Arizona Site Fight: Supercenter Delayed
Wal-Mart postpones Gilbert mini-Supercenter [Arizona Business Gazette] 
No time line yet for development of protested plan
Plans for a scaled-down Wal-Mart Supercenter in central Gilbert have been put on hold, according to the company.
The giant retailer had planned to construct a store in Gilbert Town Square this year.
“We do own that land, but we don’t have a time line for developing it yet,” company spokeswoman Delia Garcia said.
“We’re still interested in developing the property, and we’re still interested in serving that part of Gilbert.”
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Posted by Andrew Yonki on Friday, January 11 | 0 comments | Permalink
Wal-Mart’s Effect on Local Economies
An article in this month’s Federal Reserve Bank of Minnesota’s gazette publication examines Wal-Mart’s effect on local communities. From the fedgazette:
[Wal-Mart] kills jobs and downtowns, say critics, and destroys community character. It’s been accused of discriminating against women, using illegal immigrants, requiring work off the clock and being overly aggressive in stopping the formation of labor unions among its workers.
It’s been blamed for sprawl and traffic congestion, as well as aesthetic offenses. For example, as the company upsizes from discount stores to supercenters in many towns, it often leaves behind an empty shell whose only visitors are the weeds that crop up in the unused parking lot, which might itself be in view of the new store. That new store, critics contend, probably received infrastructure upgrades that Wal-Mart strong-armed from local communities, lest it find a better offer elsewhere. The company adds a final dash of salt to the wound by repeatedly fighting (and mostly winning) property tax assessments on its stores.
The study finds that retail wages fell in every county examined with a Wal-Mart store, and that employee benefits were better in counties without Wal-Marts. Additionally, and perhaps most notably, the authors found that poverty rates were significantly higher in counties containing a Wal-Mart store. These findings seem to counter the authors’ assertion that Wal-Mart’s impact on local economies is minor.
This report is one of several dozen inquiries into Wal-Mart’s impact on local communities. Other such reports have examined Wal-Mart’s heavy reliance on public subsidies, the company’s influence on wages and stores’ damage to local ecosystems. Previous reports as well as scholarly papers and investigations can be found in our Research Center. More articles and reports on Wal-Mart’s negative impact on local economies can be found here.
Wal-Mart Has Minor Effect on Local Economy, Fed Says [Bloomberg News]
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Wednesday, January 09 | 6 comments | Permalink
Gilbert, AZ. Yet Another Wal-Mart Put On Hold
What’s eating Gilbert, Arizona? It’s a swarm of Wal-Mart supercenters. But the cannibalization can only spread so far. Sprawl- Busters has run a string of stories over the past two months about Wal-Mart stores that have been put on hold. The latest comes from Gilbert, a community that already has 20 Wal-Mart stores within 13 miles, including a Wal-Mart supercenter on South Power Road in Gilbert, and another supercenter on South Market Street in East Gilbert. There are also supercenters in Mesa (7) and Chandler (2), and several other neighboring communities. In fact, Gilbert shoppers have 13 Wal-Mart supercenters within 13 miles. All this sprawl is a response to the meteoric population rise in the area. In 1990, Gilbert was a sleepy community with only 29,188 people. But by 2006, developers had turned Gilbert into a community with a 6.5 fold population explosion of 191,517 people. That’s a lot of people who need cheap Chinese underwear. Assuming 50,000 people to make a superstore viable, the area might sustain 4 Supercenters. Instead, they have 13 already. Wal-Mart continues to eat its own stores alive. But late this week, the Arizona Republic reported that Wal-Mart’s plans for a “small” supercenter in Gilbert have been put on the shelf-—for now. The supercenter for Gilbert Town Square is not necessarily dead---but it’s time definitely has not come. “We do own that land but we don’t have a timeline for developing it yet,” a company spokeswoman told the Republic. “We’re still interested in developing the property and we’re still interested in serving that part of Gilbert.”
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Posted by Al Norman on Monday, January 07 | 0 comments | Permalink
Judge Rules Against Wal-Mart in North Carolina Tax Shelter Case
Wal-Mart has saved millions of dollars over the past few years by essentially paying rent to itself and then writing off the taxes. Unfortunately for Wal-Mart, a North Carolina judge thinks that this isn’t entirely legal. The company is using this strategy in dozens of states - several have already moved to close the loophole after Wal-Mart’s actions were exposed in a February article from the Wall Street Journal. The N.C. judge’s decision on Friday could mean that Wal-Mart might have to start paying its fair share of real estate taxes - a lot more than it’s used to - not only in North Carolina but in communities across the country. The Wall Street Journal’s Law Blog and financial bloggers at The Street provide further commentary.
Judge Rules Against Wal-Mart Over Its Tax-Shelter Dispute [Wall Street Journal]
A North Carolina state-court judge ruled against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in a closely watched tax-shelter case involving an arrangement in which the retailer essentially paid rent to itself and then deducted the amount from its taxes.
In an attachment to an order filed Friday, but signed on Dec. 31, Emergency Special Judge of Superior Court Clarence E. Horton Jr. wrote that Wal-Mart’s structure had no “real economic substance” other than cutting taxes. The judge dismissed Wal-Mart’s suit, in which it sought a refund of $33.5 million in taxes, interest and penalties that it paid after state tax authorities determined it had underpaid by that amount.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Monday, January 07 | 76 comments | Permalink
Gilbert, AZ. Wal-Mart Plans on Hold
Plans on hold for central Gilbert Wal-Mart [The Arizona Republic]
Plans for a scaled-down Wal-Mart Supercenter in central Gilbert have been put on hold, according to the company.
