Shopping at Wal-Mart

So, I am a Wal Mart http://www.walmart.com/ shopper.  I am a lazy shopper, I hate shopping, I hate the crowds, and I hate going from store to store.   So it makes sense that I am a Wal Mart shopper.  Not just because of their low prices, but because I can do one stop shopping a the near by Wal Mart Supercenter that is open 24 hours a day. 

One stop.  I can get almost everything I need on a regular basis at Wal Mart.  I can chose times that are less busy, so I can avoid the crowds. I am subject to stimulation overload, but because I know my Wal Mart so well, I can go into tunnel vision mode, deal with just the items I am needing to buy, and ignore the rest.  Including other shoppers.  Sometimes, that gets me in trouble with acquaintances, who speak to me.  I have to be awoken out of my fog by them, or else I will not respond.  I am not trying to be rude to anyone, it is just who I am.

The Wal Mart at which I shop is located at Quaker Avenue and South Loop 289.  It is technically the first of 4 Wal Marts in Lubbock, although its original location was across Quaker Avenue from where it stands now. 

A few weeks ago, they got brand new shopping carts.  That was wonderful. It was a struggle to maneuver the old carts.  I mentioned how great that was to an employee, and he told me they had hoped to wait to replace the carts until after they remodeled, but the carts just got so bad.

Last week, when I went shopping, they had posted a sign indicating they were hiring extra employees to help with remodeling.  So when I went shopping yesterday, I should have known something was up:  Part of the parking lot was blocked off, and part of it was newly resurfaced and striped.

Inside, things were not obviously changed until I got to the center of the store.  Aisles were moved, merchandise was moved, aisles were blocked off. So, this is how you remodel a 24 hour facility and keep it open.  It made shopping a little difficult, because I could not immediately find everything I wanted. But, I was successful at finding what I wanted.

Did I like shopping that way? No. But I can forgive them the inconvenience. I understand it is time to clean up, remodel, and renew the internal image of the store.