Simpatia Mas Profunda Wil Mart

 

Another one bites the dust, or a tale of an industry giant smushing like a bug a small rebellious business.

One of the things I got the biggest laugh from after moving to Costa Rica is the cheerful nihilism of a local store. The Wil Mart in Matapalo on the way to Playa Grande. It is conveniently located, and Wilbert always has ice cold Coke Ligeros waiting for me along with water, and pretty much anything one can need. Snacks, both healthy and sinfully unhealthy, flip flops, sun lotion, small household repair items, all kinds of foodber and coffee, coffee, coffee. On weekends there are sometimes live bands playing and for awhile they had an on site brewery.

I always smiled to see the copycat Wal Mart logo, the same colors, the same font, the same cheery white star between the words "Wil" and "Mart". It came off as a cheeky insouciant flipped bird in the face of big American corporate greed. I approved, but I still seriously hate Wal Mart, literally the worst place to shop in my small Virginia town that killed a number of shops I used to shop at. It turned our downtown into a ghost town, and it took years to build back.

Last week we had our friend from Maryland visiting and I told him that first morn on our way to Grande that he'd get a giggle out of the blatant steal of the corporate evil that is Wal Mart. Imagine my surprise when we pulled up in the parking lot of the joint so I could have my diet coke only to find the sign gone. A few artisans were working to crafting a new one spelling out the name of the store as "The Store". Okay, so not as catchy or deliciously tongue in cheek as Wil Mart.

Started talking to Wilbert's young adult son as to why the store name changed, and he told us a tale of Wal Mart trying rather unsuccessfully to sue his dad repeatedly in Costa Rican courts and the case being thrown out. Now the lousy, half assed, quasi evil that is Wal Mart is here in Costa Rica, merely an hour away in Liberia. Apparently Wal Mart CR started to sue, and it was pretty clear they might stand a good chance of winning, so the owner folded, agreeing to change the name to something else. That something else is "The Store" even as the store remains the same wonderful place, even if the sign isn't there to make me laugh.

I asked why the name Wil Mart and the son said it was a deliberate bird flipping towards Wal Mart. Goodbye Wil Mart, hello The Store.

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