Ohio Site Fight: Wal-Mart Abandons Delaware

Wal-Mart won’t build ‘supercenter’ [ThisWeek (Ohio)]

Wal-Mart has scrapped plans to build a “supercenter” on Delaware’s southeast side.

For more than two years, Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, had sought to construct a more than 175,000-square-foot store near Cheshire Road and U.S. Route 23.

Delaware County real estate records indicate the company last June spent $5.7-million to buy 22.12 acres on which the store would be built. Delaware city officials have been anticipating the submission of final development plans for the project since preliminary plans were approved by Delaware City Council that same month.

Last Tuesday, however, city officials were told they won’t receive final plans for the store because it won’t be built.

“Wal-Mart has informed the city that they are no longer pursuing the Cheshire Road site,” said Lee Yoakum, Delaware’s community-affairs coordinator. “We are confident there will be renewed interest in the property and look forward to working with whoever is at the table.”

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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Thursday, April 10 | 0 comments | Permalink

Delaware,OH. Wal-Marts Drops 48th Superstore

Toss one more set of superstore plans into the waste basket. Wal-Mart has trashed its 48th superstore since June of 2007. This time the community of Delaware, Ohio was cast aside. Delaware, with a population of roughly 32,500 people, already has a Wal-Mart discount store on Columbus Pike.

There’s a Wal-Mart superstore less than 10 miles away in Lewis Center, Ohio. In fact, there are 7 Wal-Mart stores within 20 miles of Delaware, including 5 supercenters. So there is no shortage of cheap Chinese imports in the trade area. It was no major loss, this week, when city officials announced that Wal-Mart was abandoning plans to build a supercenter on Delaware’s southeast side. Suddenly, two and a half years of effort by the giant retailer came to a halt.

The company had touted plans for a 176,312 s.f. superstore near Cheshire Road and U.S. Route 23. In fact, they started off proposing an even larger store. Wal-Mart actually bought 22 acres of land the same month that the company announced a major cutback in new store production. Wal-Mart invested $5.7 million for the property in June, 2007, according to This Week newspaper. City officials were prepared to process the company’s final development plans.

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Posted by Al Norman on Thursday, April 10 | 0 comments | Permalink

Wal-Mart to join growing business corridor

Wal-Mart to join growing business corridor [Indianapolis Star (Ind.)]

A Wal-Mart Supercenter is under construction and due to open June 11 in the growing Camby commercial area.

Nearly 1,000 job-seekers have already applied for the 450 openings, but thousands more applications are possible before work to stock and open the store begins in mid-May.
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“This is a very growing community, plus there is the expansion from the Indianapolis airport, so we’re very excited about the potential for this new store,” said store manager Doug Cermak.

Wal-Mart has opened a temporary employment office at 7015 Kentucky Ave., in a shopping center at Ind. 67 and Camby Road, open daily to receive applications.

The store is going up in Heartland Crossing, a sprawling development along Ind. 67 spreading into Hendricks, Marion and Morgan counties. The 1,500-acre development has nearly 3,000 houses, 320 apartments, about 60 acres for light industry, a Nick Price golf course and over 750,000 square feet of retailing and restaurants.

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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Tuesday, April 08 | 0 comments | Permalink

North Aurora, IL. Weighs Its Options

N. Aurora weighs zoning change [Daily Herald (Ill.)]

The undeveloped northeast corner of Oak Street and Orchard Road in North Aurora has been the subject of controversy over the last year, but developers and residents said Monday they are hoping for a good fit.

Meanwhile, the village will look at updating its zoning codes to help determine what can go at the corner.

Last year, North Aurora rejected a Wal-Mart Supercenter at the corner, and now owners Location Finders International is asking to annex the land to make the property more enticing to prospective buyers.

LFI is seeking to change the land, currently zoned in Kane County for agricultural uses, to allow for business uses, said LFI attorney Robert Kenny. Having an annexation agreement in place would send a clear message that the village wants commercial at the corner, he said.

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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Tuesday, April 08 | 10 comments | Permalink

Eureka, MO. Residents Criticize Alderman for Wal-Mart Project

May this serve as a cautionary tale for all those city officials who think there’s not danger to siding with Wal-Mart.

Alderman target of complaints by city officials [Tri-County Journal (Mo.)]

After a harsh rebuke of what they allege has been a year-long pattern of verbal abuse of city staff, costly delays of major projects and unreasonable demands, Eureka’s mayor and several aldermen said if it was in their power, they would oust Ward 1 Alderman Steve Collins from his post.

Collins, though, said while some accusations of his interactions with city staff members are justified, he will not resign and will continue to raise questions about key public policy issues, even if those questions are uncomfortable for city officials or other members of the Board of Aldermen.

The public condemnation started early in the April 1 Board of Aldermen session, when two residents, Don Hinkelbein and Ralph Gianino, criticized Collins for questioning and opposing projects already completed and refusing to get on board with other city officials and support the JBA Eureka LLC retail and residential development now under way.Hinkelbein pointed to two projects in particular, the Shoppes at Hilltop transportation development district and the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Eureka Towne Center.

