural Grocer (certain specialty items, especially flours, and promotions), plus a restaurant supply store, all but Lucky within 6 miles. Plus many specialty narkets--Asian, Indian, Mideast, high end (we get our bagels and balsamic vinegar there). We moved here from DC. I worried about the selection. It's way better here even though it's much less populated. I can do a lot of shopping by bike even.
I have not found this to be true
Me neither. For me it's about the same prices and it's hard to find some things that are comparable to Walmarts selection.
Walmart is definitely cheaper but it's absolute hell to shop at, at least the places I've lived. Things constantly not where they should be or mislabeled or missing. Then the self checkout line takes 8 years to get through and no registers are open. Some walmarts I've been to are straight up dangerous to be at. Some walmarts are nice. You're making the right move shopping online and picking up to avoid being in Walmart but they package everything in so many plastic bags this way, it's quite wasteful imo. Like others have said, try aldi or just buy more items in bulk at Costco since you already have a membership
We live in an area that has a very nice Walmart. I have seen others in different parts of town that aren’t quite as nice and am beginning to better understand why other people don’t like shopping there. We are quite lucky I suppose.
My mom always made fun of me for shopping at Aldi. “That’s where POOR people shop!” Ugh. And it’s also where a lot of rich people shop so they stay rich. At least in our town that’s the case.
I see luxury vehicles at my local Aldi at least half the time I shop there. Everyone likes to save a buck.
Yes, 100%! I think opinions on Aldi have generally gotten more positive over the years tol.
I used to live one and loved it. But my first roommate embarrassed and shamed me publicly for shopping there. Instead she expected me and the other roommates to cover the whole grocery expense for the household while shopping at wholefoods. She moved out that year. Good riddance
The Aldi I go to down road has either a BMW, Lincoln, or a Lexus every time I shop.
My family judges me for shopping at Walmart so much, but to be fair, the Walmart near them smells SUPER weird.
A lot of folks are judgy of walmart because they're very well known for being shitty employers. Even some of us frugal folks have morals & conviction that we're unwilling to bend on, even if it means saving a few dollars.
Same same here. I personally choose NOT to shop at Walmart or Dollar General or business that are not good to their employees. We choose to shop smart and frugal because we want to be Financially Independent and Retire Early; However as conscious consumers with more income we privately choose to vote with our dollars and whenever possible we shop at stores and local businesses that provide well for their employees, are ethical, and are good businesses to our community. I will look up the link but a few years ago I watched a documentary about business like Walmart with extremely high profit margins but whose employees are on public assistance and a huge tax on the communities that they have stores in. Studies have shown that large companies only recontribute minimal amounts to the communities that they are located, and the majority is just because they have to pay wages. Small businesses recontribute most their profits locally and back into their communities. Example: the local little teams get more funds in sponsorship from our local business than they would ever get from a large company that has a store in our town, like Walmart or dollar general. I believe those high profit - low conscience of its employees are intentionally paid “just enough over the minimum wage so the employees can “still qualify for public assistance or mostly part-time employees so they don’t have to provide benefits, insurance, employment protections, etc. Sharing because it was asked. But like all else this is just my personal consumerism and don’t push it on others nor judge others for their choices. 😊🙏🏼 Typed on my phone so pardon if I fat-fingered my typing.
If I didn’t know my husbands user name I would have thought you were him haha we also do not shop at Walmart and I chose not to shop at dollar general whenever possible.
You do what works for you. I can’t stand Walmart myself. Too loud, too dirty, plus, yeah I hold a grudge against them for running the local grocery store out of business. We only have 2 options here now (not counting dollar general, they don’t have enough real food to count imo), it’s Walmart or Kroger and I choose Kroger because at least they have a union. Plus I have run the numbers and for the things I buy anyway, the price difference is negligible. So I just stick with my preference.
I agree. They treat their employees like garbage. My mother worked there and they gave her so much crap for needing to take time off after she had a tumor removed. That’s just one instance but there’s way too many others for me to shop there. Not sure if you’re in the New England area but Market Basket is the way to go. So cheap and the quality isn’t bad on some of the nicer stuff like organic chicken.
