FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Stacie Lock Temple, 202.557.7482 or 202.739.1020; Al Norman, 978.502.3794
Date: Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Wal-Mart Watch and Sprawl-Busters Declare Victory as Wal-Mart Slows Growth
Americans across the country are defeating Wal-Mart’s super-sized plans for their communities in record numbers
Washington, D.C. - Wal-Mart Watch and Sprawl-Busters today declared a victory as Wal-Mart announced plans to slow its growth in the U.S. and focus its business on existing stores. While the company claims a weak economy is the reason for reducing capital expenditures, Wal-Mart Watch and Sprawl-Busters also cite increasing opposition from local communities – which have fought and defeated Wal-Mart plans in record numbers this year – as another impetus for the change.
From big cities to rural townships, communities across the country have rejected Wal-Mart. Chicago may have been the most high profile defeat for Wal-Mart when in May of this year the city ended talks with the company once and for all after it refused to budge on its low-wage, low-benefit policy for employees.
In Monsey, New York, a local orthodox Jewish population made national headlines when they fought and defeated a proposed Wal-Mart to preserve their local business and small-town way of life. Only a week ago, Cordova, Tennessee rejected a controversial Wal-Mart plan after hundreds of residents spoke out against the traffic and other problems that the store would bring to their community.
Sprawl-Busters, an organization led by Al Norman, the nation’s leading guru on fighting Wal-Mart, estimates that three out of every five new Wal-Marts run into forceful citizen opposition. Sprawl-Busters has counted over 80 Wal-Mart projects that have either been defeated by citizens or abandoned by the company since February 1, 2008, the highest annual number of lost projects in the history of Wal-Mart.
“Wal-Mart has built far too many stores already, and is cannibalizing its own sales,” said Sprawl-Busters’ Al Norman. “Communities across the country are standing up to – and winning – against Wal-Mart and its high-priced lawyers. Ten years ago, Wal-Mart was waltzing in anywhere it wanted, but not anymore.”
On Tuesday, Wal-Mart not only announced plans to slow growth, but also to grow with smaller stores. The company’s new Marketside stores, recently launched in Phoenix, Arizona, are about one tenth the size of a supercenter and – perhaps intentionally - don’t include any mention of the Wal-Mart name. The company said it plans to open 166 new U.S. stores in fiscal year 2009 and between 125 and 144 in fiscal year 2010. Those numbers, while still high, are significantly down from several years ago when the company was opening over 300 new stores a year.
“That Wal-Mart was forced to slow growth and focus on its current stores should be celebrated as a small victory for communities across the country,” said Wal-Mart Watch Executive Director David Nassar. “This will be a good time for America to catch its breath and start to have a conversation about whether the low-wage, low-benefit Wal-Mart model is really the type of economic growth the country needs.”
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Posted by Eric Bull | Permalink
This piece originally appeared on the Huffington Post
It is football season again and fans in communities across the country are turning out for high school games. They are probably wearing sweatshirts, t-shirts and other gear to cheer their local team. Unfortunately, if those fans bought their clothing from their local Walmart store, their team is not getting any financial support, and that means that the games may be numbered.
We recently received reports from all over the country about Walmart selling high school logo sportswear without the schools’ permission and without donating any of the profits. As a result, fundraising efforts are undercut and already thin school athletic budgets are stretched even further as local residents buy cheaper versions at Walmart.
The practice has likely been ongoing for years, but current economic problems and shrinking school budgets may be the catalyst for some schools to take a closer look at how Walmart’s effort puts a dent in their local programs.
It started on September 4, when KXLY-4 News out of Washington state reported that a local Wal-Mart was selling Cheney High School athletic gear without permission, and without donating any of the profits.
Several days later, the Kingsport Times-News reported that Science Hill High School in Johnson City, Tennessee has repeatedly complained to Walmart about the practice and the school attorney has sent cease-and-desist letters. Then, last Friday - the Cheney Free Press reported that a host of schools in the Washington state area have been complaining about the same problem.
