In Defense of Walmart

Commenter Peter Speckhard left an intriguing comment on Russ Saltzman’s “On the Square” article today:

I have nothing against Walmart. In fact, I find it to be the only place here in Green Bay where I might truly bump into anyone. There are no (or very few) restaurants, stores, clubs, or even public parks where the mayor, a Packer player, a recently released prisoner, an illegal immigrant, a soccer mom, etc. might all be in the same room on the same day. Except Walmart (and perhaps McDonald’s). The cultured despisers of these places despise the only things that unify our culture. Walmart is the secular equivalent of a large Catholic parish.

This sounds a bit like Ray Oldenburg’s influential definition of the ” third place ,” a community anchor set apart from work and home where people casually converse and interact—-the old coffee shop, pub, or plaza.

Speckhard’s comment is a needed rebuke to those who love to hate Walmart, but it also underlines how desperately in need of good public places many American cities are. Is a discount box store really the closest thing Green Bay has to a third place?