Wal-Mart: The State of America

Wal-Mart is becoming the shopping store of America. There are so many Wal-Marts in the country that some people protest its building or future construction sites. It's also become an icon of American living: goods at affordable prices for the middle class family.

I went shopping yesterday at Wal-Mart. Normally, I don't shop there because it gets crowded and chaotic with all the kids around, but I wanted to get some children's books, and books do get expensive, and since Wal-Mart was right next to Best Buy... why not?

I didn't buy any books. The book section was practically non-existent. It consisted of only two aisles, mostly of magazines, young adult, and tons of self-help books. Hmmm...

As I was leaving the store, I passed by the women's clothing section. Before I head back to Japan, I thought about stocking up on some clothes before leaving because I can never find my size there. The average waist size of women in Japan is 64cm (or 25in), so slacks are pretty slim there. As I browsed through the women's clothes, I was a bit shocked to find that I still could not find my size. It's not that everything was small-- it was all too big... and I mean BIG, for heavy set women.

In most stores, I find that average sizes overtake the floor, while plus sizes have a small section. It wasn't so at this particular Wal-Mart I went to: it was the other way around. When I looked at the advertisements around me, they were all heavy set women. The blouses were huge, like tents, and the pants were like balloons. I eyed the junior section, but I wanted something conservative, not T-shirts that bare my mid-riff and tight low-cut jeans that would expose me more than if I were naked.

Wal-Mart must really know their customers when they know what they're offering, but I wonder if this is the state of America: people who don't read unless they have a low self-esteem, and eating excessively to the point where the average size of women has gone from a size 10 to a size 14, and teenage girls dressing like miniature prostitutes-in-training.

I'm all for good health, and Americans hate the waif-thin models that adorn the pages of a magazine, but obesity is just as unhealthy. People need to lay off the sodas and potato chips.

And pick up a piece of literature or other book other than a self-help one. Self-help books only point out that one has low self-esteem.

And parents need to start watching their daughters. At Wal-Mart's affordable prices, girls can buy more of their clothes just by wearing them.