As many Americans struggle to keep their financial heads above water, Wal-Mart has repeatedly reported gains as customers hunt for the lowest prices on staple-items such as food. If you are one of the many people choose where to shop, based solely on price, you’d have to notice the German grocer Aldi. A story from Ocala.com (Ocala, Fla.) claims that Aldi has lower prices on many basic food-items than Wal-Mart. From the article:
“A gallon of Aldi milk goes for $2.79, but $3.48 at Wal-Mart; Crispy Rice cereal at Aldi is $1.59 for a 20-ounce box, but even the off-brand Crispy Rice at Wal-Mart is more, $2.16 for 18 ounces.” “The list goes on: Aldi hamburger buns go for 85 cents, $1.13 at Wal-Mart; 34.5 ounces of coffee is $4.49 at Aldi and $6.74 at Wal-Mart; bananas are 45 cents per pound at Aldi, 64 cents per pound at Wal-Mart.”
Aldi is a ‘bare-bones’ type of store, focusing on low-prices, not appearances. They got their start in Germany in the 1970’s but have since spread to the U.S. and now operate around 800 retail locations, mainly in the eastern half of the U.S. They sell off-brand generics, don’t typically use bags, and rarely accept payment other than cash. But in times like these, more and more Americans care less about brand-identity and more about price.
Last year, Wal-Mart sold their 85 stores in Germany to a German rival and top retailer, Metro AG, citing losses. Now a German retailer is beating their prices on generic foods, on Wal-Mart’s own turf. Look out Wal-Mart, here comes Aldi.
Posted by Luke West | Permalink
An already contentious three-and-a-half year battle to stop Wal-Mart from building a Supercenter in Tarpon Springs just took a turn for the unexpected.
The St. Petersburg Times tells us today how the proposed site of a 205,000 square foot Supercenter has been compromised by two Bald Eagles who built a nest in a tree right smack dab in the middle of a plot intended to be a 1,000 car parking lot. Bald Eagles are no longer classified as endangered species, but the birds are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, whereby it is illegal to harm the birds, their nests or eggs in any way. A state wildlife official says that the nest would likely be classified a “category B project,” which would require Wal-Mart to apply for a special permit from the state before beginning any construction.
Wal-Mart has already been under fire for a whole host of problems that the Tarpon Springs project would bring, primarily the pollution and environmental problems that an oil & lube shop and thousands of cars a day would bring to the nearby Anclote River. The Friends of the Anclote River and literally hundreds of citizens have spoken out against this project for years, and the eagles’ nest might be what they need to finally kill the project.
And there was this very encouraging quote from the SP Times today:
Mayor Beverley Billiris said the agencies that protect the eagles will have to weigh in and advise the parties involved..."Maybe the eagle will settle the whole thing,” she said. “I think nature will be the one that will have the last say in it. That’s almost comical.”
That doesn’t seem to jive well with Wal-Mart Spokesman Quenta Vettel, who arrogantly says that Wal-Mart has been aware of the eagles’ nest since spring, and that the city shouldn’t have any say at all in what happens to the eagles:
“This isn’t part of the city’s purview,” she said. “Once we have site plan approval and all the permits that will be required to start clearing and construction, then you begin working with the appropriate agencies to make sure you protect the nest and the eagles.”
The City Commission is meeting next week to reevaluate Wal-Mart’s development certificate, which at least one commissioner says may have expired. Once Wal-Mart gets booted out of town, Ms. Vettel might regret telling residents they have no say what happens in their town.
Here’s betting that our supporters in Tarpon Springs will disagree.
TAKE ACTION NOW!
Email Mayor Beverly Billiris and the City Commission now, and urge them to deny Wal-Mart’s development certificate when they meet next week, and end this site fight now, once and for all.
Posted by Media Team | Permalink
Can one word be the difference between a Wal-Mart and no Wal-Mart? In Estero, FL, that might be the case.
For years, Wal-Mart has had a loosely planned project in Estero on U.S. 41 and Estero Parkway. The project, however, has always been tied to the long-planned widening of U.S. 41 to 6 lanes. Wal-Mart is fighting hard to reclassify the project to a “super-concurrency” from just a “concurrency” - which currently prevents Wal-Mart from breaking ground until until the road project begins.