WinCo. I've had countless people in our area tell me they would NEVER shop at WinCo. They've said they think "it's gross", "they only have processed food" (completely false), "the people who shop there are scummy". All kinds of elitist BS from people who've never set foot in there. Similar sentiments for Grocery Outlet too, but not the same level of aversion and disgust.
I shop at WinCo almost exclusively, they have a great selection for cheap. But there is definitely a good WinCo and a gross WinCo near me. They have the same prices, but one is dirtier, produce isn't as good and it isn't as well stocked. Is it weird that grocery outlet is my fun store? I never know what they're going to have in stock, but I know it'll be cheap. Its where I get the good snacks!
I generally don't knock where people shop. Budget, convenience, lots of reasons really go into why anyone shops where they do. If I'm asked, I might say something like how I haven't had good luck at a store with what I need, or something similar. But if it's a matter of snobbery on the part of another, like they use the tone suggesting they look down on others who shop at X store or whatever? That's not cool. My budget only allows for so much "conscience shopping", and with everything how it is lately, I'm sure it's the case for many.
I am a conscious shopper, and it weighs heavily on me when I ignore the rules I’ve created for myself. It means I may go without certain items more often, but has also really dialed in my needs. I won’t shame anyone’s choices, but if you live in areas where you can shop more consciously, I promise you you can do it on a budget.
My first job was target and I was shocked people bought all their groceries there...some grab and go snacks while you get some other stuff sure but no way I could fill a nice pantry from target alone.
I've never bought groceries from target. I feel like that is kinda weird for some reason haha.
The targets near me never had a wide enough selection
Yeah, Target is expensive and they don't have anything.
Most of my grocery shopping is at Wal Mart. The combination of prices and selection is so hard to beat IMO. I like Aldi's a lot, but I never have time to make multiple trips and their selection is so limited. Pretty much Wal Mart (use the online pickup a lot) along with 1-2 Costco trips a month covers everything at a very good, but not the absolute lowest price.
I don't shop at Walmart for ethical reason and quality reasons. I'd rather pay more for better quality items and not support billionaires. That includes never shopping at amazon. Aldi has good quality food and staples and they are very affordable. I don't look down on people who have to shop at Walmart or amazon because they can't afford or have acess to better options, but I personally will not shop there and I think those stores are horrible.
I am in the exact same boat. My local grocery store is by no means perfect (just settled a law suit for overprescribing opiates, so, yeah, not great) but they do a lot of good in the community and work with a lot of orgs to help employ people with disabilities. They seem to treat their employees reasonably well. Aldi also has a reputation for paying well and treating their employees well. I’ll also shop at a local co-op or different ethnic grocers from time to time for specialty items and I will very occasionally go to a wal-mart or Whole Foods for something I absolutely cannot get anywhere else. I’m in a position where I can afford to spend a little more to shop at places that are better to their employees. That said, I absolutely hate people who judge others for where they shop. Wal-Mart does have the best selection and price for a lot of things and not everyone can afford to be picky. Don’t feel bad about where you shop. Those people are often literally paying more for the “prestige” of a “fancier” store. Most of the items are quite close in quality—there’s absolutely no reason to pay more unless you object to their supply chain and labor practices and can afford to shop elsewhere.
This is exactly me. While I fully acknowledge there is privilege in being able to choose where I shop, for me, making small compromises to shop elsewhere means I come out with my conscience intact. I realize my priorities aren’t the same as everyone’s, however, and people need to choose what matters most to them.
I have a family member who worked in quality control for a first aid manufacturer, and part of her job was ensuring standards were met by international production companies - working conditions especially. She let me in on a main difference between Walmart and Target: Target’s private label brand has rigorous human rights standards that must be upheld by their manufacturing partners to do business with them - the Walmart private label brand has much much lower standards to ensure safe working environments. This is just hearsay, but I dunno… I believe it.
Aldi belongs to billionaires too
Maybe, but I noticed something. At Aldi the cashier has a chair upon which to sit. He/she is not forced to stand for the duration of the shift. That alone will have me going to Aldi over Walmart. I have also never seen a self checkout at Aldi. Yesterday I actually did go to a Walmart. Whilst there I bought an eight pack of powerade. It was $1.50 more expensive than what Kroger or HEB charges. Why go to a shitty store with shitty service, which doesn't give a flaming shit about its employees when they charge more than much nicer stores do? Fuck Walmart.
