Lancaster, MA. Wal-Mart Abandons Plans
Wal-Mart pulls out of Lancaster [Sentinel & Enterprise (Mass.)]
Wal-Mart announced Friday it has dropped its controversial plan to build a 24-hour Supercenter in town, saying it has scaled back the pace at which it will open these stores nationally.
“At this time our corporation has made the decision that this project is not in sync with our overall growth strategy,” said Christopher Buchanan, a company spokesperson.
Wal-Mart is still building another Supercenter—though not a 24-hour one—at a new retail development nearby in Leominster. It is expected to open by summer 2008, according to Buchanan.
The retail titan first announced plans for an approximately 217,000-square-foot store on Old Union Turnpike, just off Route 2, in May 2006.
Since then the project has taken several turns, culminating in today’s announcement: the formation of Our Lancaster First, an opposition group; a special town meeting proposal to put all large-scale retail development here on hold; a reduction in the store’s size by about 30,000 square feet; a lawsuit that was dismissed; and plan approval by the Planning Board.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Monday, September 17 | 0 comments | Permalink
Greece, NY. Wal-Mart Dispute Causes Rift
Proposed Wal-Mart sparks back-and-forth debate [Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (NY)]
Al Fisher remembers the controversy when a Tops Friendly Markets store was proposed for Mt. Read Boulevard in the mid-1980s. There were Planning Board meetings that lasted hours and contentious resident debate before the board approved the chain.
“That was probably one of the most passionate I’ve seen two sides when it came to development in the town,” said Fisher, of Greece, Planning Board chairman.
But there is a new number one on his list. The Planning Board on Wednesday approved Wal-Mart’s application to build a 146,000-square-foot superstore in Northgate Plaza. The approval came after public hearings that Fisher describes as some of the most zealous and fervent discussions by residents ever on a project.
Many residents complained that the store would bring traffic, crime and noise problems. Others said Wal-Mart would strengthen the beleaguered plaza.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Monday, September 17 | 0 comments | Permalink
Lancaster, MA. Wal-Mart Makes “Rare” Decision To Withdraw
After more than 15 months of bitter controversy, a proposed 187,000 s.f. Wal-Mart supercenter in rural Lancaster, Massachusetts is now dead. Wal-Mart has terminated its purchase and sale agreement for roughly 60 acres of land along Old Union Turnpike. A terse, four paragraph press release from Wal-Mart public affairs was issued through its public relations firm yesterday, announcing that the retailer was withdrawing its plans. “The decision,” Wal-Mart said, “is related to Wal-Mart’s recently announced plans to moderate growth of U.S. supercenters as part of leveraging capital resources through a strategy designed to improve returns and sales within U.S. stores.” Translation: the Lancaster store would have been located 3 miles from another Wal-Mart supercenter in Leominster, Massachusetts, causing both stores to cannibalize each other.
A company spokesman denied the decision to abandon the Lancaster plan was related to the construction of another Wal-Mart Supercenter three miles away. “It was not an easy decision to make,” the company’s regional public affairs manager told the Worcester Telegram, “and a very rare occurrence, but it was a business decision made after the annual shareholders meeting that the Lancaster project was not in sync with our overall growth strategy in the Northeast, and nationwide.” That means Wal-Mart decided three months ago to ditch the Lancaster Project. Lest other developers in New England get nervous, Wal-Mart added, “We have no other plans to withdraw any other stores in the Northeast.” The site Wal-Mart wanted in Lancaster has been used for at least 15 years as a golf center, and had extensive wetlands on the property which fed into a state-owned pond surrounded by residential homes.
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Posted by Al Norman on Monday, September 17 | 0 comments | Permalink
Wal-Mart Loves Vermont
Wal-Mart and the Battle of Vermont [Boston Globe]
There is a funny musical playing in Manhattan called “Walmartopia.” The critics hated it, but I liked it, not so much for its generic Wal-Mart bashing - that’s like throwing strikes to Andre the Giant - but for its hilarious depiction of Vermont as an island of resistance to the Bentonville, Ark.-based behemoth.
Half the play is set in 2037, when only armed guerrillas from Vermont, led by dictators Ben and Jerry, are opposing the Wal-Martification of the United States. Instead of teaching children to watch television at School-Mart, a rebellious Vermont teacher instructs his charges how to make puppets, and so on.
That’s quite a compliment for the Green Mountain State, where enviro types and citizens’ groups have been opposing Bentonville’s big box schemes for well over a decade. But here’s the rub: Wal-Mart loves Vermont! Or at least it loves those Green Mountain greenbacks. Why else would it keep coming back?
