Wal-Mart Expansion

[MikeyBash]

I live in the Town Creek area, and we recently got a flyer in our mailbox urging us to attend a meeting to show our opposition to Wal-Mart's plans to expand their store and make it a Super Wal-Mart.

Why am I supposed to be against having a store across the street that has just about everything I'd ever need, and at prices that are lower than I could find just about anywhere else? The only real argument in the flyer was that traffic would increase. But traffic has been increasing around here for several years, which is why the state just spent millions to upgrade rt. 235! Besides, Wal-Mart has agreed to build the connecting road between their store and the shopping center next door. And they're paying for the whole thing!

So what is it about Wal-mart that brings out such intense hatrid in some people? If they're driving smaller stores out of business, that's because those stores charge more for the same things, and customers want choices. And some stores, like Woodburns, find a way to prosper by changing the way they do business. This whole prosess sounds like the American Way to me.

Go Wal-Mart!

 

[SmallTown]

It won't increase traffic. It might actually make it LESS. People won't be going to wal-mart just because it is now a super-walmart. Just those same people who went there before won't have to make trips to other stores while they are out

 

[BuddyLee]

The same idiots that dont want a super-walmart are the same tightwads that go the cheaper route. Hypocrites!

 

[SuperGrover]

i like wal-mart, but i'm not crazy of their monopolistic tactics they use on their suppliers and the way they treat some of their employees (eg. lockouts)... just my 2 cents.

but having a super wal-mart in the area would be good for us.

 

[Shutterbug]

MikeyBash,

I am right there with you!! I live in Town Creek and I would LOVE to know who that woman is that keeps putting that garbage in my mailbox!!!! She came to my door one day asking me what I thought about the upcoming Super Walmart and I told her I thought it was GREAT!! Since then, she keeps putting stuff in my mailbox. I would like to know where she lives so I can put stuff in her mailbox!

I used to work at a Walmart in WV. They aren't bad to work for like everyone thinks. I think most people who bad mouth them have NEVER worked there, so how would they know???

My suspicion is that this is the work of a local name...like a Raley, Mattingly, or McKay. They don't want their overpriced businesses to go under.

I'll get off my soapbox now--I just had to vent.

 

[Spoiled]

I maybe wrong but isnt putting stuff in other peoples mailboxes illegal unless you are a postal worker?

 

[Otter]

Originally posted by Spoiled
I maybe wrong but isnt putting stuff in other peoples mailboxes illegal unless you are a postal worker?

You FINALLY got something right!!

 

[Tonio]

Originally posted by SuperGrover
i like wal-mart, but i'm not crazy of their monopolistic tactics they use on their suppliers and the way they treat some of their employees (eg. lockouts)... just my 2 cents.

I agree with you. Instead of fighting to keep the Supercenter out, we should just patronize other stores. No store can compete with Wal-Mart on pricing. So Target competes with better-quality merchandise (clothes and household goods). Other successful stores compete with better service. They focus on what makes them different from Wal-Mart. K mart didn't do that, so that's why that company is struggling.

 

[Kizzy]

I just DO NOT want to see a mall go into that area, anything else is fine.

 

[Tonio]

Originally posted by kayellesee
My suspicion is that this is the work of a local name...like a Raley, Mattingly, or McKay.

Possible, but I doubt it. They have an advantage under the county's liquor laws, which require holders of licenses to be county residents.

Notice how McKay's sells liquor, cigarettes and lottery tickets at one register? All they need is an X-rated magazine rack and it would be One-Stop Vice.

 

[Hot N Bothered]

Originally posted by Tonio
I agree with you. Instead of fighting to keep the Supercenter out, we should just patronize other stores. No store can compete with Wal-Mart on pricing. So Target competes with better-quality merchandise (clothes and household goods). Other successful stores compete with better service. They focus on what makes them different from Wal-Mart. K mart didn't do that, so that's why that company is struggling.

When I was a kid, you didn't dare get caught in the clothing department of KMart, or you would be ridiculed for life. But Walmart was ok. :shrug: But more and more, as Walmart forces thier suppliers to cut corners to lower prices, the stuff they sell is getting crappier and crappier. I don't buy clothes there anymore, socks maybe, but even they wear out faster then they used to.

I say, let WalMart build. They have the room, they need to upgrade their entrances and put in the access road, but it's nice to have the convience of everything in one place and they won't put anybody out of business who carries quailty merchandise.

 

[sleuth]

Originally posted by Spoiled
I maybe wrong but isnt putting stuff in other peoples mailboxes illegal unless you are a postal worker?

yep I'd report her...

 

[Shutterbug]

Originally posted by sleuth
yep I'd report her...

If I only knew who she was! Anyone who lives in Town Creek know who this woman is?

 

[dustin]

Walmart is a facist regime of communistic ideals....


but man do they have good prices on toasters!?!?!

 

[soul4sale]

Originally posted by kayellesee
My suspicion is that this is the work of a local name...like a Raley, Mattingly, or McKay. They don't want their overpriced businesses to go under.

So nice to see people on this board discussing local politics for a change.

Anyway, normally I'd launch into a rant about how crappy Wal Mart is as a company; however, than expansion and the attendant side road would be a welcome addition to SMC's clogged 235 corridor. One of the few smart things that the last BOCC did was approve a plan to build a precursor to FDR through all the shopping centers on the old RR right of way, creating more of a grid pattern on the California-Lex Park stretch.

As for the local family resistance angle, that would be a great story for the 'Prise.

 

[BuddyLee]

Originally posted by dustin
Walmart is a facist regime of communistic ideals....


but man do they have good prices on toasters!?!?!

 

[cmdrfunk]

I must say that this walmart is worse than the walmarts i saw back home in the pittsburgh area.

I'm happy if this happens, though. At two different colleges the past 5 years i've shopped no where but super walmarts for all my groceries. It's weird going somewhere else.

I'm still confused why chicken costs so much here.

 

[tatgirl99]

I used to shop Walmart a lot but not much anymore. The store is dirty and cramped. I think most of St. Mary's and Calvert county shop there too. It's way too crowded. Maybe if they expanded the store it would open it up a bit.

 

[RoseRed]

Originally posted by tatgirl99
I used to shop Walmart a lot but not much anymore. The store is dirty and cramped.

I never shop there anymore for those reasons.

 

[tatgirl99]

Target is so much nicer and there prices aren't that bad. I transferred my prescriptions to Target too. Hate standing in line forever to get my prescription.