Filed under: Consumer experience, Wal-Mart (WMT), Marketing and advertising

This post is one in a series on prominent company nicknames. See all 25, and share your thoughts and memories about Walley World below in the comments.

When Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) began transforming from a regional discount chain to a national retail powerhouse in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the company caught the attention of consumers and business critics alike. The company has never been the same since, and after its meteoric rise in the 1990s, it is easily deserving of its alter ego, Walley World. Why, might you ask?

The term comes from a fictional amusement park in the 1983 comedy film National Lampoon’s Vacation. The sprawling amusement park, which the Griswold family travels cross country for, turns out to be shut. This, of course, makes hilarity ensue as Chevy Chase’s character hijacks the entire park to make sure his family has a good time after the disastrous journey to get there.

The sheer size and “everything under the sun” mentality of the park set the tone for Wal-Mart to be called “Walley World” soon thereafter. This was probably due to a comparison to the amusement park’s enormous size as well as the parking lot depicted in the film — which resembles a cement desert without end.

And thus, the real retail embodiment of Walley World was born. The name still sticks with millions of consumers to today. Even some of my own family never use the term “Wal-Mart” — its Walley World (always). The world’s largest retailer might even seem to some to be more like an amusement park these days, with hordes of bargain-happy shoppers, a quarter-mile walk from the parking lot to the store and everything from tires to bananas to flat-screen TVs all under one roof.

Is Wal-Mart really being injured by the Walley World moniker? One would think not, but then again, the retailer’s PR folks probably don’t like it or the mental association it creates. Still, it’s an adventure when one travels from home to Walley World. It’s just a shopping trip for $1 plastic clothes hangers when you make the beeline from home to Wal-Mart, right?

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 12th, 2008 at 1:56 pm and is filed under Marketing and Advertising. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.