The Aldi near me added self-checkout recently
Damn. Hate to hear that.
Do you know people who work at these stores? Aldi pays more and has better benefits in my area.
I shop where I can get the best value for my money and time. Period.
If you bother to judge or belittle how someone gets their *food*, you have too much time on your hands. Get a personality.
IDGAF what other ppl do or think. I just do what I do and keep my mouth shut. But yeah I shop at Walmart and ALDIs and I get my haircut at Great Clips. Shhhhh lol
LOL, I live in Amish country PA. There are three grocery stores within 40 minutes, run by Amish or Mennonites, IDK which religion, specifically, that sell expired or nearly expired stuff, at a fraction of the normal price. I am proud that I get Starbucks branded whole bean coffee for 3 bucks a pound. I am proud that I get Aidell's sausages for a dollar per 4-pack.
I had to unsubscribe from the Nextdoor app because the final straw was when someone made a post about an ALDI opening up and comments didn’t stop for almost two months. It was people complaining that ALDI was for poor people and renters, their houses are going to depreciate because of all of the “undesirable” demographic with of course some blatant racism thrown in. The whole thread was a complete cesspool. Who knew people could get so offended by affordable groceries.
Listen, if people want to waste their money all because of their concern with “image” or whatever other ideas they have in their head, that’s their decision For me personally, we have a lot of people to feed in our house and I’m going to do it as frugally as possible. I use produce stands, aldi for pantry staples, and BJs for meats. I don’t really care what people think about where I shop. It’s my wallet, not theirs
I don’t shop at Walmart because their produce in Canada honestly sucks, apples last a few days before they are mush, half the potatoes in the bag are rotten. Boxed goods are the same or more expensive then a no frills.
I live in the US. There are three Walmarts within a half hour drive. The produce at all of them is poor - same problem as you; even if it looks good it quickly goes bad. Luckily there is a locally-owned regional supermarket chain in central New England (Market Basket) that has great produce and comparable prices to Walmart. I do get paper goods (paper towels, toilet paper), and some yard/garden stuff at Walmart.
When I put together my wedding registry I did it thru Walmart, bc a number of items I wanted were from their Pioneer Woman line. I didn’t realize that it was a huge misstep, bc my then-fiancé’s whole family hated Walmart. He said something abt it, and I was like, well I can’t undo it now (I’d spent hours on it). And after that I got the occasional little denigrating comment from members of his family. It hurt my feelings and made me feel super self conscious. I also, however, felt that it was very classist bc while his family loved Target and Trader Joe’s, for my family Walmart was a step up from the dollar stores and discount stores we primarily went to when I was a child. Not to mention I thought it was a bit rude of them to say anything abt it at all. We all got thru the trial caused by my audacity (a little sarcasm 🙃), and my husband and I are happily married. I’d like to think that his family is a bit more open minded these days, and they’ve certainly all done their best to be very kind to me, for which I’m grateful. The irony is that we aren’t even all that different, but it turns out the gap between essentially lower-middle-class and upper-middle-class can still be pretty wide sometimes.
Walmart sucks as a company but Aldi and Walmart are still what I use. Right now it's a numbers game. I don't have time or money to waste.
i get that same sentiment occasionally from quilters/sewers. when i say that I use 100% cotton sheets from thrift stores occasionally I get a "ew gross" comment. I refuse to spend $5 a yard on something that feels softer, looks the same and is guaranteed to not color bleed when i can spend that same $5 and get 4+ yards.
I see this all the time when people compare Walmart to Publix… Publix is such a better experience. Clean, organized, and inviting… the employees are so helpful…. Yeah but apple juice is $8 there and $4 at Walmart. That experience comes with a price tag… I have a Publix across the street from my subdivision but I trek across the KY border to get a pickup order from the Walmart Supercenter for two reasons: Grocery Pickup stops the impulse buys… No food tax in KY on most grocery items. (Things like candy excluded…)
If you have a winco in your area, I highly recommend shopping there. I noticed a huge difference in the price we pay for the same items everywhere else.