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Posted by David Nassar, Executive Director | Permalink
Apparently, what’s happening at Cheney and Science Hill High Schools is not an isolated incident.
This weekend, more reports have come in about Wal-Mart undercutting high school athletics programs by selling school logo clothing without permission and refusing to donate any portion of the proceeds to the school.
The Cheney Free Press looks at more schools around Washington state, and finds the exact same problem occurring.
Reporter Paul Delaney quotes several upset school officials, and after pressing Bentonville, has published the first response yet out of Wal-Mart: “We want as many students as possible to be able to show their school spirit,” and “All permissions and approvals required for logo apparel are met.”
How kind. I’m thinking maybe that the high schools should come up with some clever slogans and start selling their own Wal-Mart merchandise. Wal-Mart lawyers wouldn’t have any problem with that, right?
Wal-Mart vs. area schools [Cheney Free Press (Wash.)]:
Medical Lake athletics director Chris Spring was just a little surprised recently when one of the high school’s secretaries, Lynae Strieb, walked into his office with a pair of plaid pajama pants embroidered with the Cardinal logo.
“Who ordered those?” Spring asked. Strieb replied that nobody ordered the garment and that she found them - along with other items featuring logos from both her school, as well as those of Cheney High - at the Airway Heights Wal-Mart.
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Posted by Eric Bull | Permalink
Wal-Mart buys 20-acre site, plans to carry out expansion [Arizona Republic]
A year after halting plans to build a Supercenter in Cave Creek, Wal-Mart is back in business.
The retailer is planning on expanding into Cave Creek, a representative confirmed, after acquiring 20 acres southeast of Cave Creek Road and Carefree Highway in May for $8 million.
There are no immediate plans for development though, said Wal-Mart spokeswoman Delia Garcia.
Last summer, Wal-Mart pulled out of plans to build a Supercenter on the land amid forecasts of shrinking consumer spending.
The retailer withdrew a general-plan-amendment application with Cave Creek and canceled a neighborhood meeting that could have disclosed project details.
“Obviously we’re always looking for places to expand. Now we have moved forward with purchasing that land,” Garcia said.
Town Manager Usama Abujbarah has suggested a future public poll to find out how residents feel about a project, once plans come forward.
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Posted by Joel Nezianya | Permalink
Wal-Mart still on tap for Quincy [Montgomery Herald (W.V.)]
Despite delays, Wal-Mart is still planning to build a new Supercenter store in eastern Kanawha County in Quincy, a Wal-Mart spokesperson said Thursday.
“Earlier this year we did re-evaluate our growth strategy across the country, which caused a delay in virtually all projects not under construction,” said Kelly Hobbs, a senior manager for Wal-Mart Public Affairs and Government Relations.
Hobbs says construction on the Quincy Supercenter is scheduled to start in early 2009. The store would be on U.S. 60, next to Riverside High School.
“We anticipate a grand opening sometime in early 2010,” she said.
Wal-Mart’s plans are to build a $3.5 million store that will employ 250 to 300 people.
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Posted by Tony Calero | Permalink
County sides with Wal-Mart [The Daily Triplicate (Calif.)]
The Del Norte County Board of Supervisors decided to move forward Tuesday with Wal-Mart’s expansion into a Supercenter.
Supervisors heard passionate comments on both sides of the issue during a public hearing on an appeal of the county Planning Commission’s decision to certify the Environmental Impact Review for the expansion.
In a 3-1 vote (Supervisor Leslie McNamer was absent), the board denied the appeal.
The appellant, the Crescent Heritage Coalition, still has 30 days to challenge the ruling in court. Its attorney, Paul Hagen, said a legal challenge probably would be filed, which could at least stall the expansion.
The expansion would almost double the size of the current store to include groceries and other merchandise.
Hagen told The Triplicate that there are multiple legal problems with the EIR, which he said should be thrown out or re-evaluated.
