Homestead mailing list

["Marie McHarry" <mmcharry AT gmail.com>]

> Someone mentioned "made in the USA".  I seem to recall that that's what
> made Sam Walton's stores the mega giants that they are.  Somewhere along
> the line, they dropped that logo and started buying overseas, but
> originally, they did promote USA products.


I remember first going into a Wal-Mart because I'd heard that all their
products were made in the US. If that was ever true, it's sure not true now.

The main reason that I end up at Wal-Mart on a regular basis is that there's
a super Wally right next to a Big R farmstore. Big R has been there for
years. I've noticed that traffic at the Big R seems to have picked up since
Wal-Mart opened up, and that Big R finally got automatic doors, so you don't
kill yourself getting out of the store with bulky packages). That's probably
because you can get quality tools and farm supplies at Big R, and if you
need groceries you can get them at Wal-Mart without driving all over town
(not meat though -- Wal-Mart meat tastes funny -- when I feel the urge to
satisfy my carnivore cravings I go to Schnuck's (or I murder a chicken,
though I have none right now to murder).

The other thing I get at Wal-Mart is clothes for work. Like most people of
our persuasion, I'm not a fancy dresser, but I do have a day job at a state
agency. Fortunately, I don't have to spend much time with the public in
person, so I don't have to dress up much (this winter I mostly wore
jeans) but I do have to have enough clothes to get through the week without
doing laundry.

For as cheap as the clothes are, I find Wal-Mart stuff quite acceptable. I
read somewhere that they got Levi to produce a cheaper version of their
jeans, but I don't generally buy jeans there anyway (and I've always thought
that Levis were over-engineered unless you actually were a cowboy or a
miner) -- I get my Lee Wranglers at Big R.

Marie