Retailing giant Wal-Mart has announced that it will depart from its low-brow, blue-collar image by targeting upscale customers - in select stores. In a bold marketing move, the Bentonville, AR company has unveiled plans to provide services normally found only in high-end department stores and trendy boutiques. Many Wal-Mart stores and Supercenters across the nation will soon be hosting wine and cheese tastings, setting up VIP lounges for customers, and providing free valet parking. Even the looks of the stores will be improved, with the harsh fluorescent lighting replaced by moody spotlighting, and classical music from loudspeakers filling the air.

A new name is even in the works: Walée (pronounced wah-LAY).

“We have been missing a key segment of the market…I don’t know why we never thought of this before,” said Josh Marcel, marketing director for the new Walée division. “Upper-middle class professionals, artsy-literary types and metrosexuals have traditionally avoided our stores like the plague, worried that they might be beaten up in the parking lots by truck-driving rednecks with NASCAR t-shirts. Well, Wal-Mart wants to make everybody welcome and comfortable in our newly-rebranded Walée stores. We’re not just for trailer trash anymore!”

Wal-Mart has set up a flashy website to promote the new Walée stores.