Local resident Ron Cole, on behalf of the coalition, appealed the planning commission’s decision. He said at the meeting Tuesday the two main issues that are not fully researched in the EIR are urban decay—basically the effects of business closures—and water runoff into Elk Creek.
“Del Norte residents cannot afford to rely on an inadequate (EIR),” he said, adding that it risks the county’s economic development and environment.
Several people said that Wal-Mart has hurt small businesses since it opened in 1992. Patti Pearcey, the owner of the Bookcomber bookstore downtown, said businesses “went down like dominos.”
“We can’t turn back the clock, but expansion is not necessary,” Pearcey said. “We need to support each other. I haven’t seen local government support us.”
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Posted by Tony Calero | Permalink
Downtown Not Worried By Wal-Mart Expansion Plans [SooNews.com (Canada)]
Council will soon hear plans of the Canadian Sault Wal-Mart seeking permission to expand its store.
The store opened in Sault Ste. Marie in January 2003. At the time a restriction on the size of the store was implemented. Originally Wal-Mart had plans on building a 160,000 square foot store in 2002 - however with concerns raised by the Downtown Association at the time, council requested Wal-Mart reduce its size.
It did - instead building a store about 100,000 square feet in size.
Anna Boyonoski, manager of the Downtown Association says she met with Wal-Mart Canada officials to go over what they have planned.
“We don’t see an impact on the downtown with the planned expansion” Boyonski told SooNews.ca Monday.
“From our understanding, it’s primarily a grocery store that Wal-Mart is interested in”
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Posted by Joel Nezianya | Permalink
Wal-Mart to break ground in Penn Hills in October [Pittsburgh Tribune Review (Pa.)]
Groundbreaking for a Wal-Mart Supercenter at the former East Hills Shopping Center in Penn Hills is scheduled for October, according to the nonprofit group that is developing the site.
“We believe this project will be a great economic catalyst for the community, both in terms of revitalizing what has long been a blighted area, and creating jobs and career opportunities for residents,” said Connie Balthrop, executive director of Operation Nehemiah.
Operation Nehemiah is handling the development project for Petra Ministries, which owns the 70-acre site along Robinson Boulevard near the intersection of Frankstown Road in East Hills. Petra has its headquarters at the site in a former Zayre’s department store building.
The Wal-Mart, which will be on 44 acres, eventually will be joined by a Lowe’s home improvement center to serve as anchors for a shopping plaza that will be called The Summit, Balthrop said.
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Posted by Tony Calero | Permalink
ASDA loses appeal [This is Wiltshire (U.K.)]
SUPERMARKET chain ASDA has lost its latest bid to build a £25m store in Langley Park, Chippenham.
The proposals had caused uproar among people living in the area who were opposed to the plans from the start.North Wiltshire District Council refused to support the plans, which led to an appeal by ASDA.
advertisementFollowing the appeal hearing, planning inspector Geoff Salter said he had reached a decision based on a number of points, including the adverse affect the store would have on Chippenham town centre shopping and the size of the proposed 52,000sqft development.
It is now thought the ASDA chain might make a play for the Bridge Centre site.
Posted by Joel Nezianya | Permalink
Residents object to 24-hour licence for new Bootle Asda store [Bootle Times (U.K.)]
RESIDENTS in Bootle have objected to Asda’s application to sell booze 24-hours a day throughout the week.
The supermarket, at the former TA site in Strand Road, has applied for a 24-hour alcohol license and the provision of late night refreshment from 11am to 5am.
However members of Marsh Lane High Rise Residents Association, welcome the supermarket to their area but believe the plans would encourage alcohol abuse.
Marion Cannon, secretary of the association, in an objection letter, said: “We have had recent problems with alcoholic itinerants and we the residents have worked very hard and successfully with all agencies including the police and the registered social landlords to alleviate this.”
Mary Joyce, who lives in Marsh Lane is already disturbed by noise from drunk revellers and believes it would add to the problem.
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Posted by Joel Nezianya | Permalink
Speaker: Wal-Mart impact negative [The Californian]
Kenneth Stone, an economist who has done research on the impact of Wal-Mart in communities across the country for more than 20 years, warned an audience at the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas Monday about the negative long-term impact the retail giant could have in Soledad.
