I’ve got a folder full of news items about Wal-Mart because I have a love/hate relationship with this retailer.

On one hand I am impressed with this behemoth’s ability to bring so much product to the masses and continue to grow at incredible rates.

It’s like a chameleon in some ways, changing its mix a bit to fit certain markets. Locally I’ve noticed an increasing number of items throughout the stores that cater to the growing Hispanic population, from grocery items to Father’s Day T-shirts in Spanish.

A survey conducted by NOP World in March revealed 36% of respondents named Wal-Mart as their favorite store.,The next favorite was a tie among JCPenney, Sears and Target at 4%.

Wal-Mart recently opened a store in Middlefield, Ohio, that features parking for horse-drawn carriages and carries large blocks of ice for home refrigeration for its local Amish community. I don’t think the Amish community will ever rival the Hispanic community as far as its influence as a buying group, but it was big enough at least in Middlefield to sway the No. 1 retailer in the world.

Though I am loath to admit it, I do shop Wal-Mart, mainly for the convenience. I’m always racing against time, and if I can run into Wal-Mart, with two kids and a husband in tow, and pick up anything from milk and the latest DVD to a lamp and a teacher’s gift in one stop, it’s worth it to me.

However, on principle I cannot stand this store and what I perceive it stands for, and I kick myself each time I spend money there. It’s pervasive.

Wal-Mart is everyone’s competitor, and if you don’t think so, you should. You may not sell produce, meat or clothing, pet fish, housewares, electronics or shoes, but most of you sell candles, wall décor, furniture, decorative accents, lamps, rugs and garden items.

And if you haven’t noticed, Wal-Mart is vamping up its offerings in these departments. It’s also in the car rental business, as well as fixing cars and selling the stuff to fix them, selling gas, photography, hair and nail salons, restaurants, optometrists, cell phones and more.

My fear is that some day Wal-Mart will have gobbled up all the local stores and we won’t have a choice of where to shop. Perhaps it’s an unrealistic fear, but tell that to the hundreds of communities across the country who protest Wal-Mart setting up shop in their towns or the ones who welcomed the retailer with open arms and the promise of jobs only to find out it wasn’t the great deal they thought it would be.

So I have to smile when I see Target posted a larger first-quarter profit gain than Wal-Mart, though Target sits at $494 million and Wal-Mart is at $2.5 billion. I smiled even bigger when I learned we are getting a Target in my town in 2006, right across from Wal-Mart.