Why I went to Walmart
Some people are asking this question...
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So, in this week’s vlog, I went to Walmart - and the episode raised a couple of questions in my comments section, being:
Having been a regular traveler to America, how could this possibly be my first time?
and…
Why would I even both going to Walmart?
I’ll use this newsletter edition to answer those questions.
Recommendations:
Every week, I’ll be sharing my top Amazon product recommendations with you. This week, I’m sharing a superb thermal cup / flask I’ve been using to keep drinks cool and/or hot.
How could this be my first time to Walmart?
Having traveled across the US over the past 8 years or so, and quite extensively, some people have asked how it could possibly be my first time.
To be honest, I’m not sure either… however, one mitigating factor is that Asda is a superstore that exists in the UK, and I have one very close to my home in Edinburgh.
Asda was, until very recently, owned by Walmart. Asda and Walmart are pretty much identical, apart from a few specific things - mainly, Walmart superstores are about 5 times bigger than anything we have in Scotland.
Walmart has now divested from Asda, but it still pretty much looks and feels like Walmart. Because of this, I never really felt an urge to go.
Why would I go to Walmart?
Some people asked - and some quite angrily - why would I even bother going to Walmart at all, given that so many foreign bloggers etc have done so in the past.
Well, to put it bluntly, I fancied it.
It might seem unoriginal to you guys, and I understand this because you have hundreds of them across the country, but for me (and others like me) it’s literally an enormous curiosity.
A huge shop that includes everything from car parts, to fishing equipment, to clothing, fruit and vegetables and more.
Asda is very similar, but we still don’t have anything like it.
Also, on that particular day, I needed to buy a couple of items to go fishing and Walmart was a convenient.
And that’s pretty much that. I’d love to know your thoughts…
It wasn’t a ground breaking video or anything, and in fact mostly filmed on my phone. Give it a watch:
That’s it for this week - I have quite a lot going on over the next few weeks and planning another US adventure, which is exciting. Hope you’re having a great week. Thanks for watching/reading.
Your Scottish bud in America,
Shaun
lol oh no, not sure I want to read this 😂
We live in rural Missouri. Walmart is really the only place to buy some things. We try to buy local whenever possible, but even that can be difficult what with chains like Tractor Supply replacing all the local hardware and farm supply stores. There is a good deal of resentment directed towards these giant stores reducing local economies to dependent states. If Walmart leaves the business district can be completely hollowed out. There are small towns with nothing more than a gas station in them now.
I'm 67 years old so I remember what it used to be like when the towns had merchants that lived there and knew their customers. Sure, the selection wasn't as massive, but then that was generally true of all things. Stuff that we needed was made in America and made to last. It did cost more but since we didn't have subscription services, three cars, our phones were hanging on the wall and eating out was a special occasion, hardly an everyday occurrence, the cost wasn't so oppressive.
Many of us, rightly or wrongly, blame Walmart for a lot of this. They were, however, just the first of many national corporations that drove small business out.