When first walking into Walmart you will often think that it is just an everything store, and as it is, but it’s also so many more things. The Elkins Walmart is more than just a place to shop; it runs the local community. When you live in a small town in West Virginia, Walmart is an essential place and normally the only grocery store around. Although Walmart is a chain corporation, the company still allows communities to come together and supports the citizens in the town. To the majority of people in Elkins, Walmart is just a store in our town, but behind the scenes of the storefront itself, it’s so much more.
As the Elkins Walmart is now newly renovated with dark grey flooring and LED lights, the store is bright and welcoming the first step you take inside. You could imagine that this chain corporation was nothing but a little-bit-of-everything store and as that’s likely, it’s not the case when it comes to the Elkins Walmart. Walmart is the only store in Elkins that has everything you could possibly need. They have everything from clothes, to food, to guns, and more. The store also offers fresh deli foods and fresh baked goods too. Along with also supplying the town with all the necessities and the extras, the variety store helps local businesses in Elkins too. They also support the local team sports as well. They donate to the kids in need and often give food to the people in hunger. (Our History).
Although it is now a corporation, Walmart used to be a little store in Arkansas started by Sam Walton. The start behind Walmart is a lot more meaningful than to be just a chain grocery store. Walton opened the first Walmart in 1962, in Rogers, Arkansas. Sam saw a different meaning behind the idea of a grocery store. His leading competitors thought that Sam’s thinking of lower prices and great service was outrageous. They had thought that his ideas wouldn’t amount to his expectations. In the 1970s Sam’s store went public and had a steady expansion of stores throughout the United States. With the rapid increase of the stores, Sam proved his competitors wrong. Since Walton’s passing in April of 1993, the company had reached $386.3 billion in the year of 2019. In 2019 Walmart donated $1.4 billion globally and also donated 640 million pounds of food just in the United States.(“Giving Back to the Communities We Serve.”).
As being a customer and also an employee for the Elkins Walmart, I can confidently say that this is much more than just a store. When walking into a chain corporation like this, most would be overwhelmed and consumed with the feeling of stress and anxiety, but with the friendly employees and staff, they make your shopping experience smoother and calmer. A lot of the customers find themselves in the store for hours. This makes up most of the busy background noise. The Elkins store is a blended mix between: a grocery store, bank, salon, pharmacy, subway, and now a new Claire’s (accessory store). With everything that the Elkins Walmart offers, it also offers a space of comfort. You would think that this would be the last place to find comfort but within its cinder block walls, the store brings people together. There’s very few times that you could walk through the store and not see someone you know. This allows old friends to reconnect and for new friends to be made.
As an employee, I get to see everyone that comes into Walmart. I get to see the kids I go to school with, to complete strangers from all different backgrounds other than our West Virginia normal. I often see old friends meet again, new friendships start, and families accidentally running into each other. Most customers see past the employees working, but I promise we are all there. Working for a chain corporation you would think that your coworkers would only be people you worked with, but here in Elkins the employees are like family to each other. It doesn’t matter the age difference between yourself and the other employees here. As for myself, some of my closest friends are anywhere from 20–50 years old. Being a minor in such a fast paced environment, everyone looks out for you. There’s never a work day that goes by that my coworkers don’t stop and ask me how I’m doing. Most are involved in my life outside of work too. I know that I could go to anyone for help in our Walmart, no matter the position.
No matter what department or team you work with, everyone creates their own work family. For me, that would be Cap 2, which is a stock team. Since I’ve been on this team, i have learned that no matter the differences between a group of people, they can still come together and get a job done. The age and lifestyle differences range from anywhere between 16 to 50 years old and from the ‘normal’ West Virginia hillbilly to metal loving alternative. To the plain eye, you would think that the Cap 2 team is a bunch of misfits, and as that is, we are all of each other’s missing puzzle piece too. This is a family of people who will always be there for you no matter the time, place, or reason.
When walking through the store you can smell all sorts of different things. From fresh baked subway bread to the sweet smells from the bakery. Depending on which side of the store you’re on, you will smell different things. If you’re on the grocery side, you could smell flour in the baking aisle or the bitter smell of coffee aisles over. If you walk a few feet over you could smell the animal food through the different sized bags or fresh smell of cleaning supplies. If you keep walking through the store you will also be able to smell the deer corn in sporting goods or the fresh scent of paint from the paint counter. As you circle the store, the sweet aroma of the seasonal candles fill the aisle. Across from the candles, the distant smell of mint toothpaste refreshes the walkways. There are many things that you could smell in this store.
Walmart has not only a little bit of everything but also a wide variety of food as well. The Elkins Walmart offers sections of food for people with allergies and also full courses for the new trending diets. The store also offers sugar free, nut free, and gluten free foods. Walmart also carries Asian and Hispanic foods. They have meals that every family can afford. The Elkins Walmart offers fast and easy dinners for the busy families too. Walmart makes life easier for a lot of families when it comes to their food selection. With the individual packs of snack foods, it makes it easier for kids in school too. Walmart makes shopping easy for all schedules, ages, and incomes.
Though Walmart can be a busy and disruptive place; it is a store that a lot of families and communities depend on. The Elkins Walmart holds a special place in my heart and I’m sure holds at least a few special memories for most. This store is so much more than chain corporation, this is a community within itself. It holds jobs for hundreds of people and supports the city of Elkins but also the surrounding small towns. It’s the base of Elkins and benefits thousands of people. This once small, variety, convenience store is now supporting many cities and communities. Without this store, I wouldn’t have been able to make the friends that I have now or been able to experience the true workings behind a corporation.
Work cited
By. “Giving Back to the Communities We Serve.” Corporate, Corporate — US, 22 Apr. 2020, corporate.walmart.com/giving.
“Our History.” Corporate, corporate.walmart.com/our-story/our-history.
