East Albany, GA. Wal-Mart Confirmed

Dougherty Wal-Mart confirmed [Albany Herald (Ga.)]

After four years of waiting and a series of “wolf calls,” Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced Tuesday that it will open an East Albany facility, erecting there one of the country’s largest Supercenters.

Glenn Wilkins, senior public affairs manager for Wal-Mart, said the East Albany community is primed for growth, and the world’s largest retailer wants to get in on it.

“It’s not build it and they’ll come,” said Wilkins after the 9:30 a.m. news conference, held at the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce. “We look at the statistics and the roofs. ... We want to help it grow.”

In the eyes of local officials, Wal-Mart is the catalyst that will propel East Albany.

“Our East Albany is really looking for a new identify and a chance to grow, and this is the stimulus,” said Dougherty County Commission Chair Jeff Sinyard, who could hardly have been more excited about the news.

The Albany Area Chamber of Commerce expects the new store to generate $110 million-$115 million in revenue.

Although Albany/Dougherty officials have made previous announcements regarding an East Albany Wal-Mart — something Sinyard referred to as “wolf calls” — Wednesday’s news conference left no doubt in anyone’s mind that the Little Rock, Ark.-based retailer is heavily invested in the project.

“This has been a long process,” Wilkins said of the four years’ work that resulted in the announcement. “But today, we are committed to this community.”

Wilkins said it could be two years before residents see any physical progress on the site, located at U.S. Highway 82 and Georgia Highway 300 and with access to 19.

The area has daily traffic counts of 30,000, commercial developer Matt Sasser has said, noting that “that’s a whole lot in general.”

Sinyard cited the Northwest Albany retail hub as an example of how traffic promotes growth.

When it’s ready, the East Albany Wal-Mart will be about 186,000 square feet, Wilkins said, of which 30,000-40,000 square feet will be for grocery and dry goods.

A complementary shopping plaza will add another 45,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, said Sasser, of Atlanta-based Myers Brothers Inc.

According to the chamber, the total area developed will be 38.04 acres.

Wilkins said Wal-Mart would create 300-350 full-time and part-time jobs with an average hourly wage of $10.88. He noted that those employees would be eligible for Wal-Mart’s benefit package, which includes health insurance, stock options and a 401(k) retirement plan.

Development statistics from the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce differ some from those provided by Wilkins. The chamber’s fact sheet cites a 187,000-square-foot store with 450-500 employees.

Although not the largest store — Lee County’s Ledo Road Wal-Mart is about 210,000 square feet, said Lee County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Winston Oxford — the East Albany store will be one of the largest, Wilkins said.

In May, local officials announced the possibility of a new Wal-Mart at a dilapidated trailer park. That site has been mostly cleared.

“We are going to take a blighted area, a crime ridden area, off the books,” Sinyard said.

Officials said the change of image will encourage other industries and small businesses to locate in East Albany.

Albany Mayor Willie Adams assured that changes coming to the area aren’t just commercial.

“You will be safe (in East Albany),” he said. “You will have you what need out there to make sure your business is protected.”

Of increased police presence, Albany Police Department Chief James Younger said that the “coming of the new Wal-Mart ... will be additional people coming to the area and additional traffic issues or concerns. We are taking all of these issues into consideration with the allocation of our resources.”

Albany City Commissioner John Howard said his Ward 1 constituents are ready for the next step.

“In my going door-to-door, (residents) said we need something in East Albany that (promotes) growth,” he said.

The East Albany store won’t be Wal-Mart’s venture at doing business in Dougherty County. In January 2001, Albany’s Wal-Mart, formerly at 2715 Dawson Road, closed. By the end of the month, a 24-hour Wal-Mart Supercenter opened at 2823 Ledo Road in Lee County.

Oxford of the Lee Chamber anticipates that the new Wal-Mart will draw 10-15 percent of the Ledo Road store’s business. The Lee County store pulls customers from a 50-mile radius, he said, the majority of them from Dougherty, Terrell, Worth, Baker and Mitchell counties. Although there is a Wal-Mart in Camilla, it’s not a Supercenter and not open 24 hours a day.

Wal-Mart doesn’t release proprietary information to the press, but Oxford said the Lee County store has annual sales of more than $100 million and on average experiences yearly growth of about 15 percent.

“We’re always concerned about (competition), but that’s free trade, the capitalistic system,” he said.

Oxford added that business near the Ledo Road Wal-Mart could increase with the recent opening of the area’s first Chili’s Grill and Bar and from the International House of Pancakes, which he said is expected to break ground next week.

“I’m proud for the residents of East Albany,” he said, “I really am.”

According to the Lee County Tax Commissioner’s Office, Wal-Mart has paid $402,911 in county property taxes from Jan. 1, 2004-Dec. 20, 2006. During that same period, Wal-Mart’s inventory and equipment taxes totaled $318,575. The annual sales tax benefit reaches into the millions of dollars.

Wal-Mart operates more than 4,000 stores in the United States, Latin America and the United Kingdom, its corporate fact sheet states. It employs 1.3 million people in the United States and another 500,000 elsewhere.

More than 176 million people visit Wal-Mart each week, resulting in worldwide sales of $345 billion for the year ended Jan. 31.