Quote Originally Posted by OakLeaf View Post
But there's a more important difference. A pair of polyester stretch pants with the seams sewn crooked won't kill or seriously injure you or your child. An improperly assembled bicycle very easily could.
And we have a winner. I go to Target and a large chain grocery store (Safeway) for most of my day-to-day consumable needs (food, personal care, etc) and some of the basics that don't have equivalent local stores or who's equivalent local store's price is far out of my pay grade (trash cans, plastic containers, etc).

Most of the rest of it (including nearly all of my "luxury" type purchases) are at speciality and/or local stores with some exceptions made for online stores like Amazon which I am dearly in love with for my boxed TV series sets. About as close as I get to "big box" on a regular basis is REI. I just enjoy shopping at these places more, and luckily I live in an area where a) the prices remain fairly competitive and b) these guys are still around.

It is a goal of mine to never set foot in a Walmart again. A goal made easy by the fact that my City refuses to let them build, so the closest one is something like 15-20 miles away (HURRAY!).