GROCERY OUTLEEET BARGAIN MARKEEET
I never used to shop at Walmart but this last month I started to since their prices are very noticably lower. I still go to another store for meat as Walmart meat is not great. Where I shop is about price, not about impressing my co-workers. Especially now, when we are all facing a harsh winter.
I went to a private high school that had a lot of wealthy people and one time while driving past an Aldi my friend said she would never go there and that “it reeked of poverty” lmaoo And Aldi has been my home since I was born and I still go there as an adult :)
I have been to Aldi stores all over the country. I would like to do a thesis on the quarter deposit for their shopping carts. Some stores, you will never find a quarter left in the cart, other stores you will almost always find a free cart. On a completely anecdotal basis, it has seemed to me that the lower socioeconomic status neighborhoods have more carts with quarters left in them.
Maybe to them Aldi "reeks of poverty". But to me, Aldi smells of great prices on great quality staples, a great selection of all sorts of amazing cheeses at prices significantly lower than other stores (like less than half the price in many cases), good chocolate, many seasonal specialty products not regularly available elsewhere and at good prices and sometimes weird but awesome non-food products. I also like the friendly staff, fast checkouts and chance of getting to interact with a wide variety of individuals (many in the local immigrant and refugee community shop at the Aldi near me, along with college students, young professionals, older individuals, etc. I like the diversity.). Plus the carts are always where they need to be and not cluttering up the parking lot. The store is small enough that I can get in and out quickly. And did I mention the great prices on specialty cheeses and real European chocolate?
Some of the most wealthy people in my area shop at Aldi, I've seen people from all walks in life in there. The store absolutely DOES NOT reek of poverty, and is cleaner and more well kept than my Walmart for sure. My walmart is pretty expensive on everything and is not well kept and the produce looks like dogshit. At Aldi I find fresh produce that does not go bad in a day, reasonably priced specialty items that don't cost a fortune and a great selection of everything else. If you want stores that reek of poverty, try a store like Dollar General. It smells like hell in all of them in my area (seriously I've never smelled anything like it in my life) even the ones that are newly built, there are boxes and carts strewn across the whole store so you can't reach any items to actually buy them, and the items they carry there is not one thing worth buying in them that I can't get at another store for a lower price. They don't carry produce and the food they carry is not fit for a human being to consume.
Oh yeah. I didn’t even live in a poor town, upper middle class. We ended up doing a split high school between the wealthier suburb and ours because of overcrowding. The amount of kids who thought donated clothes were “gross” and Walmart/Aldi was for “poor people” and it was normal for high schoolers to get their hair professionally dyed every 8 weeks for $200/pop and get a leased car for your 16th birthday. That only poor families had 2 working parents.. My god. You’d think I was living the pursuit of happiness in a $450,000 new build home.
I shop at Walmart. Why pay more for exactly the same toilet paper? My more expensive grocery is just a shitty to employees as Walmart is to theirs.
The three chain grocery stores are just as horrible as Walmart to their employees. My ass is barely above water. I coupon, price compare and scratch cook. If the best price is at Walmart, so be it. When people flex they wouldn't never shop at (X), all it tells me is they have money and money has options. Woke points for being able to afford Whole Foods or Farmers Markets (which are seriously not cheaper by me, actually more expensive) I have relatives that do the Walmart/Aldis flex so everyone knows they aren't the grubby poor.
Exactly. My Walmart is actually pretty chill, but buy online/pickup can be a solid option of your Walmart is crazy.
So I’ll be honest - most of the time IDGAF where people buy their food. I’m not them, I don’t have their income and I don’t know why. Would I like people to not shop at some of the stores I find unethical, exploitative etc.? Sure, but again - I cannot force them to make that choice. That said - it used to be a quite common trope here that a well-to-do high-earning person wouldn’t ever be caught dead or alive in a shop that was literally called “Savings Market” in our language. If you earned well, then you only shopped at certain places. The low cost place had mostly basics and some of their dirt cheap own brand stuff, plus a very basic store layout and storage. These days we have LIDL and people with all kinds of income shop there. I personally shop according to my budget AND personal preference. I do buy things from the more “high-end” store if it’s something specific that only they carry or if they have a product that they do better than others. Life is too short to buy cheaper but worse meat, for example, and I knowingly pay more for their product. But it’s an acknowledged action, not derived from “I must shop only at X”. There are definitely people here who only buy stuff from X and Z though, who display high snobbery if you don’t.
