Mt. Orab, OH. We Can Do Much Better Than Wal-Mart
Residents in the tiny village of Mt. Orab, Ohio have been waiting for months for the other shoe to drop. Rumors have been circulating since last summer that a Wal-Mart supercenter was coming. Mr. Orab, population 2,800, is located in southwestern Ohio in Brown County about 30 miles east southeast of Cincinnati. The village is surrounded by Wal-Mart supercenters. There are 5 supercenters within 25 miles of Mt. Orab, with the closest being Amelia, Ohio, roughly 15 miles away. At first local residents thought they had dodged the bullet, because a Wal-Mart supercenter seemed to be in the works for nearby Georgetown, Ohio. The now Mt. Orab has been moved up on the priority list, and some residents are scrambling around to learn more about the company’s plans. As one resident wrote to Sprawl-Busters: “We don’t need a supercenter in a town of 2,900 people. We don’t want to see Wal-Mart come in and ruin the environment---as this will also push the local town leaders to approve a multi-lane bypass. Our town can do much better. A Wal-Mart is an easy way out.” The Georgetown, Ohio News Democrat greeted the news of a supercenter with the observation that “this should be a big boost to the county’s sales tax - something that is sorely needed in Brown County.” That opinion may not be shared by the Mt. Orab Kroger store, which will lose revenues and jobs if shoppers switch their grocery purchases to Wal-Mart. Analysts says Kroger has responded well to Wal-Mart’s saturation of supercenters---but still the news cannot be encouraging to any existing business in Mt. Orab, and the “boost” to the sales tax may not net out to what the newspaper believes. The Mt. Orab economy is not exactly on fire, and the newspaper noted that as cheap retail jobs flood the trade area, businesses like the local General Motors dealerships are closing, because GM isn’t selling enough cars. Mt. Orab’s Mayor Bruce Lunsford let the Wal-Mart cat out of the bag in late October, when he told the newspaper, “There was a permit issued for Wal-Mart to build a store.” This caught many residents by surprise, since the issuance of a permit is the end of the process, not the beginning. A Wal-Mart spokesman told the News Democrat his company was “definitely interested in the area.” The retailer said that “If things go according to plans, we could expect to break ground sometime in 2010.” The Wal-Mart PR spokesman seemed to waffle on the company’s future plans for Mt. Orab, saying he could not directly “guarantee” that a Wal-Mart location was firm for the Mt. Orab site. Yet a zoning permit for the north side of Route 32, has apparently been approved by the Mt. Orab Zoning Commissioner for a 143,925 s.f superstore. The front page of the News Democrat showed the Mayor and Mt. Orab village officials holding up site development plans for a Wal-Mart supercenter, with a caption that said the village was discussing “the possibility of a local Wal-Mart supercenter.” Wal-Mart told local officials that a store this size would employ 300 to 350 people---but they did not mention the net employment impact once jobs lost at other businesses are deducted.
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Posted by Al Norman on Tuesday, November 06 | 0 comments | Permalink
Wal-Mart Starts Using Battle-Mart Tactics
The “New England Customer Action Network” claims to be for the people...that is, for the people who are for Wal-Mart. The astroturf organization (run by Wal-Mart) is using grassroots organizing techniques to further the company’s cause in what has proven to be one of the most contentious areas of the country for the retailer. The company also created the “California Customer Action Network,” targeting activists in California where Wal-Mart faces site fights in several areas. The whole project reveals the fact that site fights have become a major issue for the retailer in its efforts to expand. Not only are more citizens working to fight the retailer, more and more often they’re winning. Visit our Battle-Mart blog to read more about fighting Wal-Mart, or our State and Local page to see what’s happening in your part of the country.
A human face on a big-box store [Boston Globe]
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is turning to customers for help in expanding its business in New England.
Over the last month, the retail giant has set up tables at many of its stores and invited customers to sign up for a New England Customer Action Network. The group is a sort of Wal-Mart defense league that can be tapped if the retailer faces local opposition to its expansion plans.
“If government officials try to limit your shopping choices, or prevent Wal-Mart from opening new stores or improving existing stores, Customer Action Network members can help by standing up for their rights,” said one flier. Company officials say more than 26,000 customers have signed up so far, 7,500 of them in Massachusetts.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Monday, November 05 | 4 comments | Permalink
Denison, IA. Planning Commission Approves Wal-Mart’s Request
Wal-Mart annexation request passes board [Southwest Iowa News]
Denison’s Planning Commission voted Monday noon to approve Wal-Mart’s request for voluntary annexation of property located immediately north and west of the city limits.
The planning commission’s approval sends Wal-Mart’s annexation request along the trail of other steps to complete.Wal-Mart is requesting voluntary annexation of two parcels of property located north of Fareway and the Region XII bus barn on Avenue C. Those properties are owned by Bradley J. and Juliann E. Nelson, and by Donna Ahart and Shirley Ahart. (A legal description of the property is included with this article.)
The main entrance to the new Wal-Mart store would be accessed by traveling north on Arrowhead Drive.
