Hundreds of Silver Springs Walmart carts litter town

MARION COUNTY, Fla. — Marion County business owners in Silver Springs say Walmart, one of America's biggest retailers, has become a lousy neighbor.

The problem? Walmart's shopping carts.

Hundreds of carts are dumped all over town. Channel 9 found carts sitting solo on sidewalks, and in cart clusters lined up outside the Silver Springs post office.

Silver Springs resident John Sanderfer said the carts are like leaves on a tree.

"You don't see 'em until you're looking for them, and then they're everywhere," Sanderfer said.

Every cart bears the blue and white logo of Walmart, which has a superstore on Silver Springs Boulevard.

Residents said people fill their carts and take them home just like a shopping bag.

Channel 9 found 20 lined up at an RV park.

One resident said there could be as many as 500 wayward carts.

Other stores, like Dollar Tree, have a system that locks the cart wheels if the cart goes beyond the bounds of the store.

"You don't see Publix carts everywhere. I've never seen a Publix cart down here. But you see Walmart carts, literally hundreds and hundreds of Walmart carts everywhere," said a resident.

Sanderfer said he's been filing cart complaints with Walmart for a year.

After calling Eyewitness News, he got a call back.

A Walmart official promised him the problem would be fixed, and in the next few months carts would get locking wheels.

Silver Springs is not the first community to complain about Walmart carts.

Channel 9 discovered Walmart stores in Virginia and Maryland made similar promises to resolve cart problems in just the last three months.

WFTV