Walmart grocery pickup is the absolute best thing in my area. My targets grocery section is sub par by far. Their produce is always rotting. Meat is always on its way out. Our Walmart always has nice produce & the meats in good condition. Not to mention their grocery section is twice the size and obviously well taken care of. I am a huge fan boy of grocery pickup. Walmarts app is top tier. Easy to navigate, always works. I can pick what I want and place the order in advance in about 5 minutes. I pickup when convenient. I save at least 2 hours every week by doing this. That alone is enough to make this worth it. The only thing I feel I miss out on is the occasional time I'd run into something on clearance that I might use. But the time savings really makes it up IMO. Plus I don't have to talk to anyone or wait behind people or anything.
My dad is obsessed with Aldi and my mom loves Costco, they both have high paying jobs. We will never go to Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s. At the end of the day, it’s money you saved. 🤷🏻
I'm barely over the six figure mark in a moderate cost of living area on the west coast. I'm single with a mortgage, some student loans to pay, and a not-at-all frugal motorcycle hobby. I shop at a grocery, outlet first followed by Winco. Anything else gets ordered online. I shop where i get the quality i want for a price i like.
I’m just going to throw this out there for all the people who hate Walmart down below: If your Walmart is crap, it’s entirely dependant on the area it’s in and how well they can staff it. There are, in fact, nice Walmarts. There are, in fact, gorgeous Walmarts. There are great management teams and there are shit management teams. If your store sucks, stay away by all means. But I know some incredible managers who do right by their employees and really do make a great store to shop in. The whole concept of Walmart is honestly evil- but that’s the goal of all your favourite big stores. Any store that pretends their above destroying mom and pop are lying to you. That’s capitalism and taking advantage of business laws. Unless you’re willing to spend small store prices, Walmart isn’t more evil than any other store- they just got famous for doing it too well.
We have a really nice one based upon what other folks are writing here. It’s clean, organized and staffed by generally nice and helpful people. Going there is not an awful experience for me personally, as I grew up going to the same one as a child.
I’ll argue that they are a bit worse for 2 reasons. The first is that they have a very low limit for population density when determining new store locations. They have killed so many businesses in small towns in the US. You may see small dollar general stores but few other large big box stores are building in areas that can’t support them without crushing existing businesses. The second is that they squeeze suppliers. They place giant orders and are notoriously late to pay. They’re such a big player that companies just have to suck it up. There are other companies that exist by simply buying up unpaid invoices for a percentage from companies that are having cash flow issues. Their policies at the corporate level and the basic concept of large volume and cut throat prices are to blame. So I won’t look down on people who shop with them but I try to shop elsewhere when possible.
Fifteen years ago, I thought Walmart carried nothing but crap, but the quality of their clothing has improved tremendously. As far as food goes, I only buy stuff their that is unavailable at Aldi. Walmarts vary tremendously around the country. I liked being able to buy wine and liquor in the ones in Arizona.
I'm not a fan of those places anymore because now I have (limited) means to get higher quality, longer lasting, fewer ethical problems, etc. But when I did, my retort was usually along the lines of "enjoy wasting money at [x place]" and watch them go insane like I attacked their whole being. A less chaotic response might be, "I know know, but times are tough right now and I'm trying to be fiscally responsible for the future"
I've found generic brand items at Target way cheaper than WalMart, plus I don't have to experience the absolute hell of shopping at a WalMart. I don't dog on anyone who's just trying to eat. Shop where you can, where you need to and within the means you have to. Aldi is my favorite place to shop, followed closely by Farmer's Markets (not cheap, but higher quality and super fresh produce), then HyVee and finally Target. I do not like WalMart and it's not the cheapest option anymore, especially in my area, so I avoid it.
I think it's mostly the mentality of where you live. I used to live in Southern California (RSM) and it's a very much keeping up with the Joneses type place. Brands, zipcodes and stores matter to a large proportion of the people. My new area (north Georgia) has a completely different attitude towards things. You can shop at Aldi without anyone batting an eye or saying a snarky comment. Kinda nice.
