Interesting thought. I actually hate big stores because I have to walk a huge distance to find the right section, it’s harder to find the thing I want, they’re more crowded, they’re more likely to be understaffed (30 checkout lines with 2 cashiers is very common)... It’s typically a much bigger waste of time than going to a small store.
But I’m definitely a purposeful shopper: I’m always in and out with one goal in mind, I never “browse”. Maybe wal-mart and the like are more attractive to people who just kinda want to browse around and kill time?
For me it's just the fact that if I'm grocery shopping at Target, I can go look at the menswear department for a few minutes because I also like buying new clothes. It's much much harder to buy good fitting and good looking clothes online because you don't get true colors and fit without trying it on. This is a main reason that many box stores target women more than men, since statistically women are more interested in clothing than men.
But I’m definitely a purposeful shopper: I’m always in and out with one goal in mind, I never “browse”. Maybe wal-mart and the like are more attractive to people who just kinda want to browse around and kill time?