Agony’s Exit

Long before I ever stepped foot in a Walmart I heard the stories about how big box stores would decimate Main Street and downtown businesses.

Not being a fan of the status quo, I was ready for the destruction. When I was young, the incumbent retailers were terrible. Unless your desires were exactly average, you’d be out of luck. Heaven help you if you wanted something in your own size. Hearing a sales clerk say, “he’ll grow into it” for the sixteenth time made it very hard for me to have any sympathy for the local shop’s inevitable fall.

I visited a Walmart for the first time in 1984. It was in Murphysboro, Illinois and that giant store had every item I could possibly need. However, I didn’t care for the feedlot-style experience.

Now there are similar media stories about how Amazon is crushing big box retail the way Walmart leveled Main Street. I say, “bring it on.”

Most of what I buy comes from Amazon because I never have to step foot in a store. It’s my youthful dream come true.

From time to time I’ll forget just how much better things are today. An accidental reminder is always around the corner.

This picture of the cart corral at Ikea was the last thing I saw as I finally escaped from that store that seems to have no end.

About the author: I am Stephen Kennedy, an experienced photographer with more than 2500 completed sessions in all 50 US states.