Based on his studies conducted in California, Iowa and Mississippi, Stone told about 25 people in attendance that a new Wal-Mart may help a few businesses but there is no guarantee city sales-tax revenues will increase. In fact, he said, sometimes the sales taxes decrease.
“I’m trying to educate people on both sides of the equation,” he said. “A new Wal-Mart may help a few firms but it will probably hurt a lot more in the long run.”
Stone spoke in Salinas as part of a two-day visit which includes a presentation in Soledad at 7 p.m. today at the Soledad YMCA, and a stop at the Salinas City Council meeting at 4 p.m. He is addressing concerns of whether a 215,000-square-foot Super Wal-Mart should be built in Soledad.
Stone said Wal-Mart has established its super stores in bigger markets - cities of more than 50,000. But now the retailer is looking at smaller, rural markets such as Soledad with a population of 27,701.
Stone said studies in three states have shown that the total retail sales in the host town increased initially as Wal-Mart keeps more people at home to shop, and draws customers from the surrounding area.
But as time goes on these stores and other big- box retailers establish too many stores too close together, shrinking the “retail pie” for host communities.
In the first year, the percentage of total retail sales for the states studied increased by 5.5 percent but by the fifth year it was down to a negative 1.5 percent, Stone said.
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Posted by Tony Calero | Permalink
WILDOMAR: “Fighting” for a Wal-Mart Supercenter [The Californian]
City officials and members of the business community are lobbying Wal-Mart to revive plans for building a supercenter near the Bundy Canyon Road/Interstate 15 interchange.
A supercenter features a full-service grocery store and all the products stocked at a regular Wal-Mart ---- clothing, tools, electronics, toiletries and more ---- under one roof.
Based in Bentonville, Ark., Wal-Mart owns about 25 acres of land near the southeastern corner of the interchange and the company was moving forward with the construction of a new supercenter there as recently as spring 2005.
Those plans were shelved, however, when the company decided in fall 2007 to scale back on building new stores, said Wal-Mart spokesman John Mendez.
Wildomar City Councilwoman Sheryl Ade said Monday that a new market-study matrix developed by Wal-Mart shows the area might not be able to support a supercenter. She said Wildomar missed the cutoff by a couple of percentage points.
The results of that new study haven’t stopped her, however, from pitching Wildomar directly to the company’s board of directors as a great spot for a new store.
Ade said she has sent a letter to the board, lobbying them to take into consideration how the new supercenter would affect financing for the city, which incorporated July 1 after voters approved it in February.
When county officials were looking at putting the question of incorporating on the ballot, a fiscal study was produced that approximated the budget for a then-hypothetical city of Wildomar.
Included in that study was $450,000 in sales tax revenue that was directly attributed to a new Wal-Mart.
City Councilwoman Bridgette Moore said the author of the fiscal study, Gary Thompson, produced an alternate version of the study that showed Wildomar’s budget would be OK without the $450,000.
“We don’t need Wal-Mart to succeed,” she said.
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Posted by Tony Calero | Permalink
Surf City could get new Wal-Mart [Jacksonville Daily News (N.C.)]
A commercial development company has met with the Surf City planning department several times regarding property for a Wal-Mart in the town.
Surf City Mayor Zander Guy confirmed that representatives from the real estate development firm Lauth, headquartered in Indianapolis, with a regional office in Charlotte, have been in “constant contact” with the town’s planning department during the last couple of months. The firm, which specializes in building office, industrial, health care and retail properties, is seeking about 150 acres of property for a Wal-Mart.
“Lauth representatives are still doing their due diligence - we don’t have anything concrete at this time,” Guy said. The firm, however, has checked on water and sewer availability and has made a sewer allocation request for 50,000 gallons a day.
“They have also presented the planning department with preliminary site plans,” Guy said.
