What's the point of the Joja Mart?

[Hillbilly_Dave]

I went in there and the prices are 10% higher than what the shop in town are. I thought they'd be cheaper to give the player an actual delimma, support local business or save money and buy from Walmart, I mean Joja Mart.

[The_Pastmaster]

I went in there once and I saw them selling parsnip seeds for half of what Pierre wanted for them.

[21stcenturyrambo]

They're open later and 7 days a week.

[Lurlex]

Originally posted by The_Pastmaster:

I went in there once and I saw them selling parsnip seeds for half of what Pierre wanted for them.

That doesn't last. It's because of the 50% off coupons that the Joja Mart manager offered earlier in the game. They run out and the price goes right back up.

As for the main question from the original poster -- the point is to have an antagonistic force in the game, and give a unique way of completing the game that's counter to the "town hero" storyline. It's by no means supposed to be EASIER to go the Joja Mart route. It's actually harder in the long haul, which I think is a commentary about how the Walmarts of the world might look good for a small community at first, but they slowly leach the life out of them as time goes on.

[Daniel_USA]

There are smaller chains around here that have goods way cheaper then Wal-Mart and I wonder how they can afford to do it.