Ceilidh

Michael Zey
futurist3000@aol.com

BY CHRISTINE LAUE
   

WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER  
Jenny Allgood jokes that she wears a baseball cap to conceal her identity when shopping at Wal-Mart.

It's not the kind of place that I want to give my business to, but I kind of don't have options," said Allgood, 33. "As a woman with a family and budget, you have to do certain things."

You have to shop for the lowest-priced diapers so you can support your 11-month-old daughter and put your husband through school. You have to ignore your conscience, which may be telling you that you're helping to kill mom-and-pop stores.

For some Americans, like Allgood, shopping at Wal-Mart involves internal struggle. For others, no struggle at all - they love it.
While we've carried on this love-hate relationship with Wal-Mart for years, a recent onslaught of bad publicity has threatened the image of the world's largest retailer even more. News stories and lawsuits allege low wages, unequal pay and the use of illegal immigrant workers.

Still, we shop. Wal-Mart thrives.
One reason, say consumer psychology experts, is our love affair with low prices. In the end, they say, our interests trump all else.

"The real tell-tale sign of the relationship between consumers and Wal-Mart is their sales figures," said Larry Compeau, an associate professor at Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y., and an expert in consumer psychology. "If consumers really disliked Wal-Mart to the degree that some have professed, (Wal-Mart) should be struggling sales-wise."

It isn't.

Wal-Mart is the world's largest retailer, with almost $259 billion in revenue in 2003. It continues to build its Supercenters.
One planned in Papillion is moving forward, despite an initial thumbs-down. The Papillion Planning Commission in April reversed itself and recommended approval in an area that the city's comprehensive plan had designated for housing and small businesses.

Protesters held a march Monday to deliver a petition against the project, and a public hearing is scheduled for tonight.

At one meeting on the project, opponents outnumbered supporters 2-to-1. Yet that may not be an accurate gauge of public sentiment.
"If you counted fans versus nonfans out there, you'd have more fans," said Michelle Roehm, associate professor of marketing at Wake Forest University's Babcock Graduate School of Management in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Despite its popularity, Wal-Mart seems to be the whipping boy these days, taking more lashings than other retailers, such as Sears or Target. One reason, experts said, is its size.

"It just really comes with the territory with being the big man on campus, so to speak," Roehm said.

Michael Zey, professor of management at Montclair State University in Mt. Freedom, N.J., and an expert on economic and social trends, said that while some criticisms of Wal-Mart might be founded, the corporation garners resentment largely because it is big and everywhere.

He also said Wal-Mart is in the news often for its successes, not just its difficulties.

He points out that Wal-Mart ranks No. 1 on Fortune's list of America's Most Admired Companies in 2004, a random survey that measures such qualities as financial soundness, management, employee talent and social responsibility.

Even Omaha investor Warren Buffett, during the recent annual meeting with Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, defended Wal-Mart's hiring practices. He said the Walton family has done a good job overseeing the company since founder Sam Walton died.

But we don't necessarily pay attention to Wal-Mart's business practices, good or bad. Most of us pay more attention to our sales receipts.

"You'd be surprised what people follow and don't follow," Zey said.

Lynden Eckery, a 23-year-old Lincoln resident, follows the bad press somewhat. She is so concerned with allegations against the company that she hasn't shopped there for more than a year.

"If there's even a possibility of this kind of stuff going on, then it makes me leery of even going there," she said.

Jennifer Manhart, 29, an Omaha real estate agent and mother, said she stays up on the news but doesn't worry too much about reports of Wal-Mart's alleged business practices.

"You question if it's true, you hope for the best," Manhart said. "They are providing a necessary service to a lot of people in our community."

Manhart shops at a Wal-Mart Supercenter every Thursday morning. She takes Wednesday grocery ads from other stores, writes a list of groceries and their advertised prices, then shows a Wal-Mart cashier if the other ads are cheaper. Wal-Mart matches the lowest advertised price.

(No Frills matches prices in other grocery stores' ads, but not those from Supercenters. Baker's, Target, Hy-Vee and Albertsons do not match ads.)

Manhart doesn't know how much she saves, but she said it was enough to keep her going back.

"If you want something out of the ordinary, you're not going to find it," she said. "But they provide the basics, and they provide it at a great value."

Manhart said she is a Wal-Mart fan simply because she is a conscious consumer.

"If I can get the same product someplace else for a low price, then that's where I'm going to go," she said. "I value my money very highly, and I just don't want to throw it out the window."
Wal-Mart has figured this out, Clarkson University's Compeau said.

"What we really have to ask ourselves is, is Wal-Mart as a cultural icon something we want to live with long-term? Does it express our values appropriately?" he said. "I think right now, at least, people are saying yes. Because that's where they are going to shop."