A retailer that pays their employees a wage that's closer to living than not and gives the finger to Wall Street in the process. Plus a CEO who's likely loaded and unloaded trucks himself.

I have a cousin who works for them in Louisville. They do treat their employees right. Novel concept, but a good one.

I'm there.

Has anyone heard there's supposed to be a Whole Foods going in at Kingston and Papermill? A real mixed bag, though, as that CEO is a total dick. I would therefore try to avoid the store, but it would be pretty convenient from I-40.

I'm glad Costco will come to town with it's better than average jobs. That is great! What I can't seem to get around is that the Nashville Costco was a real let down after shopping in west coast Costco stores. I don't drink but out west we bought a hell of a lot of wine and liquor at Costco for gifts.

We did not see a great deal of difference in the various grocery products stocked at Costco's west coast stores but we did see that difference when shopping in Nashville. So much so that I let our membership lapse. Of course now that I have accepted the fact that I am going to get a side of grits rather than a side of green chile I will no doubt dump my Sam's card and support Costco.

Costco needs to start their marketing campaign for this new Knox county store by offering me a premium for my Sams card. Either a discount on the Costco membership or a few free months of their membership. Either one and I'll attend the shredding party.

I have never been in a Costco, so enlighten me. It's pretty much a Sam's that treats its employees better? You still go there to get a gallon of mayo, or 5 lbs of M&Ms?

I don't get it.

Aside from the other issues about Sam's/WalMart, the thing that drove me away is their calculated poor quality. They use their massive buying power to negotiate lower prices often at the cost of quality (and US jobs). I am quite convinced they have people who calculate price-point/customer-tolerance-for-poor-quality ratios, meaning they figure out that people will buy and replace over time ten $10 toasters rather than spend $50 up front for one that will never need replacing. There's some threshold where a customer will find replacing the toaster to be inconvenient and wasteful, and Sam's/WalMart aims to sell things just beyond that threshold. I'm sure they're not the only ones to do this, but their sheer size would suggest they're probably the best at it.

I wonder if Costco is a master at this as well.

But yeah, I still won't shop there.

Me neither. The damage that company has done can never be reversed. I might lose a few cents, if that, every now and then by shopping at Target instead. Target is no sainted organization, but no company is in the same league as Sprawl-Mart.

As far as I'm concerned, there's a sign at the top of Bearden Hill going west that says "here be dragons." I won't be visiting Costco unless I have some really pressing reason to buy something in bulk.

I can't imagine shopping at at Costco, but given a choice I would pick it over Sam's any day.

I shop at Target because it's what I can afford for a lot of household supplies and goods, but I don't buy their handbags. Those I get as hand-me-downs from family members or from secondhand stores or church rummage sales or such. There are a couple of stores I go to west of Bearden Hill but it is very specific and very seldom. And always connected to a sale.

Like Rachel, West Knoxville gives me the heebie-jeebies. It's the traffic and the pre-fab and everything being on top of everything else. I go there for some of the people in my life. That's good.

Every time I drive in West Knoxville, I feel as though I'm in somebody's way.

That doesn't surprise me about Target-sold handbags. But unfortunately you can apply a similar argument against almost any store in America on practically any item, anymore. A really principled person would have to live like a hermit and/or be very choosy, and probably quite rich, to avoid those vendors entirely. It wouldn't be practical or fair compared to the masses who have no conscience. At least we're very choosy about durables, clothing, and the like for that type of problem.

We mostly buy staples like soaps, toiletries, Grape Nuts cereal, etc. from Target. If I were buying a handbag, I'd get one of those cool JulieApple jobs. Have you seen those!?

Oh, come on people. I go west of Bearden Hill all the time. It's not scary I promise.

Those who have been to Costco before will go there again because they have many more name brand products than Sam's. By the way the people who I have met in West Knox are some of the best you will meet anywhere.

"Those I get as hand-me-downs from family members or from secondhand stores or church rummage sales or such."

Yup. For accessories, I buy vintage and second-hand from thrift stores and Ebay. You can find some amazing stuff, particularly hats, which were made far better and of better quality materials when millinery was still a unionized trade.