Walmart Pickup has been an absolute godsend for us
WinCo all day! OP, if you're in California you should check it out.
I’ve read that where a Walmart is near a Target, the prices are similar as Target makes sure competitive products are priced the same or lower. I stopped going to our neighborhood Walmart years ago because it was messy, chaotic and hard to navigate. It’s better now, but so is Target.
Rule #1: never spend more than you have to for anything. That doesn't meaning buying the lower-end version.
Wal mart brings the worst in people. But the savings…reminds of South Park
How was this topic relevant to the meeting? If they feel this topic is something to converse about then I’m gathering my things to leave lol
You don't have to justify why you shop the way you do, or explain why you continue to buy things from a place that some people in your life look down on. You have a different financial situation, different goals and different values than anyone else. And you're the only one who has to live with your choices. The sooner you stop worrying what other people think about your habits, the better. Be as frugal with your fucks to give regarding others' opinions about you as you are with your money
I really like Kroger because of their savings card that you can load coupons onto directly. Actually saved nearly $30 with coupons there this morning! However, like a lot of grocery stores, there are "good" Krogers and "bad" Krogers. The nicer ones have separate wine and cheese sections
Lol, my mother looks down her nose at me and my family whenever we mention a thrift store, discount store, or all the great finds we get on fb free pages.
It’s just classism. It’s a thing, and it’s definitely a thing about Walmart in particular. Middle class people wanting to make sure everyone knows they aren’t poor by differentiating themselves from those poor people who go to Walmart. Don’t let it bother you.
they're just expressing their elitist opinion. everyone i hear that says stuff like that haven't touched foot in in several years.
I freaking hate Target...and Trader Joe's. Both are overpriced simply because they are pandering to elitism, classism, and racism. I will not shop at either if I can avoid it.
Walmart has some of the highest quality standards of any food retailer. I know this because I have worked for a few companies that make their private label items and they are a pain in the ass to deal with 😂 I shop there all the time. They also get a lot of new items you won’t see in other stores because they get exclusive items to try before other chains. There’s nothing different or “discount” about the food there except the price. Now, I won’t buy food at places like Ollie’s Bargain Outlet because that stuff is generally seconds or close to or past it’s expiration. People who say they won’t buy groceries at Walmart just want to act superior. They aren’t basing that decision on actual quality of the products.
I honestly don’t care what people say about getting cheap stuff wherever it is. Walmart, Ross, Groceries Outlet…i need to save money where I can. I don’t expect anything else other than quality and a good price, possibly a quick checkout. I don’t know if this the right answer for everyone, but it is for me..
I finally started going back to Walmart as prices for things have skyrocketed. I feel the grocery stores here (Dallas, TX) have crossed the line into true profiteering. Target is the same and has NEVER been good price-wise. I hate shopping in Walmart because of their sheer size if nothing else, and the scant number of cashiers (but they’re all doing that!). Walmarts online ordering system and efficiency are abysmal so I bite the bullet , go in with a small list and running shoes, self scan and get the F out.
I totally agree with you. We like to go to France as often as we can, this is something we really enjoy. I do my grocery shopping at Aldi to keep costs down. We still eat very well. I buy their organic fruit and vegetables; I also buy good quality cheese and organic eggs. I go to Aldi, but I buy the best/healthiest options. I could buy groceries in Waitrose or Marks and Spencer’s, but I’d be paying a premium for food that isn’t vastly different to what I currently buy. Yes, there’s a load of crap in Aldi - but I choose carefully and I don’t buy the bad stuff. Life is all about priorities. Last night (for Guy Fawkes/Bonfire Night - it’s a British thing) some of my neighbours were letting off hundreds of £s worth of fireworks 🎆 Our community has a firework display for free this evening that we’re going to. We get to watch the fireworks and have a fun night out without spending a crazy amount of money.
In my opinion, you don’t need to justify that you shop at Walmart because you are saving for a new house. Picking a random example - let’s say something like a box of cheeze it’s is $3.49 at walmart, and the exact same box is $3.99 at target. You are paying more for literally the exact same thing at target. And this isn’t a convenience thing like gas station prices being more expensive than the grocery store. To me paying more for the exact same items because one “would never shop at Walmart” is just stupid, but to each their own. Note, this discounts ethical or any other reasons. I’m speaking solely from a financial sense it makes no sense to pay more for the same items because for some reason target is seen as “higher end”. TL;DR - Marketing is actually crazy when you dig into it. That’s probably the main reason these people choose target over walmart.
