Wal-Mart In Palm Beach

Topics: | | Site Fights & Local Ordinances | Ask Al

Marie from West Palm Beach, Fla. asks Al:

In West Palm Beach, Fla the oldest Wal-Mart is on Forest Hill Blvd, west of Military Trl. near Jog Rd. Another (superstore) was build about 4 miles north of that on Military & Belvedere. I recently heard that there is going to be another on Military & 45th St about 5-6 miles north again.  There is another Super-store in Boynton Beach about 7 miles south of the first. There may even be another about 7-10 miles west. I think all of these locations are in Palm Beach County, not smaller cities, but I may be mistaken. Any info on this area?

Thanks,

Marie

Marie,

There are eight existing Wal-Mart stores within 20 miles of West Palm Beach, Florida. A Wal-Mart Supercenter is located at on Belvedere Road in West Palm Beach. There is also a Wal-Mart discount store on Forest Hill Blvd in West Palm, and a third store, a supercenter, on Belvedere Road in West Palm. There is a fourth store, a supercenter, in Lake Park, Florida on North Congress Ave, less than 6 miles away.

A fifth, store, a Wal-Mart discount store, in Lake Worth, on Hypoluxo Road less than 11 miles away, and a sixth store, a supercenter on Old Boynton Road in Boynton Beach 13 miles away. Jupiter has the 7th Wal-Mart store on West Indian Town road 16 miles away, and there’s an eighth store, a Wal-Mart discount store on South Military Drive in Delray Beach.

As you can see, you are saturated with existing Wal-Mart stores, and half of these stores are supercenters. People in West Palm Beach should be petitioning city officials to break the city into districts, and begin set commercial acreage limits by districts, so that this over-building of huge superstores can come to an end. The city could also limit the amount of square footage per acre, such as 1,500 s.f. of store per acre, so a 25 acre parcel could only handle a 37,500 s.f. store.

Wal-Mart does not forecast where its next stores will be built in your area, but all the discount stores on this list will either be expanded, or shut down and replaced with a supercenter. A number of Florida communities have placed limits on the acreage that can be devoted to commercial use, so that when a developer like Wal-Mart wants to rezone land, the city can just say “we’ve maxed out” on acreage.

Don’t wait to hear that Wal-Mart is coming again. Your area has paid its dues to Wal-Mart. It’s time to limit this over-development. If you call me (413-772-6289) I’d be happy to give you some thoughts about how to do that.

Posted by Al Norman on Monday, March 19, 2007