I read an interesting article this week about Wal-Mart, and thought you may enjoy some of the facts they have gathered about the shoppers who visit their store.

GENERAL STATS: Wal-mart boasts of 138 million shoppers each week with the busiest day of the week being Saturday. The top shopping day of the year is the day after Thanksgiving, followed closely by December 23, and December 22.

BREAKFAST FOODS: In the Northeast, most people enjoy bagels, while in Texas, it is doughnuts. Also, you who live in the Northeast prefer brown eggs, with the rest of the country choosing white. The majority of Americans drink 2% milk, except those of us in the South, we like whole milk.

PET SUPPLIES: Those in the Western states buy the most dog food, with Florida choosing the most dog accessories. Cat lovers abound in Maine…they buy the most cat food, but Nebraska buys the most cat accessories.

GROCERY:

The items most likely to be found in your grocery cart are frozen foods, especially frozen pizza. Another of the biggest sellers are frozen vegetables packaged to be steamed, and lo-fat meals.

We prefer our fruits fresh, not frozen. “DUH!”

The best selling item in the store are BANANAS! We buy enough bananas each year to circle the Earth 16 times!

Pop Tarts are the number one comfort food. It seems that those who are preparing for hurricanes tend to stockpile Pop Tarts. Extra crates are always shipped to those areas that are expecting weather disasters.

If you live in Pennsylvania, with my friend Jean, you buy 5 times more tea than any other state.

CLOTHING: The average female shopper wears a size 14 and a size 8 12 shoe. Her most popular items of clothing to buy there are hoodies, and casual shoes.

Men shoppers tend to wear a size 10 1/2 shoe. Their choice of boxers or briefs is at a tie across most of the country…with only the South showing a preference…we like boxers down here!

Our children are getting fatter! 30% of the children in ages 9-12 are buying their clothes in the men’s and ladies’ departments. Perhaps due to Pop Tart consumption?

OTHER BUYING HABITS: The hottest selling item now is Electronics…with the most sought after being the 32 in flat screen TV.

We buy mostly Country music, followed by Pop/Rock.

We prefer paying with cash followed by the debit card.

In an attempt to sharpen their image, the employees are now wearing khaki pants and polo shirts. No more blue vests. But they are going to recycle those for a worthy cause…so they say.

I found it amusing to look at the buying habits of Americans at Wal-Mart. I usually shop at the local Wal-Mart about twice a month. I find their groceries to be competitively priced. My biggest gripe with their store is the long wait to check-out. They may have 20 registers in the front and only 8 of them being used. I have begun to use the self check-out…which I like better.

All of this information is available on the Good Morning America website. I did not go out and poll all of America on its spending habits. I do not have quite that much free time.