As a freshman, I would soothe my periodic bouts of homesickness by finding the nearest Wal-Mart and wandering its aisles.
I would be comforted by the familiarity of the store - the $5.50 movie bin that rarely holds anything worth watching and the giant wire tower of bouncy balls that is perpetually being prodded by a number of small children.
A Wal-Mart in Arizona is pretty much like a Wal-Mart in Arkansas, although I lived in a dry county, so mine never sold alcohol, which I tend to forget and become baffled by when I visit my home state.
There are things I like about the store: the fact that you can buy a mop, a CD, a paperback and Nutella in one stop, for instance, and that you can buy all those things for low prices.
But at the same time that I appreciate those attributes of Wal-Mart, I'm also freaked out by the sheer vastness of its empire.
Wal-Mart employed approximately 1,800,000 people worldwide as of January 31, 2006.
At the same time, the company was operating 3,856 domestic stores, and a further 2,285 in other countries, for a total of more than 6,000 stores.
All this since Sam Walton opened a Ben Franklin variety store in Arkansas in 1945. In just over 62 years, Wal-Mart (itself not incorporated until 1969) has become the largest retailer in the world, and it doesn't show any signs of slowing down.
The company's dominance is one of the reasons I very much understand recent outrage over some of Wal-Mart's practices.
The United States' Attorney's Office and the FBI are both looking into a recent scandal wherein a Wal-Mart technician allegedly intercepted text and pager messages and taped telephone calls between Wal-Mart employees and a New York Times reporter over several months.
Another recent development has Wal-Mart first applying for a banking charter, then quickly withdrawing its application amid a firestorm of criticism from banks nationwide.
Wal-Mart claims the charter's purpose was to allow the company to internally process debit and credit transactions, which would pass savings on to consumers.
Bankers worried that Wal-Mart would soon branch into consumer banking, an understandable concern given the company's history of expansion and domination.
Despite the retraction of the charter application, Wal-Mart claims it still plans to work with its partners to provide new services like mortgages and loans.
And I still haven't forgotten the Kathie Lee clothing line controversy of 1996, when the National Labor Committee reported the clothes (sold in Wal-Mart stores) were made in sweatshops.
Wal-Mart's touch is felt around the globe, and this is what freaks me out.
It may be paranoid and Orwellian, but I can envision a terrifying world where every service is provided by Wal-Mart, and Wal-Mart alone.
Once they conquer the banking industry, driving other chains out of business the same way they did the mom and pop store, it's not such a stretch to see them controlling the automobile industry.
Then it's on to oil, and if they've got oil, they've got everything.
As much as I like Nutella and paperbacks, I can find them both elsewhere, in stores where I feel like I'm allowed to leave with my soul intact.
The store is a nice place to visit. It continues to remind me of home and comfort me. But I don't buy anything anymore, because I definitely don't want to live there.
Reach the reporter at: hanna.ricketson@asu.edu.