Al Norman at Battlemart runs down the laundry list of reasons locals are opposing the project, which would be detrimental to all of Estero’s long-held smart-growth plans
From the sounds of the city planners, moving up the Wal-Mart might jeopardize the timeline of the much-needed widening project. This on top of the serious traffic concerns of a putting in a Wal-Mart before the road is widened (Wal-Mart is planning to commission a new study which “changes the parameters” and magically reverses the conclusion that this would be a traffic nightmare.)
The road project already requires the city to donate several acres of a historic estate, and the proposed Wal-Mart site is only about 1000 feet away from the Koreshan Park Historic Site, which is a preserved unique 19th-century colony.
Like almost anywhere else in Florida - there is no shortage of Wal-Mart stores around Estero, with 8 in the Fort Myers area, and another 6 around Naples. Estero doesn’t need another one - all the signs are pointing to no for this new Wal-Mart.
TAKE ACTION NOW!
Email all five members of the Lee County Commission and tell them to say no Wal-Mart once and for all.
Posted by Eric Bull | Permalink
Wal-Mart is set to receive the final nod of approval needed from the state for a local supercenter, a representative from the Florida Department of Transportation said.
The state has finalized their approval for a permit for a Wal-Mart in the city of Alachua and will issue a notice of intent to the business sometime this week, Gina Busscher with the FDOT said.
After receiving the notice of intent, Wal-Mart must then gain several approvals from the city of Alachua.
A notice of intent is issued by the FDOT as a placeholder for the actual final permit that will be issued after Wal-Mart gains all necessary permits from the city of Alachua, Busscher said. The notice of intent is valid for one year.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt | Permalink
Miami has always been a city on the verge, and it’s never quite clear whether it will embrace greatness or mediocrity. Drive up Biscayne Boulevard, a street with the potential for beauty and dignity, and you can see both possibility and stupidity—whole blocks given over to fast-food franchises, sprawling corner gas stations and more. It somehow seems like a high-stakes game of Mother-May-I, with baby steps forward and a giant step back.
But no backward step is bigger than the one the city is confronting now, a Wal-Mart next to the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, on parking lots still owned by The Miami Herald with a sale expected to be consummated next year. Of all the bad ideas ever proffered for downtown Miami, this is the worst.
And shockingly so in a time and a place where we have already invested more than $500 million (counting the Arsht Center and the preliminary work on Museum Park) in public funds to create a downtown cultural precinct.
SEEKING URBANITY
At a time and in a place where we should be seeking to create urbanity, a Wal-Mart—even the nicest superstore ever built—would mean instant squalor.
Big-box stores may be a fact of suburban and—in far too many places—small-town life; they may be a fact of economic life. But a big-box store does not belong on this prime urban site. For decades, the civic and cultural leadership of Miami has worked to create what is still an emerging downtown cultural precinct.
The public investment in the Arsht Center is nearing $500 million (and this is not small change by any way of accounting); another $200 million in public funds is aimed at new buildings for the Miami Art Museum and the Miami Science Museum with further significant investment in improving Museum Park. Four condominium towers in varying stages of completion look out over the future park, ultimately prime locations for lovers of the arts and sciences. What is missing from the equation is the urban context—the street-level amenities that would lead one to walk a few blocks to a restaurant and the theater or lunch and an exhibition—to wit, urbanism.
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Posted by Joel Nezianya | Permalink
Big-boxes, Wal-Mart continue to eye ‘underserved’ downtown Miami [Miami Today (Fla.)]
With more residents gravitating toward city centers to live closer to work, big-box retailers have begun eyeing urban areas in hopes they’ll find new customers in these downtown dwellers, experts say.
The dragging economy has led some to scale down expansion plans as shoppers pull back on spending, but Wal-Mart is in growth mode and gunning for a downtown Miami location.
The national big-box chain is considering the planned City Square retail project at 431-1451 N Bayshore Drive and 425 NE 13th St., according to Wal-Mart spokeswoman Michelle Azel Belaire and Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff.
But the store is keeping its options open, Ms. Azel Belaire said.
Wal-Mart has also looked into the Omni mall complex on Biscayne Boulevard, now under renovation and set to open in 2010 with 270,000 square feet of retail.
