Walmart Shoppers

Natural Observation Project

For my naturalistic observation, I went to Wal-Mart located on South Elm Eugene Street. I chose this place because I knew I could have various options to observe. On average I go to this supercenter once a week. After observing this Wal-Mart, I noticed things I never knew existed.

On February 6th, 2010, I went with my cousin to get her nails done. As soon as I walked in I noticed the Red Box Video Station had a line of three people. While a woman was slowly picking her video, the next three people in line waited impatiently. One man had his arms crossed and the next two women in line both had their hands on their hips. As I passed them, I wondered what movies they were in a rush to see.

As I continued walking, there were shopping carts located on the left for the convenience of shoppers. I noticed a teenager had a problem detaching a cart from the rest, but she finally got it and entered the store. The elderly greeter welcomed me, my cousin, and the teenager into the store with a smile upon her face.

My cousin and I walked into Regal Nails thankful to see that there wasn’t a line. I sat in the waiting chair close to the entrance to observe the rest of Wal-Mart. In the background “Irreplaceable” was playing on the radio. While sitting there, I noticed a line coming out of the Money Center. There were many people in line that looked frustrated, anxious and irritated. I wondered why this was, but then I remembered it is “tax time”.

The next thing I noticed was that there was a sign hanging from the ceiling that said “Game Time”, this was because the Super Bowl was the next day. The sign was very colorful attracting many football fans.

From this seat, I could see people walk into the store. There were many people with sweatshirts and hats on. Many people walked in at a face pace who seemed to be getting last minute necessities. Most women carried purses, while men carried their hands in their pockets. Various people talked on...