Wal-Mart vs Target

mickeyd

mickeyd

Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
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Interesting strategies for both of these stores. I do not shop much however, Target often is lacking an item that I need, but Wal-Mart seldom is out of anything that I need.

More importantly, in 2008 Target's profits dropped a stunning 22.3%, to $2.2 billion. That figure includes a 40.7% earnings collapse in the fourth quarter. Wal-Mart's 2008 bottom line rose 5.9%, to $13.5 billion. Now, Target is getting trounced.
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"They look at groceries as a way to get people in the store for the first time. Target sees it as an add-on sale."
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Wal-Mart vs. Target: No Contest in the Recession - TIME
 
mickeyd said:
Interesting strategies for both of these stores. I do not shop much however, Target often is lacking an item that I need, but Wal-Mart seldom is out of anything that I need.
Wal-Mart vs. Target: No Contest in the Recession - TIME
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If we have recession for years on end, Wal-Mart should be the winner. If reasonably prosperous conditions return, Target might surge ahead.

I believe we are in a phase where many consumers are treating recession as a new game-"hey, let's all pretend we can't afford anything anymore".

Unless something a lot worse than what is now going on happens, we will tire of this game just like we tired of all the others.

Ha
 
haha said:
If we have recession for years on end, Wal-Mart should be the winner. If reasonably prosperous conditions return, Target might surge ahead.

I believe we are in a phase where many consumers are treating recession as a new game-"hey, let's all pretend we can't afford anything anymore".

Unless something a lot worse than what is now going on happens, we will tire of this game just like we tired of all the others.

Ha
Click to expand...

So you are saying that frugality is a fade, like the Hula Hoop?. I think (ok make that really hope) that you are right.

The first Target in Honolulu opened up in the couple of weeks and got a very good reception. Also a new Costco, and one of the hottest items was the $3000 Channel bags on sale for $2,000. Prompting the newspaper headline to read "what recession"
 
clifp said:
So you are saying that frugality is a fade, like the Hula Hoop?. I think (ok make that really hope) that you are right.

The first Target in Honolulu opened up in the couple of weeks and got a very good reception. Also a new Costco, and one of the hottest items was the $3000 Channel bags on sale for $2,000. Prompting the newspaper headline to read "what recession"
Click to expand...

I would say that very little in America is other than a fad. We really seem to be fad prone people.

I don't doubt that retail sales are off, but everywhere I go or walk I see restaurants and bars full of people spending their money. The downtown streets are full of shoppers. It seems to me at least locally to be a much less serious event than the 1974 resession.

Ha
 
clifp said:
So you are saying that frugality is a fade, like the Hula Hoop?.
Click to expand...

Nah. Bought a brand new watch for $5.35 including tax on Friday. Still working believe it or not. Cheap feels good.:) BTW, Walmart is the clear winner in my town. No Target stores in sight. :cool:
 
My city doesn't have a Wal-Mart...there used to be one, but they left about 12 years ago. We have one Target and one Super Target that just opened a couple of weeks ago. I went there yesterday...it is huge and it was packed.
 
bbbamI said:
My city doesn't have a Wal-Mart...there used to be one, but they left about 12 years ago. We have one Target and one Super Target that just opened a couple of weeks ago. I went there yesterday...it is huge and it was packed.
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I have a WallyWorld within 5 miles.
Target is 25 miles away.
I believe in equal opportunity...so I hate both, very equally. :LOL:
Give me a dollar type store or general grocery store, preferably mom-n-pop type, anyday. The smaller the better.
 
In Denver, I have four Wal-Marts in a 5 mile radius of my house. On the road, there are Wal Marts everywhere (and they are easy to spot and get to). Rarely do I come across a Target... or a K-Mart, for that matter. (Am not sure where they are in Denver but I am sure there are som.)

Wal Mart has become our shopping destination by default. Although, I do try to locate a local food store for the local Deli items.

We just stopped into a Wal Mart in Abilene, Texas (DW needed a bag... a cheap one to carry rocks in). This was the biggest store I have ever seen, incredibly big. The parking lot was full and it was extermemly crowded inside (Sunday afternoon?).