The first shots in the Battle of Vermont were fired back in 1993, when Wal-Mart tried to site a hideous, 100,000-square-foot box in St. Albans. At the time, Vermont was the only state in the union without a Wal-Mart, and for a while it preserved its retail virginity. The Vermont Supreme Court nixed the St. Albans location, prompting Howard Dean, the governor at the time, to suggest that Wal-Mart place stores in flagging New England downtowns, rather than in suburban megamalls.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Wednesday, September 12 | 0 comments | Permalink
N. Tonawanda, NY. Wal-Mart Emotions Run High
Shouting match over Wal-Mart [Tonowanda News (NY)]
Tensions were high as Wal-Mart supporters and detractors packed a public hearing Monday to respond to the environmental impact survey of the proposed superstore, prompting the North Tonawanda Planning Commission to call police officers to control the public.
Some residents in the standing-room only crowd wore stickers that said “Wal-Mart: Yes.” One woman brought a cardboard sign with black marker written on it: “Wal-Mart is #1.” Some booed and heckled speakers who criticized the draft environmental impact statement as incomplete.
David Seeger, an attorney representing North Tonawanda First, a residents group opposed to the building of a Wal-Mart superstore, said he was “puzzled” by some parts of the survey analyzing traffic impact.
The survey states traffic at the Erie Avenue/Walck Road intersection, among others, would improve if the Wal-Mart was built, despite a surge in cars using the route daily and without mitigation from the company, he said.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Wednesday, September 12 | 0 comments | Permalink
N. Tonowanda, NY. Hearing Comes to Blows
North Tonawanda city clerk calls police when Wal-Mart hearing gets rowdy [Buffalo News (NY)]
Both opponents and supporters of a proposed Wal-Mart supercenter pushed their messages during a public hearing on the project’s environmental impact in City Hall Monday evening.
The fiery debate prompted City Clerk Thomas M. Jaccarino to call for assistance from city police 20 minutes into the session as verbal disputes erupted simultaneously in the front and back of the room.
The two uniformed officers maintained their presence among the more than 90 people who packed Council Chambers, but did not remove anyone from the room.
The Planning Commission held the public hearing to take comment on a proposal to build a 185,000-square-foot store near Niagara Falls Boulevard and Erie Avenue on the sites of the former Melody Fair and Bluebird Bus garage.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Wednesday, September 12 | 0 comments | Permalink
Wal-Mart Re-Uses Flawed Reporting Methods
In a report released today (PDF), Wal-Mart claimed that it saves families $2,500 a year. Citing generic drugs and in-store banking centers, the new report sings the “low prices” gospel, but it fails to take into account the hidden costs of having a Wal-Mart in town: higher taxes, lower average wages, and fewer local businesses.
In June of 2006, the Economic Policy Institute issued a report attacking the flawed methodology Global Insight used to calculate customers’ supposed savings. It is the very same methodology Global Insight used again in this year’s study. The “research” glosses over a whole host of problems the company creates, not to mention the fact that Global Insight - far from independent - was comissioned by Wal-Mart to conduct this study. Legitimate, independent reports not commissioned by Wal-Mart show that when the company comes to town, poverty levels go up, wages go down and small businesses go away.
From the report:
- A widely quoted figure from a study by the consulting firm Global Insight (GI) indicates that Wal-Mart’s expansion has resulted in $263 billion in savings to U.S. consumers. We find this to be implausible. The statistical analysis generating this highly influential result fails the most rudimentary sensitivity checks.
- A robust set of research findings shows that Wal-Mart’s entry into local labor markets reduces the pay of workers in competing stores. This effect is greatest in the South, where Wal-Mart expansion has been greatest.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Wednesday, September 12 | 31 comments | Permalink
Johnson City, NY. Board to Decide on WMT
Wal-Mart’s impact focus of hearing [Press & Sun-Bulletin (NY)]
The Johnson City Planning Board expects to make a decision later this month that could pave the way for a Wal-Mart Supercenter at a brownfield site.
About 75 people attended a meeting Monday night at the village courthouse for a public hearing concerning subdividing the site at 90 Lester Ave. into two parcels.
Developer Marc Newman would like to divide the site into a 12.38-acre lot for the proposed Wal-Mart, and a 1.287-acre lot for retail/restaurant space. The planning board also discussed the project’s environmental impact.
Planning board Chairman Gerald Putman told the crowd he expects the planning board to rule on the project’s environmental impact at the planning board’s next meeting at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 25. The board is still waiting for the state Department of Transportation to finish reviewing the planner’s proposed changes to the traffic signal timing.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Tuesday, September 11 | 1 comments | Permalink
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