Guy said though the developer has yet to make a formal commitment to build a store in Surf City, he believes the likely location will be on an undeveloped tract of land at the intersection of U.S. 17 and N.C. 210.
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Posted by Tony Calero | Permalink
In one small northern Vermont town, two developers are battling each other over the fate of a proposed Wal-Mart store. One mall owner will lose big-time if the Wal-Mart is built, and the other will make millions off the store. The mall owner is apparently willing to live with the Wal-Mart---as long as it doesn’t have a grocery store component that competes with the mall’s grocery store. On April 22, 2008, Sprawl-Busters reported that Wal-Mart has been trying to get into the town of St. Albans, Vermont for the past 14 years. The company is now in the thick of its second attempt to push its way onto a cornfield across from the St. Albans Drive-In, just off Route 89, a few miles south of the Canadian border.
Wal-Mart lost its first attempt in 1995 in a case that went all the way to the Vermont Supreme Court. In this second try, local officials have again given the store its blessing, as well as the regional commission set up under Vermont’s Act 250 land use control law. But the Vermont Natural Resources Council (VNRC) and local residents have filed the legal paperwork needed for a “Motion to Alter” to ask the District 6 Commission to reverse its position and rescind the granting of an Act 250 permit that would allow the Wal-Mart superstore. In addition to the VNRC, the citizen’s group the Northwest Citizens for Responsible Growth (NWCRG) and farmers Marie Frey and Richard Hudak, appealed. Hudak owns a prominent farm stand in St. Albans town just down Route 7. The appeal charges that the Act 250 District 6 commission, which is the local panel that hears Act 250 cases in the St. Albans area, ignored its own findings when it granted the permit. According to the Vermont Business Magazine, the appeal cites the finding that the superstore would pollute a nearby brook, increase traffic congestion, and cost as many as 200-297 jobs, and result in the closure of over 40 businesses in the abutting city of St. Albans. The District 6 Commission also was warned that the project would pave over prime agricultural land, and that the developer had not compensated for the loss of those soils.
The Commission said it agreed with all these findings, yet voted to grant a permit to the developer, Jeff Davis, who is also responsible for a Wal-Mart in Williston, Vermont, 35 minutes south of this site.
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Posted by Al Norman | Permalink
Heads up for Wal-Mart [Virginia Gazette]
Chris Henderson laments that Presidents Park doesn’t get any respect. “It’s kind of the red-headed stepchild of the area’s attractions,” he said Tuesday.
Or perhaps the big-headed stepchild.
In any case, Henderson would like to form a group of local investors to save the park, which features giant busts of all 43 presidents.
It’s been on the block for just over a year. Haley Newman doesn’t want to sell it, but one of his co-owners died and the heirs want out.
Newman said Tuesday there have been a number of inquiries about buying the property. “But we don’t have a contract with anyone yet,” he said.
Wal-Mart is said by others to be eyeing the site. That would put stores at both intersections of I-64 and Route 199, and directly across from the troubled Marquis shopping center.
Henderson, a commercial real estate broker and a member of the James City County Planning Commission, said Presidents Park adds to the area. “I think it would be a shame to lose it for the sake of another big-box store.”
He’d like to see a group of local investors buy the park and possibly create a nonprofit foundation to run it. “Then it would have an educational mission.”
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Posted by Tony Calero | Permalink
Development groups weigh impact of verdict [Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (Wisc.)]
A state Supreme Court ruling that a Beaver Dam economic development group is a quasi-governmental organization and must obey the state’s open meetings and open records laws has been hailed as a victory for open government and criticized as a threat to economic development.
The Beaver Dam Area Development Corp. secretly negotiated for months in 2003 with Wal-Mart to build a $55 million, 1.2-million-square-foot distribution center on about 400 acres north of the city. The group negotiated zoning changes, water service, fire protection and other items, including $6.18 million in incentives.
Those details did not become public until the City Council approved without discussion a 13-page memorandum of understanding with Wal-Mart.
Bill Lueders, president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, called the 4-2 decision “a good ruling,” saying the development agency “had no legitimate right to claim that it was exempt” from the open meetings and records laws.
