If I never see another big box store, it will be too soon ......

[Stinky The Clown]

.... I hope they all dry up and blow away.

That statement is pure, unadulterated, 100% emotional and not one bit rational.

It is borne of nostalgia for a better time. A time before cheap Chinese crap and corporate hucksters selling cheap Chinese crap for twice what it is worth, but far less than US made comparable items.

I want my country back.

[Mojorabbit]

1. I do love Costco

It is the only big box store I frequent though.

[hlthe2b]

4. Oh, yes... Costco...

Gotta keep Costco

[wryter2000]

22. Love Costco

I need my choice grade beef and real parmeggiano reggiano, stravecchio, no less.

[damntexdem]

30. Costco isn't a big-box store -- it's ... Costco!

I gotta get my microwave bacon at Costco!

[tangent90]

2. How do you find time to go to them, you're on DU 24/7

!!!

:D

[Cant trust em]

7. LOL. I love the addicts.

[hlthe2b]

3. I sort of like Target.... Take away all the others, though

;)

[OhioChick]

5. One can still find items that are made in the U.S. at Target...

Unlike Walmart.

[geardaddy]

6. booo

:thumbsdown:

Target is a red company.

[hlthe2b]

10. No,. It is NOT.

[geardaddy]

13. You work for them?

OK, maybe not 100% but they donated to Norm Coleman.

Check it:

http://www.opensecrets.org/usearch/searchresults.php?drill=Target+Corp&type=O

[hlthe2b]

16. The BuyBlue website is down, but take some time to check

This has been discussed repeatedly on DU and NO, despite your snark, I do NOT work for them.

[geardaddy]

17. Did you check the Open Secrets site?

Sorry for the snark.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

18. They also donate to Klobuchar.

They're based in MN - they will give money to whomever is in office, because losers don't legislate.

[geardaddy]

20. I know they're based in MN.

Your explanation makes sense.

[geardaddy]

21. On further inspection

it looks like they donate to the party of prominence in open seats.

e.g. Ellison in 2006 for CD-5, Paulsen in 2008 for CD-3

On edit: it looks like they went Independent in CD-5 in 2006. Afraid to give Ellison money before he was in?

[Warpy]

8. Target's got much better buyers

and the cheap Asian crap they buy has to pass minimal quality control testing. Plus, somebody's got a sense of style.

I love Costco and have found the Kirtland brand to be high quality across the board. However, the selection is quite limited and there are some things a single person just can't buy in bulk.

The only thing I like about Wally's is one four dollar prescription. It's on nobody else's cheap list and would cost about forty bucks elsewhere, so I got to Wally's once a month when I refill.

[eleny]

9. We shop at our local Ace hardware pretty often

They hire a lot of older guys who know their stuff.

Lowes is the big box hardware that we shop at otherwise. I even found my "beloved" fridge there at Lowes on deep sale last year.

For most things I shop at smaller stores and like the intimacy. Vast stores leave me cold. I can hardly wait till our seasonal green grocer opens again in April. It won't be long!

[madokie]

11. Before walmarts low priced shit

we had a oklahoma tire and supply in each of the four towns here that most all of us around here identify with, a western auto in all of them, a couple or three auto parts stores in each town too before the autozones and o'reillys come busting in the door promising us the moon. I've been against this from the get go. I had a chance to buy and was incouraged to do so by my boss at the time to buy walmart stock back when it was 2 bucks a pop, long before it started dividing and all that. Doing so would have been flying in the face of how I believed.

[emilyg]

12. I would miss Wal-M very much.

[jobycom]

14. Yeah, that old-timey simpler era, when all we had was cheap American-made crap.

Sorry, my memory of that older, simpler era is segregation, racism, women staying at home where their place was, and unregulated workplaces that poisoned employees and belched waste into the air and water we breathed and drank. And presidents who spouted hatred from the Oval Office.

Xenophobia is exactly the same type of bigotry as racism, and I don't remember it fondly. I have no nostalgia for that time, thank you very much.

[wryter2000]

23. I don't think the OP wanted to restore everything from our past

I think he's talking about retail shopping only.

[Stinky The Clown]

26. Only on DU .....

... could someone accuse the author of an OP like this one of xenophobia. :eyes:

[jobycom]

28. No, I think any time someone insulted "Chinese crap" and longed for an all-American retail economy

people would objectively consider that a sign of xenophobia.

[RaleighNCDUer]

29. Yeah, it's so much better now

with the unregulated workplaces that poison employees and belch waste into the air and water are in somebody else's country.

[IntravenousDemilo]

15. Well, for what it's worth, I've never once crossed the threshold of a WalMart...

... and I have no intention of ever doing so.

[KT2000]

19. Here is a problem

with those big box stores.
They sell things that should not be sold together - like yard chemicals and food and clothes!
Have seen some really awful situations, like a bag of weed and feed in the return basket with fresh mushrooms and a bottle of supplements sitting on top of it.
Also - since they are nonunion, noone is looking out for worker safety. Many are exposed to dangerous chemicals for their whole shift.

[wryter2000]

24. Don't know if Costco is union

But they are good to their employees. The company has been criticized by the greedheads for giving money that (cough, cough) ought to go to the stockholders to employees, instead.

[KT2000]

33. Costco is good

to their employees but they are as uninformed about exposure to toxic chemicals as other big box stores. Have communicated with local managers and their headquarters and they do not get it.
I do like the store in other respects.
Actually, I witnessed a new employee being trained at our local WalMart about not mixing such products. Of course customers still pile their kids into carts that carry weed & feed and food.
Much education is needed.

[wryter2000]

25. dupe

self-delete

[marmar]

27. I generally despise them.....but for whatever reason I have a soft spot for Target.

I like what they carry, and they issue great coupons to Target cardholders.

[damntexdem]

31. Hey, they have a special on bumper stickers saying exactly that ...

down at the big-box store.

[damntexdem]

32. Hey, they have a special on bumper stickers saying exactly that ...

down at the big-box store.