Only in Tennessee — Wal*Mart has Valet Parking

That makes us sound really unique. We’re #1 (in customer laziness?) ya’ll!!

Really it’s just strange.  I realize in 2008 the local news did a story on it.  The parking lot is horrible and they were worried walking the extra 100 feet or whatever would cause people to leave, so they started this. Apparently they deemed it a success as these photos were snapped by me in June of 2011.

We were out shopping and for some reason went to this store (Old Hickory Blvd and Nolensville Road). Upon driving up to the front I started laughing and asked hubby to do a few drive arounds so I could get a few pictures all spy-like.

I didn’t want to be all, “Hey Bubba – mind if I get a photo of your Valet station so I can laugh with my friends about it?” So hubby agreed that we needed a picture and we circled a few times. We eventually went in (without using the valet – I’m pretty sure we need the extra steps) and got whatever we were looking for, or we didn’t. I can’t recall. But what I do recall is wanting to blog about it and forgetting. So I’m glad that I was looking for another photo in my album and found this gem.

I uploaded one of these photos to facebook and some of you guys were commenting on it there. I googled Walmart Valet Nashville and saw the news story. I don’t know how common this is, but it would seem like only a southern thing.

I can’t imagine this being some huge money-making opportunity, but I guess if it gets a few people in the door who would normally have said, “Nah this here parking lot has too many bridges and stuff – I’m going down the street to the other Walmart” then it’s worth it.

Would you hand your keys to the Wal*Mart valet team? I’m sure they would treat it like their own car, which may or may not be a good thing. My husband’s truck is so hard to park, but do I trust a stranger to park it with more care than I would? I may back up and go back into the spot 5 times, but I eventually will get it into the spot correctly (or decide to scrap that plan and go park away from other cars). Who knows what they would do!