Target compared to Wal-Mart

A lot of us condemn Wal-Mart out of one side of our mouths while praising Target out of the other. I, for one, shop at Target, but I can't bring myself to buy anything at Wal-Mart.

But why?

Target is still a red company, and their employees aren't unionized. Are there specific ways that Target is demonstrably a better place to spend your money? Or is Target just as "evil" as Wal-Mart but on a smaller, more palatable scale?

It would be great to hear from anyone who has worked for both companies.

Without competition, WalMart would probably really be able to monopoly price and would have even more money to influence politicians into supporting a market environment which helps them become more powerful at the expense of the public consumer and taxpayer.

That should be enough reason to pick Target over WalMart every once in a while.

goes to the other side. However, first they are a great competitor of Wal-Mart and hurting them. Secondly, they do not have the business practices that Wal-Mart does. They are a much more humane employer. Also, the stores are more pleasant to be in.

I refuse to shop at Wal-Mart anymore. It has to be 100% necessity for me to go there.

However, I want to add if you wish to find a good company and one that gives most of their money to the democrats.

Shop at Costco. Much better than Sams. They pay their employees well and good benefits for them including healthcare. They are a Blue Company as well.

No I do not work there so this is just info for you.

that also includes Mervyn's (where I worked.) they were OK, but this was 15 years ago, and I didn't care about good or bad back then...

I also know there are others under the Dayton-Hudson umbrella, but I can't remember which.

Hope this helps somehow.

I have little doubt that Target has many of the same economic effects as Wal-Mart. Perhaps less so, but still a similar effect.

One difference is that Wal-Mart is the #1 retailer, so they get most of the attention. It's the same reason why people are suing McDonalds for their high-fat foods, but ignoring Burger King which does the same thing.

Sadly, I think there may be a cultural element to this. Target has marketed itself quite effectively to the hip, urban demographic, while Wal-Mart is seen as catering to unhip Middle America. Unfortunately, liberals can be swayed by this type of marketing just like everyone else.

I suspect I may take some heat for that last observation.

It is easy for me to boycott Walmart because I would never shop there anyway. But Target, ohhhh. They have all the cheap cool stuff I covet. I was surprised when I learned how far right they leaned because their marketing does not reflect that.

I've got two decades of design and marketing under my belt. Target's campaigns get my attention, and I consider myself pretty hard to market to.

>>>>Target has marketed itself quite effectively to the hip, urban demographic, while Wal-Mart is seen as catering to unhip Middle America. Unfortunately, liberals can be swayed by this type of marketing just like everyone else.

I suspect I may take some heat for that last observation.>>>>>

But not New Yorkers!!! It wasn't 73 million $$$ of mindless TV ads that got W's favorite mayor ( Bloomberg) reelected... with much liberal and Democratic support.

It was a careful, judicious weighing of the issues and a dispassionate assessment of the relative abilities of the two candidates.

It was not, repeat NOT(!!!), that we were swayed by marketing.

is that, overall, Target has better quality stuff than Walmart. And at least at my local Target, shoppers tend to respect the store more and behave better.

In general, the Wal-Mart employees seem downtrodden while those at Target have more spunk.

And I once loved Target. But they give all their political contributions to repubs AND they are refusing to fill Plan B prescriptions. The final straw for me was their new return policy. I bought a case for my iPod there. Got it home and changed my mind, but forgot to return it for a few months. When I finally got it back to the store, with the item in the original package and with the receipt, they refused to exchange it for anything except an electronics item. I didn't want an electronics item, I wanted a halloween cotume for my daughter.

I don't need that kind of hassle, especially considering how much I have spent there over the years. Bad customer service combined with their horrible political leanings, I can't get happy about walking into that store anymore.

...We'd hear about it big time. Walmart would make sure.

I'm sure Target sucks to it's employees, in the same what that many companies do, but there is no way they are as torturous as Walmart.

I won't go to Walmart. There are very few stores that have the same stuff that a Target has. I shop Costco for most things, but you can't run in to Costco for a small package of paper plates! I would love a "blue" alternative to Target. In the "old" days there were 5&10 cent stores all over. They were small and wonderful to shop in. They even had soda fountains.

Some of which have been commented upon, but I don't think anyone has mentioned that Target gives lots of monies to various charities.

The store is cleaner and nicer. Even if I ignore politics and labor causes, I get a big ICK feeling walking into a Wal-Mart.

Perhaps, as Skinner pointed out, I have fallen for the marketing of Wal-Mart being blue collar and Target being pink/gray collar.

If seeking social change from corporations, it is easier to go after the largest than to boycott everyone. Once you get the largest company to change, the others will "follow the leader"

Target's charitable giving

This is a great way to find out the political leanings of companies and where they put their money. Sometimes you need to dig a little and read the information on the company to find out the names of their outlets, but it's worth the effort.

You can browze companies A to Z, by category, or by ranking. I looked up bookstores and found:

Amazon -- red
B&N -- blue
Borders -- no political contributions
ebay -- blue
overstock.com -- blue
Powell's Books -- blue

This is great tool!