“Wal-Mart has contacted us, but we really don’t see it as a fit for our project,” said Aaron J. Butler, a leasing broker with Comras Co., which represents the retail portion of the Omni. He declined to say why.
Still, Wal-Mart’s efforts to secure space downtown are ongoing.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Tony Calero | Permalink
Aug13
MUTINY IN VENICE, FL?
Venice Wal-Mart project gets the critics on its side [Herald Tribune (Fla.)]
In a stunning reversal, neighborhood groups that for nearly a year fought Mike Miller’s 73-acre Wal-Mart Renaissance project on east Laurel Road showed up at Tuesday’s City Council meeting to urge its approval.
After four hours of nothing but positive comments from residents, business leaders, city staff and Council members, the Council did just that and approved the project unanimously.
Miller made a number of changes since Wal-Mart first proposed building a 200,000- square-foot store, which the Planning Commission denied last fall. The Council was scheduled to hear Miller’s appeal of that denial and another issue by neighboring residents of the Venetian Golf and River Club, but both sides announced they had reached an agreement before the Council took up the issue Tuesday.
After a brief recess so City Attorney Bob Anderson could review the agreement and figure out how the Council needed to consider the issue, the Council took up the Renaissance project.
Miller agreed to 10 stipulations that included widening Laurel Road from two to four lanes in front of the development. He also agreed to: add more landscape buffering and a higher berm so the retail store was less visible from Laurel Road; move a park closer to the project’s eastern border with Willow Chase subdivision; create a faux main street with varying roofing pitches and building colors that cloak the big-box store look; add more sidewalks throughout the project and work with an advisory group of residents as outparcels of the project come forward for council approval.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Tony Calero | Permalink
North Lauderdale: City wants Wal-Mart to speed building of store [Sun Sentinel (Fla.)]
City officials want a Super Wal-Mart, even if they have to go to Arkansas to get it.
The city plans to send a letter to Wal-Mart requesting a meeting with the company at their corporate headquarters. At a City Commission meeting last month, Mayor Jack Brady and City Manager Richard Sala both were authorized to attend.
Plans for the store on the south side of McNab Road have been in the works for about two years. Wal-Mart was slated to be the anchor for a proposed 43-acre Town Center with 36,000 square feet of retail space.
The city originally wanted Wal-Mart to find other tenants to fill the center, but after project delays and the economic downturn, Brady said the city needs the center built as soon as possible.
“If it sounds like we’re begging, we are,” he said. “We need the money. It’ll generate tax dollars.”
Posted by Tony Calero | Permalink
Wal-Mart about to get get key approval for Alachua store [High Springs Herald (Fla.)]
The final state permit for a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter in Alachua is being reviewed and is close to being approved, a Florida Department of Transportation official said.
The FDOT is “getting closer to issuing a notice of intent,” according to FDOT spokesperson Gina Busscher.
“It’s definitely moving forward,” Busscher said.
A notice of intent is issued by the FDOT as a placeholder for the actual final permit which will be issued after Wal-Mart gains all necessary permits from the city of Alachua, Busscher said. The notice of intent is valid for one year.
On July 24, Wal-Mart’s engineering firm submitted comments on the final remaining concerns of the FDOT, Busscher said.
Some of the points still being discussed include: coordinating the traffic signals in the area, further studying turn lanes and modifying the Northbound Interstate 75 offramp, Busscher said.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Joel Nezianya | Permalink
Our Busiest Intersection [Highlands Today (Fla.)]
The Avon Park Wal-Mart will open next week. So, will traffic get better in front of the Sebring Wal-Mart?
The short answer is no, according to Highlands County Planner Don Hanna.
“It ain’t going to happen. That’s what the traffic models show,” Hanna said. “We’re growing in too many places.”
County Engineer Ramon Gavarrete agrees. He expects a temporary 10 percent decrease. Residents who live near College Drive will probably choose the Avon Park Wal-Mart, as will people who live along State Road 64. “Sun ‘n Lake, they’re the ones with an either-or decision to make.”
Still Getting Bigger
Highlands County growth has slowed considerably in the past year, but the University of Florida’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research nevertheless estimates a current summer population of 97,000 people and a winter census of 117,000. Hanna has used those numbers to predict 159,000 permanent and temporary residents by 2020.