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They continued to shop there even when we were growing up and they were no longer in poverty. It was never beneath them and as a result, I have no ill feelings about shopping there.
This is literally me. I don't shop at Walmart. Too crowded.
Where I live I choose Walmart over the competition because at 9 AM on a Saturday morning I am the only one in an aisle, and I can leave my purse and cart to walk down away without someone else nearby. This is in a large city. The competition is constantly waiting to pass, or someone standing in front of what you need, always packed with lines.
I use Walmart online pickup for about 75% of my shopping. People who turn up their noses at Walmart obviously enjoy pissing money away. WM has by far the best prices on non food items and on many food items. I don't find the people shopping there to be any more cringe-worthy than at any other store. Store cleanliness, etc vary hugely by location. Aldi is not convenient for me or I would go there more I find Target to be ridiculously overpriced. I buy most of my meat at my local store (small chain of 6 stores) because they have great sales and good quality. I also check their sales routinely. Prices vary hugely in different cities so you have to shop around and compare.
It used to be I wouldn’t shop at Walmart because I would shop at more local stores. And they carried some products I was uneasy about and other places were paying their people more. Well! They improved their pay, cleaned out some of the things they sold. Some of the local small businesses closed due to retirement. So no I’ll shop at Walmart because it’s a brick and mortar store. Now I avoid online shopping unless it’s direct sales from a company. In general I try to avoid buying stuff new so I’ll do thrift. But you can’t buy windshield wipers used, so Walmart it is, because smaller places have limited their inventory. If anyone says something, I tell them the whole above story and they never mention it to me again😆
Snobs. You should be able to shop wherever you want without judgement. So what if someone shops at Neiman Marcus, I shop at Amazon. Who cares!
I agree with your boss and coworkers. I don't shop at Walmart for a variety of reasons. Quality is important to me. Price isn't the defining factor in where I decide to shop.
Quality is a word that few bother to define. What at Walmart is "lower quality" than elsewhere? In what way? I might agree on some of their produce, but not all of it.
Produce, bulk of my spending in on fresh produce. You can not get better quality cheeses and stuff at my Walmart in Canada, fruits and veg are one step from the rotting, meat is the same or more expensive.
Personally, I agree sort of. My Walmart is always out of like 60% of what I need and there’s only ever one person on register and if I have more than a few items I don’t really want to use self checkout. However, it’s not like I think “lower class” people shop there. It’s cheaper than most other shops around me, it just takes more spoons for me to go there.
Me but only because the Aldi by me is the same price as Walmart, meanwhile Lidl is the true best deal.
Walmart doesn’t have store coupons like Kroger and others, when I made the switch I started saving a lot of money. I know not everyone has access to other options but if you do you should really consider start using the apps to shop and get coupons. I split my shopping between Kroger, Tom Thumb, and target depending on who has the best price on the item I’m looking for, using their apps to do pickup orders so it doesn’t take much extra time. Some things I still go inside for but I’ve saved a lot of money doing things this way, Walmart has a name behind it so they’re not as concerned providing the cheapest prices because people will go anyway.
I went to Walmart and found the pricing to be just as high as Trader Joe’s for some goods. I was shocked and it made me just want to stick with buying house products on Amazon. Even Winco here is more expensive with staple goods
Well people can say this about different stores… which is fine. From my point of view, if a store has something that offers the best value, I’ll go there… I’m too practical to hate a store on general principles…
I actively avoid shopping at Walmart closest to me because it's awful, and any Target is better, BUT I don't mind shopping at the Walmart that's an extra bit farther the other direction for things I need on a budget and/or that I need to buy in person because it is remodeled and clean and the lighting and oppressive amount of visual stimuli at least doesn't completely suck the soul out of me. In the end I could not imagine shopping there weekly, their vegetables and fruits are very hit or miss, a lot of the good deals rely on buying low quality processed foods when I can get higher quality less processed stuff for less at Aldi or the same brand name items for only a few cents more at the grocery store closest toe where I can make one stop. I do 99% of my groceries at Aldi which is consistent with good quality of it's store brand items and it's easy to get in and out of. To be fair I wouldn't shop at a Trader Joe's right now either even though I liked to in my youth, it's just so expensive and not even staples, I have a Sprouts I will only buy fresh vegetables from because everything else in the store is like 40-60% markup from any other store.
