What's Right With America? Walmart.

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What's Right With America? Walmart.

     Yesterday I was at the Walmart Vision Center picking up my new glasses.

    Me looking good - I mean, seeing good - in my new glasses.

     After procuring my glasses I grabbed myself a cart and roamed the store, contemplating, as I occasionally do while shopping at Walmart, the commonplace -  yet marvelous, when one stops to think about it - phenomenon of being able to  buy glasses, groceries, medications, clothes, shoes, toys, household items, gardening supplies, haircuts, really almost anything one would need,

...including a delicious hot pretzel,

...all in the same store,

...at  prices that almost everyone in this country can afford.

    (In truth I'm not so sure that an item sold at Walmart,

...and a comparable item found at twice the price in a more upscale establishment aren't both made  at the same factory in China).
     Walmart is a place where everyone shops now and then, some of us more frequently than others, which we can now do with a better conscience since several years ago the company instituted considerable improvements in pay, benefits, and opportunities for advancement for its employees - which subsequently ended up boosting Walmart's sales as the more satisfied workers became more conscientious workers, which led to higher rate of customer satisfaction, which led to more customers shopping more often at Walmart.
      As for me, I buy my jeans exclusively from Walmart,

...and the only sandals I wear  are Walmart's Earth Spirit brand.

    If I'm going to sew I buy my material from Walmart,

...as I did to make the shimmery dress I wore to my nephew's wedding last month (see post from 6/29/2018),

...and this is the very Walmart fabric I bought to make slip covers for my son's dining room chairs.

     But there's something else about Walmart - at least  the Walmart in my neck of Columbus, Ohio - that I find appealing aside from the low-priced availability of so many of life's necessities and little pleasures: the diversity of the shopping populace,

...all of us peacefully and politely coexisting,

...and sharing space,

...as we go about our individual errands.

    Walmart has been criticized for killing small businesses and locally owned stores, especially in small towns. True, and that has been an unfortunate outcome for some small business owners.
     But on the other hand, anyone can walk up to the bakery at Walmart and order a cake for any occasion they wish; nobody will be refused service at the pretzel counter; everyone can use the bathrooms.

    I guess it would be a stretch to say that my Columbus, Ohio Walmart is America at it's best.
     But being there is for me a reminder of what actually makes America great.

References:
http://fortune.com/2016/01/20/walmart-employees-pay-raise/

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/16/upshot/how-did-walmart-get-cleaner-stores-and-higher-sales-it-paid-its-people-more.html

http://www.hrc.org/resources/best-places-to-work-2017