Walmart — Local services in Flagstaff

I love the pharmacy and professionalism of the staff there. HOWEVER---- However, store management for the MAIN PART OF THE STORE thinks it is above the law. I used to do most of my shopping for the week in the main part of the store. But sadly, no more.

My most recent experience attempting to buy groceries was as unpleasant as it was risky. The aisles were like a combat zone. Since we are in the midst of a pandemic of epic proportions and are under a county-wide mandate by executive order to wear masks and socially distance, abide by limited access to businesses, Stores are required to enforce this order issued by both the Coconino County and the City of Flagstaff. This is particularly important at this particular store due to the number of NAU students and the vulnerable Navajo Nation customers who shop there.

I learned the hard and insulting way that Walmart staff and management feel they are not obligated or interested in customer or employee safety. No one was at the entrance of the store to check for masks or to count customers entering. The store was swarming with shoppers having difficulty distancing each other around the junky and cramped product displays in the aisles. Directional one way signs for aisles on the floor are small and barely visible for customers to see. Worst of all, about 1/3 of the customers were allowed to enter the store not wearing masks, required by county and city mandates.

Because I am high risk, I DARED to ask an employee about it. He shrugged and went on his way. I then DARED to ask for a manager. After 15 minutes, 2 people appeared stating they were the manager??? Yes, my thinking exactly! I inquired about enforcement of mask requirement and store occupancy. The two (bald tall guy, no name tag, arms crossed and nose in the air and woman with long black hair) proceeded in an insulting and demeaning manner to pick an argument with me, saying that the executive order and pandemic mitigation by the county and city were not law and that they were not required to abide by them. I then DARED to mention that an executive order and decision of our Board of Supervisors was indeed law, especially during a pandemic.

The babble continued. They even argued that masks are useless. I concluded it was futile to try to reason with stupidity. But, I closed by relaying that I would report to proper authorities and saying that Walmart and their management had a responsibility to protect their most valuable assets---their employees and customers. I attempted to contact the local manager a total of 11 times. He left a message with a phone number after a request on my behalf from the pharmacy. There was never an answer. I filed a complaint with the health department.

Conclusion: Walmart refuses to acknowledge the problem and initiate a solution to protect employees and customers by enforcement of the simple mask requirement. Walmart management does not care about the safety of their employees or their long time loyal customers during the worst and most incurable pandemic since 1918. We are all expendable humans in their eyes. Walmart neither respects local laws and safety in our community.

While this is a scathing review of a store chain that has become an American Icon, I believe due to this status alone, they should be setting a standard in overcoming this national disaster by example....

I visited the store at 10 pm on 11/17/2022. I was on vacation staying in Williams, AZ which is about a 30 min drive from Flagstaff on Woodlands Village Blvd - the closest Walmart according to my phone's gps. I went there thinking there would be a great selection of day backpacks to choose from to take to the Grand Canyon. I found only 3 different ones. The one I chose was the "Slumberjack Day Pack". There were only 1 or 2 packs left of the other choices. But there were about 30 Slumberjack Day Packs available and I didn't think - Slumberjack = backpack for a Slumber party :-( If only I'd been wiser! It had lots of pockets and looked sturdy enough. I purchased it and used it the next day hiking in the Grand Canyon. I packed it with a light load, basically a bag lunch and a bottle of water. About 1/2 way down the trail one of the shoulder straps started coming apart from the pack. I took the pack off and noticed the strap was about to come off. So instead of a back pack I had a carry bag. The carry strap worked ok, but it was awkward to use hiking in the Grand Canyon. Anyone who has hiked in the Grand Canyon knows you need good equipment to have a successful hike. Stupid me for not checking the pack out more thoroughly at Walmart. So that evening, I drove several hours back to the Walmart where I had purchased it to try one of the others in hopes it might work. I went to returns around 9:10 pm and there was a Walmart Employee at the returns desk. It turned out to be an Assistant Manager. The customer in front of me was helped and the Assistant Manager took the product being returned from the customer in front of me and walked behind a partition. I waited thinking the Assistant Manager would come back to help me as I was the last person in line. I waited about 5 minutes and then thought I'd ask an employee if I could get help returning a product. The employee I asked told me they didn't take returns after 9pm. I explained I had seen the assistant manager take a return right in front of me and wondered if the assistant manager would help me. The employee repeated they don't take returns after 9pm. I asked why would a store be open until 11 PM if they stopped taking returns at 9 pm. The employee's response was why don't you come back tomorrow. I replied my hotel was 1/2 hr away and I needed a pack the next morning since I was going directly to the Grand Canyon in the morning. The employee then suggested I throw the pack away. I wasn't going to throw $34.97 plus tax away and have no pack to use the next day. I asked to speak to a manager. The employee called for the manager but again told me that it wouldn't help since they didn't take returns after 9pm. I then met the assistant manager I'd seen over at the return desk. She explained that there are not enough employees trained to take returns in the store in the evening so they stop taking...

This Walmart was a disappointing and frustrating experience, which seemed more endemic to the store and its employees than to my personal experience. Walmart cannot continue to attempt to compete with Amazon, Target, or even CVS if it continues to hire minimum-wage, poorly-trained people who are not empowered to make decisions.

The self-checkout line malfunctioned multiple times (it seemed like this was a common problem from the way the cashier handled it). One machine only took cards. One only took cash. It was a zoo.

I also tried to purchase a clearance item that ended up not being on clearance. Someone had accidentally stocked several LEGO toys in the wrong spot and the price tag seemed to identify that item as the one stocked there. I promised this item to my son who was with me, carried it around for 15 minutes, and then proceeded to check out. It rang up as $17 instead of $7, so I asked if they would honor that price. After 10 minutes of waiting to find out what was going on, they confirmed it was not on sale. I asked that they honor the price since there was no way to identify that the item was not the one on clearance. Once again, the price tag lined up with the item (it ended up being a different toy in the same line), and there were multiple of that item in the same spot, neatly (instead of in a disorganized way) arranged. After discussing, the cashier claimed there was no way she could give a “$10 discount” as it was outside her authority...(!) We finally called the Manager over, who clearly hadn’t shaved in a few days and looked too disheveled to make any kind of a decision. The outlook was grim. He began to make up stories about a potential customer who, in his mind, had probably moved multiple boxes of the same item to a different side of the aisle, then neatly arranged them over a price tag with, coincidentally, the same product name.

At this I realized that, to Walmart, $10 is their projected value for all of the following: 1) me never shopping there again, 2) me persuading others to never shop there again, 3) a phone call with the regional manager, and 4) this review. With this kind of financial projection Walmart is sure to be in business for at least another year or two. I then explained to my distraught son that you do not buy from places that don’t treat you right. Remarkably, his 5 year-old brain understood: “But Dad, we can probably get it cheaper online anyway!” Yes son. Yes we can.

Overall I spent 20 minutes in the store and 20 minutes trying to checkout. I...