My money is on Wal Mart. (ah, if I had any.)
 
FIRE'd@51 said:
You mean something like Dollar Palace
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EXACTLY why I hate WallyWorld. It will take me weeks to recover from the visual pollution I was subjected to Saturday.
And of course dh2b has to go out of his way to point out the most polluting examples :yuk: to me.
The things I go thru for that man...:rolleyes:...all because he needed some audio/video cables.
 
I've been to a Wal-Mart exactly three times in my life.

First time, was because my aunt and uncle gave us a $50 gift card to one for our wedding. When we were in a town with a Wal-Mart, we took a deep breath and went in and bought $50 of laundry detergent.

Second one I was in, we were traveling and I needed some painkillers and they were the only pony in town.

Last time I was in one, we were looking for a buttondown shirt for DS (they're hard to find for 3-year-olds). We made it about 100 feet into the store when I started feeling nauseous. At that moment DH said to me "I feel ill... I think we need to leave the store."

We bolted and I've never been back.

I've never felt the need to vomit while inside a Target. Not saying the Wal-Mart experience was causal, just correlated.
 
I hit Walmart or Target. Walmart had hanes t shirts on sale last week. I like em they are good to workout in or do yard work. Plus they got breath RX which is good stuff for my mouth.
 
Target and WalMart within 5 miles of house. Haven't been to WalMart in at least 10 years. Go to Target once every year or 2.

Do go to local Meijer and Kroger for most stuff.
 
I rarely go to Target. Wal-mart is closer and has everything and at a lower price. I almost never buy anything other than at Wal-mart. A car and a house are about the only things i'll ever buy that I won't buy at a wal-mart. Shop anywhere else(except thrift store type places) and you might as well flush your money down the toilet.
 
Total 2008 expenditures at Wal-Mart and Target (year/monthly):

Wal-Mart $83/$7

Target $155/$13

So, much to my surprise and relief, Target wins! :) I really dislike our local Wal-Marts. They are so crowded that there are never any open spaces in the parking lot, and inside one feels buffeted by humanity. :dead: The merchandise is thrown about as if by a tornado.

Our Target, on the other hand, has a multistory parking structure, nice wide aisles, and provides a much more pleasant shopping experience.

I buy more from these stores on the internet than in person.
 
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Want2retire said:
I really dislike our local Wal-Marts. They are so crowded that there are never any open spaces in the parking lot, and inside one feels buffeted by humanity.
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I guess that's one good thing about working the schedule I work. I have off 2 days during the week every week so I never shop on the weekend and I never shop after 4pm so even Wal-mart is reasonably quiet.
 
clifp said:
...The first Target in Honolulu opened up in the couple of weeks and got a very good reception. Also a new Costco, and one of the hottest items was the $3000 Channel bags on sale for $2,000. Prompting the newspaper headline to read "what recession"
Click to expand...

But the buyers of all those Chanel bags were the little Japanese girlies, right?

R
 
I have the same experience as W2R. We have both Target and Walmart in town. The Target stores are always clean and organized, and the layout makes sense to me. The Walmart store is chaotic, busy, and generally looks to be in disarray (and with COLD, COLD florescent lighting). Target hands down for me.
 
Before we moved three years ago, I lived in an area where Walmart was the only store in town. I shopped there or I drove 60 miles to Dallas. I learned to appreciate the store, but I never like it.

We now live in an area that has only a Walmart Neighborhood Store and the nearest large Walmart is a good ten miles away. The Walmart Neighborhood Store small, crowded, and dirty. I can never find anything there.

We have a brand new Target (opened two weeks ago). I feel like I have died and gone to heaven. They have everything! The produce is fresh and well displayed. The wide aisles and good lighting are so much better the the little dark and cramped Wally World. The prices are a smidgen higher on most things, but they are having great specials every week. They have their own coupons each week also.

I love Target. I almost have to hold my nose to walk into the local Walmart.
 
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