The giant retailer has planned to construct a store in Gilbert Town Square this year.
“We do own that land but we don’t have a timeline for developing it yet,” said company spokeswoman Delia Garcia. “We’re still interested in developing the property and we’re still interested in serving that part of Gilbert.”
In 2004, the company announced plans to build a mini-Supercenter in the retail center located south of the southwest corner of Gilbert and Warner Roads.
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Posted by Andrew Yonki on Friday, January 04 | 0 comments | Permalink
Austin, TX. Court Sides With Wal-Mart---Again
Just over a year ago, Sprawl-Busters reported that residents in Austin, Texas had contacted us regarding a proposed Wal-Mart superstore planned for the existing Northcross Mall. The retailer’s plan attracted not one, but two lawsuits. Public pressure against the superstore forced the developer to come back in with a “smaller” plan---but not quite small enough to please opponents. Wal-Mart offered to cut the store in the Northcross Mall by 15%---from 219,000 s.f. to 186,500 s.f. But on June 26th the city approved Wal-Mart’s plan, settling on a 198,000 s.f. footprint. The citizens group that have been fighting this project, vowed to take their case to court, and did so on June 28th. Responsible Growth For Northcross (R4GN) filed their lawsuit in district court to stop the North Austin Wal-Mart proposal. A second lawsuit was also filed by a group called the Allendale Neighborhood Association (ANA). In November, District Judge Margaret Cooper threw out the ANA lawsuit, which said the city of Austin should have held public hearings before approving the developer’s site plan. Judge Cooper ruled that the City was not obligated to hold a public hearing in the approval process for the developer’s site plan at Northcross.
But the RG4N lawsuit still stood in the way of Wal-Mart and its supercenter. “We remain confident that we have a winning case,” RG4N said when the ANA lawsuit was thrown out. The two citizen’s groups have already forced Wal-Mart to accept several compromises they would not have otherwise met. The company shrunk its store size to 198,000 s.f. They also were forced to abandon a 24-hour store format, and they agreed not to allow delivery trucks to run along residential streets. The city of Austin also adopted a Big Box ordinance limiting development---a law that will impact all future superstore developments. But RG4N wants to keep this Wal-Mart out. “Responsible Growth for Northcross is actively working for a mixed-use redevelopment of the Northcross area,” the group said. “We also are opposed to the Lincoln Property Company plan to build a giant, two-story Wal-Mart Supercenter and three-story parking garage in the middle of our vibrant Austin neighborhoods. The developer’s traffic study shows how their project will bring streets to the brink of failure. The developer’s plan is another example of ugly, suburban sprawl in a place where it doesn’t belong. Our city deserves better and we have city ordinances in place to promote better development.”
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Posted by Al Norman on Wednesday, January 02 | 0 comments | Permalink
Arizona Site Fight: Wal-Mart Pays One-Time Fee for Water
Wal-Mart pays Mohave County water hookup fee [Mohave Daily News (Ariz.)] 
KINGMAN - Wal-Mart took the next step to begin construction of a distribution center near the Griffith power plant southwest of Kingman.
Wal-Mart announced Thursday that it paid $289,350 to Mohave County for a one-time hookup fee for its water allocation for a proposed distribution center off Interstate 40 near Yucca. The hookup fee is $1,420 per gallon per minute for a total of 200 gallons per minute, county spokesman Darryle Purcell said.
Once built, the proposed Wal-Mart distribution center would employ about 500 people. The county already issued necessary grading permits for the warehouse center.
The company bought the land in early 2006 for the proposed center but put the project on hold later last year.
The 1.5 million-square-foot center would be built on 23 acres and serve as a warehouse for Wal-Mart Supercenters in Mohave County, the Sam’s Club in Bullhead City and also serving Arizona, Southern California and Nevada.
Posted by Andrew Yonki on Friday, December 21 | 0 comments | Permalink
Wal-Mart Says “No” to Food Banks
Wal-Mart and supplier partner ConAgra donated approximately 85 trucks worth of food to food banks this week. This may sound substantial, but Wal-Mart is a major part of why food banks are short of food in the first place. In 2006, Wal-Mart stopped donating excess food to food banks, creating a nation-wide shortage. As a practice, the company continues to refuse to donate at all. To quote Wal-Mart spokes person Robert Mosby earlier this month:
But when it comes to excess or soon-to-expire perishables in its stores, Wal-Mart doesn’t allow food banks to make pickups. “Our current policy for food is to discard it, primarily for the safety of our customers,” Mosby said.
The company cites “customer safety” as its reason for destroying food, but liability avoidance and profit protection also come into play.
Wal-Mart’s policy change has been a huge blow to food banks. In addition to losing Wal-Mart’s donations, food banks also lost the donations of many local grocers who had strong ties to the community. When Wal-Mart enters a local market many small grocers with stronger ties to the community close their doors, and food banks loose these donations as well.
While a new Wal-Mart often means lost jobs and fewer small local businesses, those who are left behind struggle even more because community resources such as food banks also struggle in Wal-Mart’s wake. Food banks are dependent on grocers, and Wal-Mart’s one-time donations fall far short of redressing the harm its corporate practices inflict. Though Wal-Mart claims to care about its communities, the company’s practices make clear that it cares more about liability and profits and less about poverty and hunger.
Refusing to donate nearly-expired perishables to food banks creates unnecessary waste, increases the problems surrounding poverty, is unsustainable, and despite the company’s slogan it does not help people live better. When addressing the shortages of food banks and addressing the needs of such places, Wal-Mart needs to critically examine how its practices and policies contributed to these shortages.
Posted by Research Team on Wednesday, December 19 | 28 comments | Permalink
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