Super Fabulous Super Center

We don't particularly enjoy trips to Wal-Mart. We grew up in a small town with a mother who refused to venture there. The claustrophobia-inducing aisles, the shrieking kids, the cheap and frequently rude laborers -- all equal a recipe for a raging bad mood. One time a friend asked Mama where she got necessities like toiletries. She replied, "If Wal-Mart's the only place to get it, I don't need it." This has been our motto since moving to Arkansas.

But we recently heard about a new SuperCenter store prototype Wal-Mart is testing in Maumelle. One of our good friends gave a rave review, but we were still skeptical. "It's supposed to compete with Super Target," she whispered. She had us hooked. We loooooove Super Target. Heck, we looooove regular Target. So we swallowed our pride and ambled down 430 for a look-see. Twice. We're glad we did.

The grocery section is what sets this Wal-Mart apart. It's actually kind of lovely (did we really just say that?). The bakery selections were gorgeous:

The sushi counter featured an attractive array of maki and nigiri:

The freezer section had real Jello pudding pops (one of those childhood treats we're never able to find). And while looking for pomegranate juice, we found eight possible selections!

Other features set this store apart, as well. It's organized. The aisles have more than enough room for three carts to fit down them at once. There aren't massive pallets of crap at the end of each one. The checkout lanes offer the longest automated conveyor belts we've ever seen:

We also were captivated by the motion-activated lights in the freezer and refrigerator sections. They save energy by switching off after so many minutes have passed without a customer passing by. Notice the difference between the lighted cabinets on the left and the ones that are dim on the right:

The non-grocery section is still, well, Wal-Mart. But it's kind of like Wal-Mart all dressed up for the prom. It's tidy, attractively accessorized and a little bit giddy at the prospect of being so grown-up.

But can we expect this type of Wal-Mart store to become the standard? Probably not. Some cursory research shows the big box behemoth expects to adopt this "clean store" model in about 20 new locations throughout the United States. We'd love to see it in more places. We also hope that the renovations currently underway at the Chenal Target bring it more in line with this standard. Because we can barely cope with the idea abandoning our beloved Target. And we certainly can't tell Mama we've been shopping at Wal-Mart.