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While Stacy picked out a greeting card for Logan, I compared prices posted at Target to the ones I had collected at Walmart. When I found the 6-plug power-strips for $2.99, I was impressed. There was no way, I figured, Walmart could beat that price. The electronics section at Walmart had only surge protectors, none of which were less than $6.96, but I continued the search into their hardware section, where I found power strips selling for just $2.84.
I consider 6-outlet power strips to be in the same family as hot showers, aspirin and coffee. I would pay $50 for them if I had to. |
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A few days later, I was back at Walmart, trying to hunt down the rest of my list, including item #13, a 50-pack of blank Memorex CDs. Customers were fairly well packed into the electronics cove at Walmart. I had to wait for a little viewport to open up to snap this top photo. Two Indian guys shopping for a phone turned to me, "Do you know how to get help around here?". Despite my official-looking clipboard, I did not. The only 50-pack of Memorex CDs at Walmart was the "Cool Colors" spindle, for $14.73. Name-brand blank CDs are something that I've never understood the appeal of.
Comparison shopping at Target (lower photo), I couldn't get Memorex CDs at all. For major brand I had to choose between TDK and Imation. The Imation CDs were $14.69. Cheaper, not Memorex, and without those cool colors.
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Item #14 was a disposable camera, with flash. Walmart had a 27-shot model for just $3.67, while Target's cheapest was $3.99. At the entrance of Walmart, there is an introduction-to-bargains wall (pictured) that always struck me as the "Ohmygod, look! Superdeals!" section. On the day I was price-checking disposable cameras, they had Fujifilm disposables in the front, marked down from something to $3.96. I noted this price, but was surprised to find that there was an even lower price on a generic disposable in the camera section. The lesson? Don't trust the entrance's Ohmygod, look! Superdeals! section.
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Perhaps we have shared this experience: Mounting frustration turning to homicidal
rage as the batteries in your remote control slowly die.
Item # 15 (a 2-pack of AAA batteries) was designed to fix that problem. Unfortunately, the incredibly reasonable 2-pack is now a vanishing animal. Neither Walmart nor Target had a two-pack for sale, it was 20, 16, 8 and four packs only, and anything smaller than an eight-pack was only available at the checkstand impulse racks. Target even had this 16-pack of triple As disguised as a tiny electronic organ. Anyway, I priced the four-packs and Walmart beat Target's price by five cents.
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 The
next item on the list was a set of screwdrivers.
At Walmart, I found a few different options for screwdrivers, including a six-driver set from Stanley. One of the screwdrivers was missing from the only set on the shelf, but I didn't want a 12-driver set, so I logged the price from that one. Technically, they were out of stock, but they had single screwdrivers too, so I'm counting it. The price at Walmart was $3.47
Target had the same set of screwdrivers on the shelf, along with WAY too many tape measurers. The Target price was $3.34.
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Please continue reading page five of Walmart vs. Target - Price comparison. |
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March 26th, 2005.
The
top photo is Walmart, the bottom photo is Target.