The Wal-Mart section of U.S. 27, from Bayview Street to Schumacher Road, was designated by a March 2007 traffic study as the busiest intersection in Highlands County.
The maximum volume should be 3,980 vehicles per hour, at peak hours, according to Florida Department of Transportation.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Joel Nezianya | Permalink
Traffic Light For New Wal-Mart Months Away [Highlands Today (Fla.)]
After Avon Park is welcomed to Wal-Mart next week, expect more cars and traffic to congest U.S. 27 North near the new Supercenter.
Don’t worry about sitting at a red light in the middle of rush hour at Shop 16 Road, however, because the traffic light is not coming for at least another six months, County Engineer Ramon Gavarrete said. The Florida Department of Transportation would not approve it before the store opened.
“I can tell you we’re going to need that signal the first day that Wal-Mart is open, but (Florida) DOT has (its) own policies,” Gavarrete said. “If this would have been 100 percent on county roads, I would have approved that signal immediately.”
According to Gavarrete, Avon Park, the county and Wal-Mart all agreed to have a traffic light installed at that intersection at Wal-Mart’s expense before the Bentonville, Ark., corporation broke ground at the site, but since U.S. 27 is state-owned, it’s not up to Gavarrete or the city to approve the light.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Joel Nezianya | Permalink
Civic Group Opposes Wal-Mart On Gandy [Tampa Tribune (Fla.)]
Mildred McFadden has lived on Pearl Avenue since 1960. She loves the tree-lined street, her generous lot and the community.
The traffic, though, is something she could live without.
McFadden’s house sits on a stretch between Lois Avenue and Dale Mabry Highway that has become a favorite cut-through for drivers avoiding Gandy Boulevard.
“I think everyone in Tampa knows where Pearl Avenue is,” McFadden said during a July 29 public meeting on the ongoing Gandy widening project. “I’m really, really tired of the traffic.”
With a Wal-Mart Supercenter set to open in her neighborhood, McFadden worries the 24-hour store will bring traffic and possibly crime.
“I hope Wal-Mart dies and goes away,” McFadden said.
She joined others in the Gandy/Sun Bay South Civic Association in taking a formal stand against the Wal-Mart project at the association’s July meeting.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Joel Nezianya | Permalink
Wal-Mart could find needed pal on Hernando County Commission [St. Petersburg Times (Fla.)]
When the County Commission denied Wal-Mart’s plans to build a supercenter off Barclay Avenue in May 2007, it was the fall of a Goliath.
Considering the open-armed, even gleeful, welcoming of previous Wal-Marts to Hernando County, such a stunning turnabout was hard to figure. You couldn’t help but wonder how the politics in the county had changed so quickly and drastically.
Wal-Mart fatigue no doubt played a part.
By last year, the retailer operated three supercenters in the county and a Sam’s Club wholesale outlet. More seemed likely as the company pursued a relentless (since abandoned) expansion policy called saturation marketing.
Also, the site on Barclay, though zoned for retail use, was less than ideal — too close to schools and subdivisions such as Pristine Place, the residents of which crammed the commission chambers on the day of the vote.
What else? Well, as I watched that meeting, it struck me that the company had no power base in Hernando County.
Its lawyers were from Tampa. Not a single member of the local business community spoke in favor of the store. The commissioner who may be most closely allied with that community, David Russell, took the unusual step of saying he planned to vote against the store even before the meeting.
Read the rest of this story ...
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.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Tony Calero | Permalink
Wal-Mart to Expand South Lakeland Store Into a Supercenter [The Ledger (Fla.)]
The South Lakeland Wal-Mart is getting a Supercenter upgrade.
The store, 3501 S. Florida Ave., will be expanded by 21,000 square feet and converted into a Supercenter with a full-scale supermarket, spokeswoman Quenta Vettel said.
The project also includes a new facade and is scheduled for completion in fall 2009. The revamped store, which first opened in 1985, will measure 148,000 square feet.
“It’s just going in remodeling, renovating, adding some square feet and bringing the grocery component,” Vettel said. “When at all possible and the market warrants it, we’re trying to take all of our Discount stores and upgrade them into Supercenters. It’s certainly something the company has been doing over the past few years to have all those services under one roof.”
