Wal-Mart vs. Target

First let me say I know this is supposed to be about my favorite things but doesn’t everything need a yin and a yang? So that means to me I can take a few minutes every now and then to talk about my least favorite things.

I’m not sure the Wal-Mart or Target question stirs the same amount of heat as Pepsi vs. Coke. To me there is no thinking to the question, no second to ponder which to pick. I would pick Target hands down every time. I am reminded of my loyalty to that lovely red bulls-eye every time I have to venture into Wal-Mart.

My latest trip was for a friend’s baby shower. She had registered at Baby’s R Us and Wal-Mart. Since Baby’s R Us is 30 minutes away from me without traffic and Wal-Mart is 10 minutes with traffic, I figured I would try Wal-Mart first. I spent half of last Friday (my day off) pumping myself up to going. Wal-Mart isn’t that bad, I told myself as I kept coming up with other things to do first and debating if I ordered something online if I could get it before the shower. The thing with Wal-Mart is they give me a headache just thinking about going. I’m not being overdramatic here – something about knowing I’m walking into what consist of a small warehouse staffed with unfriendly untrained staff makes me want to run for the hills (or Target). Still, I got in the car and headed out. It won’t be so bad, they are trying to revive their image (I know this because I work in marketing and sat through a presentation on how Wal-Mart is trying to change). Maybe this time it will be different….

Or not. The greeter was friendly enough. Off to a good start. I push my cart around for ten minutes (okay maybe five) trying to figure out where the baby stuff was. It’s shoved in the back of the store between the grocery store section and craft supplies. Apparently moms need to get their fabric glue and huge boxes of processed food at the same time they are stocking up on bibs and crib sheets.

The registry which I printed off the internet was horrible – half the items didn’t have a picture or their name was in code. Like I was supposed to know what all these abbreviations meant. This by the way I blame fully on Wal-Mart (my friend had picked out cute stuff and I am under the impression its all registries there). There were two sales people stocking shelves, they don’t make eye contact me as I wonder past six times looking for my items. I think in their employee handbook it says something about if you ignore customers they won’t ask you questions (or maybe it’s if you stand still enough customers can’t see you). I finally find the items by matching the barcodes, which if you ever have to do that absolutely sucks. It’s like the lottery you stand there clutching the registry in one hand and reading the numbers off in your head, 5, 8, 9, 0, 1… damn the last number on the registry is a 7 and the item on the wall is a 9.

I stock up my cart and head to the front. There are maybe five lanes open and all of them have lines that appear to be at least 15 minutes long. Apparently no one works on Friday and they all trek out to Wal-Mart. The lady ringing me up didn’t really say hi (maybe I’m spoiled and used to people asking about how my day is but I don’t think its too much to ask if I’m spending money in your store to look at me and say hi). To make matters worse she didn’t know how to scan the items on the registry so we had to wait for someone else to come over and help. Twenty minutes later I finally get to my car and all I can think is if I didn’t love my friend so much I would never have gone there. That and I’m vowing to never return.

So now lets talk about Target one of my favorite stores. I don’t get headaches just thinking about going there, I could wander the aisles for hours stocking up on everything from clothes, to lawn care, to new bath towels.

I have two stories to illustrate how different they are (so bear with me here)…

Story One: I go to Target before I head to Wal-Mart (I need to gather my strength) and I’ve developed a sudden need for the new Taylor Swift CD since I saw it in a Target ad before I left. I grab a few things (the aisles are designed in such a way you find yourself suddenly needing things like scarves, random greeting cards, and candles) and head over to the music section. I know Target like the back of my hand. They are all pretty much laid out the same way so it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to memorize the layout. I grab the CD and ask the associate to help me find some ink for my printer. We have a nice conversation – about Halloween and my different ink options. Then she says “I can ring you up back here if you want so you don’t have to stand in line up front”. My little guardian angel in a Target uniform.

Story Two: My husband and I are bored – it’s a rainy Saturday afternoon and with nothing else to do we head to Target and Home Depot (exciting right). We are looking at Wii games which are all locked in cases. We select one we want to see and push the button for a sales associate. A microphone chirps that a sales associate would be with us in 50 seconds. We joke with the woman next to us that that would never happen but sure enough a man comes sprinting down the aisle. He hands us the game and we joke about how it’s not exactly what we thought it was (some building game apparently sponsored by Home Depot) and we leave.

So what makes the experiences so different? Target works off the same concept, selling massive amounts of stuff at lower prices. Yet, I don’t get that warehouse feel from them. The people are actual helpful and smile at you when they see you. The store doesn’t feel like a small-scale warehouse. I enjoy going there. I look forward to going there. Is it simply that Target does a better job of getting their employees to connect with their customers? Maybe.

My disclosure here is I’m sure there are disgruntled untrained Target employees; I’ve just never met one (although I did have a bad experience with their call-center but that’s a different blog). I’m also equally sure there are some nice helpful Wal-Mart employees. I just haven’t had that experience either.

I don’t think Wal-Mart could do anything to convince me that they’ve changed. The thing is I only go there if I absolutely have to and that’s not something you want from your customers. You want them to rely on you, to talk favorably about you, to want to connect with you. And unless your former customer is willing to give you a chance you’re nothing more than an ex-boyfriend who keeps trying desperately to show you they’ve changed. The thing is I’m pretty loyal, so Target and I would have to have a pretty serious break-up before I consider taking Wal-Mart back.