Yes, I know, hard to believe, but it's true!

A new Walmart location popped up in my area. A Walmart Neighborhood Market, in Apopka FL. I had seen these before and did not know what they were, so I stopped in and found it to be a pretty good, clean, well-organized store with the emphasis on groceries and very little of the other stuff that is sold in the older Walmart stores.

The location was convenient for grocery shopping on my way home from work at the airport, so I started shopping there two, maybe three times a week.

At first, the experience was really good, but over a few months it began to deteriorate -- typical Walmart stuff, many items out of stock, many items on the shelves where other stuff should have been, so the shelf tags with prices did not match the product.

Last week I stopped in with a short list on the shopping app on my phone. I found one item that I needed, and empty spaces on the shelves for everything else. Shelf tags were there, but the space on the shelf was either empty or had items other than what should have been there.

I noticed the store manager and approached him. I showed him the shopping list on my phone. He grabbed a cart and walked the aisles with me. For each of the items that were out of stock, he grabbed an equivalent and put it in the cart. I usually buy Great Value, the store brand, as these products are typically major brands that are re-labeled for Walmart at a lower price, and I pointed out that the items that he had put in the cart would come to a total that was close to double what I would have paid for the Walmart brand.

The manager said that he would over-ride the register and give me the store brand price on everything, even though some of the items that he grabbed for me were larger packages.

He walked me to the register, bagged everything, and then he refused payment!

I told him that was not necessary, I was more than happy to pay the store brand prices.

He said that he had seen me shopping in the store frequently, he did not want to lose me as a customer, especially over Walmart's inability to keep items on the shelf. For each of the items that was out of stock, he looked at his hand-held computer and told me what date they were scheduled to be in the store. He thanked me for coming in and told me to ask for him any time I had any difficulty in the store.

Yes, this actually happened at a Walmart store, and no, it was not an out-of-body experience.

Publix quality service at a Walmart store. Hard to believe.

That is great story and yes, odd for Walley World. Good on that manager.

They built one of those supermarket Walmarts near our home and my usual complaint is not enough check out lanes with employees stationed

We used to stop at one in a podunk town on the way to Ft Worth. It was far and away the best grocery store in that town. Which wasn’t saying a lot.

Wow. What a great manager.

My wife has had excellent service from the Neighborhood Market near us. The store is always clean and ours has almost always had items she wants in stock.

That's awesome!

Awesome service provided!

So what is going to happen, Mr. V-Tail, is that the manager knows you will tell your friends and neighbors about the quality, specialized service you received, in the hopes they will flock to his store. It's a win-win all around!!

it like spinning the giant wheel of chance at our Wal Marts but way more often than not their people can be very helpful.

and this being out of stock on very common items is a giant pile of b.s.,
they have forty kinds of cereal , on 100 feet of shelving, BUT !

they can't keep my ice creme in stock ? ! ?

they need to put district managers phone numbers on every other shelf

One of the most hideous sins in Sam Walton’s book was being out of stock.

He felt like they spent a lot of money to get a customer to come in to the store, with money, to buy something, and to not have it on the shelf was just unpardonable.

This led him to invest in one of the earliest computer inventory/point of sales system, so that HQ knew every time the cash register rang, anywhere in the system and could update the inventory. Walmart has huge resupply centers all over the place as well.

Somebody better get with the program!

Part of it is just keeping up with demand and the growth in the area, Apopka is exploding with new homes and influx of new people, it's one of the hottest real estate areas in CFL.

They'll adjust and keep up right now it's an emerging growth market.

We have one here, shop occasionally, usually go to Publix habit, for dog treats we hit the Wally market, you get double the size packages for similar cost at publix.

The hound likes it because she now gets more treats per bark....

Wow. Great story

Nice, I would not have expected that but the manager knew how to treat customers. Bravo !!

That's someone actually acting like he owned the business and was making decisions for the good of the business, not just someone with a job managing the store.

I hope he pursues his dreams and be wildly successful.

It is far easier and much less expensive to satisfy and keep a customer than to spend $$$ to get new ones.

This manager knows and practices that.

Unfortunately most all companies do not live this, nor train, emphasize and profit from it. Bob Tasca of Tasca Ford was a supreme master in this.

So the invasion of the body snatchers has begun. This stupid alien is going to blow his cover before they can take over. Obviously didn't do enough research on being a SM at Wally world before taking his body.

A great manager makes a world of difference no matter what organization they are a part of. Few and far between these days. Glad he is taking care of you.