Lakeland has just one existing Supercenter, at 5800 U.S. 98 N. Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal Mart Stores operates a total seven Supercenters in Polk County, in addition to two Sam’s Club locations in Lakeland.
In addition to general merchandise, Supercenter locations typically feature fresh meats and produce, deli sections and other supermarket amenities.
Read the rest of this story ...
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.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Tony Calero | Permalink
Shoppers support Wal-Mart expansion [Herald Tribune (Fla.)]
Norma See said plans to make the Wal-Mart at Lockwood Ridge Road and University Parkway a Supercenter would create more traffic, but to her, it would be worth it.
Although the area is home to three other food stores, a new Wal-Mart Supercenter, with groceries offered in addition to other goods, would give cost-conscious shoppers an incentive to brave the congested roads, she said.
“It may be slightly more traffic, but people that come here will still come anyway” to get the low prices at Wal-Mart, said See, a Sarasota resident.
The Manatee County Planning Commission on Thursday approved plans for the addition to the Wal-Mart and for a new Walgreens that will replace an older Walgreens in the same plaza.
A Fashion Bug and several nearby empty stores will be demolished to make way for the additions that will bring 55,684 square feet of new retail space to the plaza on the northwest corner of Lockwood Ridge Road and University Parkway.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Joel Nezianya | Permalink
Big Stores Face Tougher Rules [Hernando Today (Fla.)]
From reducing the wattage of light bulbs in their parking lots to the use of barrier walls to dampen noise, developers of large retail stores may soon have to adhere to tougher new building regulations in Hernando County.
County commissioners Wednesday voted unanimously to hold one more public hearing, on July 22, to consider adopting amendments to the new “Big Box” ordinance, which sets building parameters for retail establishments larger than 65,000 square feet, such as Wal-Mart, Target, Lowe’s, Home Depot and JCPenney.
Commissioners at their land use hearing said they were satisfied with the changes but must wait until the second public hearing before formally adopting them.
The amended ordinance includes changes in vehicle access, expands store setbacks from the road, facilitates pedestrian walkways and requires retailers to make more visual enhancements to cut down on eye pollution.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Joel Nezianya | Permalink
Wal-Mart, Home Depot in Niceville? [Northwest Florida Daily]
Happy Birthday, America!
Awhile back, we spoke with Pat Byrne, the man in charge at Valparaiso Realty. We spoke to him about his attempt to bring The Home Depot to Niceville. The Daily News had reported on this twice in the past.
Yes, Byrne said, there were workers clearing 11 acres of a 45-plus acre site, and he hoped one day The Home Depot would step past the letter-of-intent stage.
Then last week a faithful reader left us a phone message regarding a possible Wal-Mart coming to Niceville. So we called the city’s planning department and learned that Valparaiso Realty had secured preliminary permits for such a project.
Now, neither a letter of intent nor preliminary permits are a sure sign that a proposed project will happen. It’s way more complicated than that.
But last week (and yes, it was a holiday week) when we called Pat Byrne, we weren’t able to connect. So we don’t have an update on whether The Home Depot or Wal-Mart could end up just off John Sims Parkway in northeast Niceville.
This normally gets Tommy the Biz Terrier’s blood stirred up. But Tommy the Biz Editor has been around the block a few times. So he knows it’s best to remain patient.
For the time being, as his parents would say.
Posted by Joel Nezianya | Permalink
No Wal-Mart Along County Line Road [Hernando Today (Fla.)]
There will be no new Wal-Marts in Hernando County for a while.
That is the word from a regional spokeswoman for the retail giant.
“There’s nothing active in that area right now,” said Quenta Vettel.
She admitted Wal-Mart has been looking hard at areas to the southeast of Spring Hill - in Pasco County.
A new store will open soon at Land O’ Lakes, and Wesley Chapel remains a viable location, Vettel said.
“We’ve had a long-term interest in Pasco County, period,” she continued. “There are a lot of homes going up in there.”
Rumors have swirled that Wal-Mart was looking at the area along the south side of County Line Road, across from Spring Hill Regional Hospital in Seven Hills.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Joel Nezianya | Permalink
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