Walmart — or Wally World; whatever you call it — is an establishment I had never been to until August 2011. I finally had the honor of saying I lost my Walmart virginity. It’s a place where you can find pretty much everything: food, clothes, electronics. You name it, and Walmart’s got it.

In New York City, there are no Walmarts because of the competition this could cause for small-business owners. There are many small businesses in NYC that depend on customers to buy in their stores. Another reason why NYC doesn’t have a Walmart is because of the store’s strong anti-union policy and its employees’ very low wages.

The first time I went to Walmart, it was like walking into an abyss of madness. Someone got pantsed with the full booty hanging out, and other people were using wrapping paper rolls as life savers.

The sole purpose of going to Walmart was because I needed to buy some groceries, and I ended up buying my first pair of sweatpants instead. It’s a place where you go in wanting one thing and end up coming out with everything you didn’t need.

In New York City, we only have Target to serve as an equivalent to Walmart in the sense that it has everything you need, but Walmart is cheaper. The closest Target to me is about 25 city blocks away; that means usually I have to go to 100 different stores in order to get everything I need. Being in Kent allows me to just go to one store: Walmart.

Having a Walmart in New York City would definitely be beneficial because it would bring more business to the city instead of having people from the city going to other counties in order to shop at Walmart. It would drive more people to go to the city but at the same time hurt all those small businesses that depend on others to buy from their stores.

The city needs those small businesses in order to put money back into the economy and drive more people into the city. The best part is walking around the city and going into little stores that have things you couldn’t find at a place like Target or Walmart.