Secret Santa At Wal-Mart

Man Says He Was Performing Gesture Of Good Will
LISBON, Conn. -- Barry Goldberg said a nice gesture went unappreciated at the Wal-Mart Supercenter at Lisbon Landing over the weekend.
He said he purchased $1,300 worth of $10 gift cards to Wal-Mart with the intention of dressing as Santa Claus and giving them out in front of the store. He said it wasn’t a gimmick it or stunt. He said he was just moved to do something nice to make the holiday brighter.
But his gesture of kindness as the Secret Santa didn’t last long.
"The next thing I knew, they turned to me and said, ‘You have to leave the store. You can’t do this here. You’re soliciting,’" Goldberg said. "I said, ‘I’m not soliciting anything. I’m giving.’"
The out-of-work mortgage lending executive said he still has 44 gift cards left from his weekend adventure.
"They asked me, ‘Well, where did you get these cards?’" he said. "’I bought them from your store 20 minutes ago.’ ‘Well, what are you doing?’ (they asked). I said, "I’m giving out gift cards. It’s the holidays. The right thing to do is to give, isn’t it?’"
In a statement to Eyewitness News, Wal-Mart states," While we appreciate the customer’s patronage, we understand that he was interrupting the flow of foot traffic in the store’s vestibule."
Goldberg said he was contacted by Target and was told he could bring the cards to a Target store and swap them out and pass them out there.
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