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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Tuesday, April 08 | 0 comments | Permalink

Zionsville, IN. Court Says Town Needs to Reconsider Wal-Mart Application

On November 13, 2005, Sprawl-Busters reported that the Zionsville, Indiana, Planning Commission had voted not to rezone 12 acres of land for a 204,000 s.f. Wal-Mart supercenter. The developer, Heritage RDG, was seeking a “general business” rezoning, but told town officials that if they did not rezone the land, the developer would still proceed with its superstore plan. “It makes it more difficult, but it doesn’t affect our amended proposal,” a lawyer for the developer told the Indianapolis Star.

Local merchants spoke out against the project. “Our hope is that the (Plan) Commission would stay the course,” said the president of the Zionsville Merchants Association. “If you look around, you can see that the retail environment is very adequate to meet our needs.” Several members of the town council members had been vocal about not wanting this development. In December of 2005, the Zionsville town council voted unanimously to support their Planning Commission, and reject Wal-Mart’s proposal for rezoning.

The developer insisted again that it could build the superstore entirely on land that was already zoned for B-2 business. “As we’ve tried to express throughout the process, the parcel that was zoned B-2 permits the Wal-Mart,” said Heritage RDG, the developer. “The denial of the rezone at this stage does not impact the review of the Wal-Mart proposal.” Heritage had planned to build an 85,000 s.f. center on the other 12 acres of land that was industrial and B-3 commercial. “I think we will have to decide what we want to do with our next step,” the developer added. “We’ll look at (our) legal and development options. I am exceedingly disappointed, not so much with the council as I am with the plan commission. I think they made it about Wal-Mart ... the project affected had nothing to do with Wal-Mart.”

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Posted by Al Norman on Monday, April 07 | 0 comments | Permalink

No Overtime, Falsely Recorded Breaks in Minnesota

Sounding like a broken record, yes, but might as well get used to it. These wage and hour cases continue to proceed through the legal system, and there are no shortage of new cases popping up.

The Minnesota case is, in most respects, very similar to those class actions that have come before it. The claims are simple - workers have not been allowed to take mandatory meal or rest breaks, and then after the fact, timecards are being changed to reflect that the breaks actually were taken. Why is this important? Because we are seeing a pattern of Wal-Mart underscheduling employees, forcing fewer workers to do more work. The result is one has to work through one’s break. Generally breaks are unpaid, and because Wal-Mart has allegedly been subtracting break periods from employee time cards whether breaks were taken or not, the company has been getting a free hour’s worth of work per employee per shift. And that doesn’t include the charges that Wal-Mart hasn’t been paying employees for overtime.

Wal-Mart’s hourly employees weren’t paid for more than 8 million missed meal and rest periods and company managers falsely recorded breaks on time cards, attorney Justin Perl said today in closing arguments for a non-jury trial that began in September. The lawsuit, brought by four women on behalf of 56,000 Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club employees, claims the retailer violated Minnesota wage and hour laws.

These cases are starting to cost Wal-Mart some serious coin, and I’m not talking legal fees here. Wal-Mart lost a $172 million verdict in California in 2005 over meal breaks. A Pennsylvania judgment was increased last year to $187.6 million when the judge awarded additional damages, interest and attorneys’ fees. Add to that a 2004 class action in Colorado that settled for approximately $50 million, and that adds up to over $400 million Wal-Mart has been forced to pay because of its wage and hour practices. Attorneys in the Minnesota case are seeking over $50 million, so Wal-Mart is creeping ever closer to the half-billion mark, which they should be good for.

Wal-Mart Shortchanged Minnesota Workers, Lawyer Says [Bloomberg]

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Posted by Corey Himrod on Wednesday, April 02 | 9 comments | Permalink

Geneseo, IL. Two Grocery Stores Depart Before Wal-Mart Arrives

Sometimes, all it takes is the shadow of a Wal-Mart to drive away business. That appears to be the case in Geneseo, Illinois. This small city has a Wal-Mart discount store on East Bester Drive. Wal-Mart has proposed building a superstore on East Bester Drive, right next to its discount store, and then shutting down the discount store. But that’s not all that will shut down. Two grocery stores in this small community of just over 6,500 people will also shut down---before the Wal-Mart superstore even arrives. Jewel-Osco announced this week that its Geneseo store will leave town at the end of May. In March, the Aldi’s grocery store also said it’s leaving Geneseo too. It was only 5 years ago that the Jewel Osco opened up its newly-rennovated 36,000 s.f. store along Highway 6 in Geneseo. Jewel bought the store from Eagle Country Market when the latter went bankrupt. When it renovated the store, Jewel Osco employed just over 100 unionized workers. When the store opened, the district manager told the Quad City newspaper, “Although we’re part of a large corporation, this is your store. It’s important we come together for this community.” The Mayor of Geneseo welcomed the new store with a backhanded compliment. “Some people say they are a little pricey,” said then-Mayor Merle LeSage, “but the personnel, who were mostly former Eagle employees, are different now. There are a lot of smiles on their faces. They are happy.” But five years later, those happy faces are gone, and dozens of United Food and Commercial Workers are out of work. Local officials told the media they were “completely stunned” that these two grocery stores were closing. “Certainly we’re disappointed in losing any retailer or business in the community,” the city administrator said. He claimed the city has enough population to support another grocery store, but the city had roughly 6,523 people as of 2006, only 43 more than it had in 2000.