Wal-Mart Shopper Strips Down?

The Consumerist is one of my favorite blogs (tho, for the life of me, I can't figure out why) and today they have a little bit about a Wal-Mart shopper who wasn't allowed to bring her $600 bike into the store.

Because there were no bike racks at that particular location, the cyclist thought she'd just take the bicycle with her into the store, something she'd done in the past. But a Wal-Mart manager argued that she couldn't bring it into the store because the store sold bicycles.

From her posting on Bike Forums:

"I was starting to get really frustrated since I had ridden all the way there seemingly for no reason, so I asked her if they also sold shirts in the store. She said yes so I took off my jersey and said well then I'd better not bring this in either. She got kind of flustered and said that it was a different situation but couldn't explain why. So I said that if they also sold shorts in the store that I'd better not wear those in either and I took off my shorts. Same goes for the shoes and sunglasses. Now I'm standing there in my spandex and a sports bra and I ask here if I can leave my things behind the customer service counter where they will be safe until I finish making my purchases and she said that I couldn't come into the store without shoes on, to which i responded 'but I certainly can't wear shoes into the store because you sell those here and someone might think I've stolen them.'"

On a related but unrelated note, writer Shara Clark has a story in the upcoming issue of the Flyer about a proposed Wal-mart at Houston Levee and Macon and the Cordova residents who oppose it.

For all the suburb-bashers out there who are thinking to themselves "Have you seen Cordova? How can they be against Wal-mart?" — don't worry, your worldview is safe. It's not that they don't like Wal-mart, per se, they're worried that the new Wal-mart might put one of the old Wal-marts (like the one on Germantown Parkway) out of business.

And a big box is one thing; an empty big box is another thing entirely.