Jim Hough, a consultant to the Wisconsin Economic Development Association, said “there’s not a lot of guidance” in the court’s decision, which held that whether a group is quasi-governmental needs to be decided on a case-by-case basis.
“This case has left everybody confused,” Hough said.
“It’s hard to provide legal advice in light of that decision. It’s difficult, if not impossible.”
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Posted by Tony Calero | Permalink
Blow for ASDA as turbine is refused [Northampton Chronicle & Echo (U.K.)]
Supermarket giant ASDA has been told it cannot build a wind turbine the size of Northampton’s lift tower at a warehouse after residents raised concerns about the scheme’s safety.
The firm applied to the West Northamptonshire Development Corporation to build a 417ft turbine in the car park of its distribution centre in Brackmills.
It said the £2m structure would generate enough electricity to power 1,250 homes and prevent the release of 5,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
But members of the WNDC’s planning committee agreed it would not be safe for workers at the firm’s depot to have a turbine nearby.
The committee made their decision after hearing protests from angry residents and Brian Skidwell, from the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), who said he was afraid the turbine could one day break.
He said: “My greatest concern is public safety. Turbine accidents are becoming more and more common and ones of this size are normally put in remote locations where an accident is unlikely to harm people.
“An accident on this site however, would have dire consequences.”
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Posted by Tony Calero | Permalink
Wal-Mart Coming To Downtown Miami? [Local 10 (Fla.)]
The city of Miami is considering allowing mega-retail giant Wal-mart to build in downtown Miami. But some residents said the discount super store would be quite a contrast next to the Performing Arts Center and million-dollar condos in the area.
“If you are going to have commercial establishments, choose shops that are good for a neighborhood with a performing arts center,” said Venetian Causeway Neighborhood Alliance President Barbara Bisno. “Wal-Mart doesn’t have that ring to it.”
Bisno said her main concern is not the Wal-Mart brand, but the traffic the store could bring.
Commissioner Marc Sacrnoff said the added traffic congestion could also cause “some serious” damage to the new brick pavement the city spent millions to install.
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Posted by Tony Calero | Permalink
Williams: No JEDD at Liberty Wal-Mart [The Vindicator (Ohio)]
While Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams wants a joint economic development district with Liberty at the site of a Wal-Mart Supercenter, the city will do absolutely nothing to impede the project.
Liberty trustees made it clear at a Tuesday meeting with Youngstown that they had no interest in a JEDD, which would include an income tax on employees, at the Wal-Mart location at the former Liberty Plaza on Belmont Avenue.
“Our questions were answered, and our issues were resolved,” Williams said Thursday. “...There will not be a JEDD at Wal-Mart. We want to move the project forward. We could have chosen to make an issue of the Wal-Mart JEDD. We did not. It was always our goal for the project to succeed.”
The city approved a water site plan Wednesday for the Liberty Wal-Mart project that is needed for the project to proceed, said John Casciano, Youngstown’s water commissioner. The city also has to approve a water tap application for Wal-Mart once the company submits one, but giving the go-ahead to that application is merely a formality, Casciano said.
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Posted by Tony Calero | Permalink
Wal-Mart reveals plans for store in Wawarsing [Times Record (N.Y.)]
Wal-Mart unveiled plans to the town this week for a 130,000-square-foot superstore on Route 209 with hopes to open in spring 2010.
The revelations came during a meeting with town officials Monday. The company called the meeting and showed up with architects, engineers and lawyers.
“They wanted a meet-and-greet,” said Supervisor Ed Jennings. “They brought some proposed plans. This is the first real concrete evidence that they are coming,”
Rumors have circulated furiously about plans for a Wal-Mart store in the former Ames plaza across from the state prison complex. It is owned by local developer Joe Tso. The sale price for the 20-acre site was $5.5 million, Tso has said. But until Monday, nothing had been put before the town, which will oversee the planning process.
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Posted by Tony Calero | Permalink
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