When is the best time to shop at Wal-Mart ?

We all do it.  Even people who say they refuse to shop there do it.  Perhaps the most polarizing example of all that is good (or all that is bad) about Capitalism in America, Wal-Mart is now as much a part of our culture in the States as baseball or Apple Pie.

I have shopped there literally hundreds of times (I doubt we're in the thousands yet, but I'm sure I'll get there in my lifetime).  I have been in that store at basically every different time of day.  Early morning, mid morning, late morning, early afternoon, mid afternoon, afternevening, at night and in the wee hours of the night/morning when you can tell the bars are closed because of the clientele in the store.

In all this time there, I have always found many more people shopping at "odd" times than I'd have ever expected.  There are always many cars in the parking lot and almost always several lines of people in the process of checking out.  And there are almost always employees re-stocking shelves, especially in the early morning between 6-8am.

Today at around 6:30am was different ... and it was very nice!

I parked my car just about as close to the front doors as you can and counted only about 15 cars in the parking lot (besides all the employee cars which are easy to spot because they are on the side of the store and up that aisle, so as not to take good parking from valued customers).  I strolled in and was greeted by a nice (and surprisingly not "elderly" at all) lady who actually smiled at me.  There were only a half-dozen or so employees stocking shelves (in the food side of the building anyway) and the aisles were clear of all the leftover boxes, etc.  There was only ONE checkout lane open (none of the self-checkout were up and running yet) but there was no line to wait in to check out.  All in all, I only counted 8 customers in the store besides myself (again, only speaking about the food side of the building ... ain't no way I'm trudging all over that store unless I have to!)

So I'll have to test the theory again on another Saturday morning in the 6:00am hour.  Perhaps that time is the best time to avoid the crazy crowds, terrible parking, and disgruntled greeters.  :)

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