Ryan Horn, senior manager of public affairs for Wal-Mart, told the Denison Bulletin in a telephone interview Monday afternoon that the Denison Wal-Mart Supercenter is in the early stages of the planning process.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Tuesday, October 30 | 0 comments | Permalink
Du Quoin, IL. Nearing Wal-Mart Saturation
Is Wal-Mart Competing With Itself in So. Illinois? [Du Quoin Evening Call (Ill.)]
fear that customers from Elkville, Vergennes and Ava that routinely travel the aisles of the Du Quoin store will head for Murphysboro. Why? The new store on Rt. 13 east of Murphysboro has a food liner. The old Murphysboro store didn’t.
It’s the same fear that set in when the new Wal-Mart Super Center in West City opened, pulling business from the Mulkeytown and Christopher areas out of the Du Quoin store.
The Du Quoin store has seen some attrition in its employment, which peaked at 200 shortly after it opened in 1999.
It is also the profit center for the City of Du Quoin’s sales tax revenue. The most recent treasurer’s report shows the city had sales tax income of $1,190,676 as of the end of September. That is down $14,288 from the same nine-month period a year ago.
Roderick Scott, a media spokesman in Wal-Mart’s Bentonville, Ark. office said Wal-Mart doesn’t compete against itself and the Southern Illinois stores are reasonably spaced.
He said the new Murphysboro store was built “to provide better service to our customers.”
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Monday, October 29 | 0 comments | Permalink
Wal-Mart expands in area with three new supercenters
Wal-Mart expands in area with three new supercenters [Toledo Free Press (Ohio)]
As Wal-Mart opens three newly renovated stores into supercenters in the Toledo area, the retailer is also looking for a location on the north side of the city, possibly the former Northtowne Mall site, for another hypermarket.
Wal-Mart will hold grand openings for the newly converted supercenters on West Central Avenue and Glendale Avenue in November. The supercenter on Navarre Avenue in Oregon celebrated its grand opening Oct. 17.The opening of the three supercenters will create an additional 150 jobs per store. Each supercenter employs about 350 people, so Wal-Mart has about 1,100 employees in the Toledo area that includes the store at Spring Meadows in Holland, said Dan Moore, marketing manager for Wal-Mart’s Northwest Ohio market.
Wal-Mart will open another supercenter on U.S. 25 in Perrysburg during the first quarter of 2008. The company currently operates 10 locations in its Northwest Ohio market, including stores in Bowling Green, Bryan, Fremont, Napoleon and Wauseon.
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Posted by Michael Mignano on Friday, October 26 | 0 comments | Permalink
Wal-Mart Buys its Way into the Hearts of Politicians in Key States
Learn more about Wal-Mart’s political influence and other methods the company employs to roll back its taxes.
Wal-Mart Courts State Politicos [BusinessWeek]
Wal-Mart Stores has been sharply increasing political contributions in states where it is trying to cut its corporate tax bill. That’s according to data just released from the National Institute on Money in State Politics, a nonpartisan, nonprofit group based in Helena, Mont.
Over the past four election cycles, the retailing giant has ratcheted up contributions in nine states that are key to its operations: Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Texas. Its political contributions in those states rose from $139,822 in the 2000 election cycle to $879,441 in the 2006 election cycle, according to the institute. Wal-Mart’s efforts to reduce its corporate taxes in those states have come to light as a result of a lawsuit that the attorney general of North Carolina filed against the company to challenge its tax-cutting strategies.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Friday, October 26 | 27 comments | Permalink
Cleveland, OH. Wal-Mart Poised to Change Local Business
Big-box retailing in Cleveland is about to get much, much bigger.
As of 8 a.m. Wednesday, when a Wal-Mart Supercenter opens for business at Steelyard Commons, the city will have 217,000 more square feet of retail space than it does today.
That’s nearly 90,000 square feet more than either Target or Home Depot, the two big-box stores now reigning over Steelyard.
Many in Cleveland are eager to embrace that expanded reality, believing Wal-Mart’s presence inside the city limits is overdue. But not everyone is thrilled by the chain’s arrival.
“It’s kind of a trade-off,” said James Kastelic, a senior planner with the Cleveland Metroparks who has tracked the city’s retail environment for years. “You want it, but you’re concerned about it.”
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Wednesday, October 24 | 0 comments | Permalink
Big Box Anxiety [Cleveland (Ohio) Plain-Dealer]
Clevelanders await Wal-Mart Supercenter’s opening with anticipation, anxiety 
Cleveland Supercenter opening elicits both anticipation and anxiety Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Big-box retailing in Cleveland is about to get much, much bigger.As of 8 a.m. Wednesday, when a Wal-Mart Supercenter opens for business at Steelyard Commons, the city will have 217,000 more square feet of retail space than it does today.
That’s nearly 90,000 square feet more than either Target or Home Depot, the two big-box stores now reigning over Steelyard.
Many in Cleveland are eager to embrace that expanded reality, believing Wal-Mart’s presence inside the city limits is overdue. But not everyone is thrilled by the chain’s arrival.
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Posted by Andrew Yonki on Wednesday, October 24 | 0 comments | Permalink
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