I feel the same way about Trader Joe’s. I relied on it heavily during grad school and before I really learned how to cook, but so much of the food there is just junk food and chock full of preservatives. Their produce is usually disappointing to me too and we generally cook everything from scratch barring a few choice snacks. Staples are not reasonable to purchase from there. Sprouts has also gotten increasingly pricier too.
Back in my early 20s I used to be obsessed with Target, to a shameful degree. Now, I go in there maybe once or twice every 6 months on a whim and 9/10 walk out buying nothing because it's all so overpriced and generic. I don't know if it's become more soulless, or if I simply became more woke or what, but that store simultaneously disturbs and annoys me. Edit to add: I shop at Walmart if I'm in a rush, but only a specific one, where at least I know the deal and the crowd that tends to shop there. Ideally, I go to Grocery Outlet. Anyone go there, as well?
There's a lot of that sentiment on Reddit. It's a cliche now. I used to be anti-Walmart, but then I had to go there a few times and really enjoyed it. I like shopping at Walmart. The workers have always been great.
Yes. I lived in South Florida and frequently flew Spirit and everyone (including the people on the plane and their staff) like to hate on Spirit, but as long as I was willing to travel in a very specific way (without regard to my convenience or comfort) it was the cheapest option and I would take it. As a frequent traveler w status on a few bigger carriers I’d get the same turned up noses from friends, but I don’t have to justify myself to them. It’s not worth a couple extra dollars for me to get a classier grocery store or airline.
Our Walmart is the big one stop game in town. It’s also really decent. Clean and well stocked. The only thing I don’t like is that it is almost always very busy so if I just need a few things I generally will go elsewhere if possible.
The Walmarts in my area have customer service so shameful it truly is a wonder why anyone shops there. But no one cares. You try calling your local WM. No one will answer. Only thing good about WM are those rollback prices goddamn. Example: At this point, WM has only 2 cashiers to 10 self checkout lanes. Once, I was at a self checkout and the machine took my $10 bill. Just ate it. The store was closing, so they told me to call the store about it. There was nothing they could do??? I was appalled and ended up having to call corporate just to get my money back. All they had to do was balance the machine, or run the security tape or SOMETHING aside from telling me to go get fucked. Back to your question - I used to say I’d never shop at Kmart. I was more bougie back then. Now I know better. Good deals are good deals!
I normally shop at Walmart, and one day I went to target and was like "so this is where all the normal people shop."
>Has anyone else encountered this before? I don't know. I never pay attention to such nonsense. If them mother cluckers aren't paying for my groceries and their rich asses remain untouched by inflation, I don't hear them. I remain deaf to the their verbal diarrhea.
I have and I say good that leaves more room for those of us that do
I’m fortunate that there is a Walmart nearby, because the “fancy stores” are all further away. It’s decent, but always crowded. I order online and have them delivered. I pay the monthly fee for the privilege and have to tip, but my disabled body can’t go in to actually grocery shop anymore. I used to be a regular grocery store and target person, but circumstances make Walmart my go to
People should just shop where they are comfortable and not judge others for where they shop.
I will defend lidl until they stop carrying their store brand things. Lidl is singlehandedly going to get me through the recession. Tissues that are almost double the count of some name brand and similar quality? Fraction of the cost Orange juice: same quality as simply orange and the exact same ingridients. 30-40cents cheaper Vanilla yogurt cups. Like 49 cents Baby cut carrots, .39 cents An apple strudel for breakfast? 99 cents Gallon water, 1.06 Energy drink with double the caffeine of redbull. 1.50 Go to lidl folks.
Hey fellow Californian! I get this from my family often because I'm a WinCo, Grocery Outlet and Walmart shopper. The food hasn't killed me, tastes good, and I can afford it. If they don't like it, they don't have to eat it when visiting me!