302 replies to this topic

[Aporkalypse]

Mith242, on Nov 21 2005, 03:55 PM, said:

Anyone notice that Beverly has found a new buyer?  Here's an article about it at Arkansas Business

http://www.arkansasb.....EE}&aid=42492

It's now a done deal.  For now, I would think this investment group would keep the HQs in Ft Smith.  The fear is that Beverly will be worth more in pieces and that would shatter the company and get rid of Ft Smith's only major company.

[Mith242]

Aporkalypse, on Nov 21 2005, 09:30 PM, said:

It's now a done deal.  For now, I would think this investment group would keep the HQs in Ft Smith.  The fear is that Beverly will be worth more in pieces and that would shatter the company and get rid of Ft Smith's only major company.

Yeah I doubt Ft Smith can feel too confident on this.  They may keep the headquarters there for now but who knows when that will change.

[mcheiss]

^That would be terrible if the buyers chose to relocate Beverly or split it up. It's one of Ft. Smith's only really big true white collar employers.

[Aporkalypse]

mcheiss, on Nov 22 2005, 01:39 PM, said:

^That would be terrible if the buyers chose to relocate Beverly or split it up. It's one of Ft. Smith's only really big true white collar employers.

My greatest fear has always been that Wal-Mart would leave NWA or spin off or split and weaken the job base as NWA is so dependent on it.  Even something as innocuous as a stock/profit scandal could hammer the local economy.  Can you imagine what would happen to home prices?  None of these things show any signs of happening soon and since the rumors about moving corporate HQs to Dallas just after Sam's death things have been quiet on that front and I would be surprised if their leadership would ever try it.

I've wondered for a few years if Wal-Mart would spin off Sam's, though.  It's not making money and doing that would allows Wal-Mart to put itself in better position to start new stores by sending most of its debt with Sam's and put the company in better cash flow position for international and domestic expansion.  It may not be possible due to distribution networks, etc, though.

[Mith242]

Aporkalypse, on Nov 23 2005, 11:35 AM, said:

My greatest fear has always been that Wal-Mart would leave NWA or spin off or split and weaken the job base as NWA is so dependent on it.  Even something as innocuous as a stock/profit scandal could hammer the local economy.  Can you imagine what would happen to home prices?  None of these things show any signs of happening soon and since the rumors about moving corporate HQs to Dallas just after Sam's death things have been quiet on that front and I would be surprised if their leadership would ever try it.

I've wondered for a few years if Wal-Mart would spin off Sam's, though.  It's not making money and doing that would allows Wal-Mart to put itself in better position to start new stores by sending most of its debt with Sam's and put the company in better cash flow position for international and domestic expansion.  It may not be possible due to distribution networks, etc, though.

I could be wrong but I thought Sam's had been doing a lot better this year.

[Aporkalypse]

Mith242, on Nov 23 2005, 02:27 PM, said:

I could be wrong but I thought Sam's had been doing a lot better this year.

A little better but still not well, it's just not in the red anymore.  Costco is doing much better overall and Sam's market share has been decreasing.

[Aporkalypse]

More bad news for Ft Smith.  The Whirlpool plant is closing and will lay off 730 workers when it opens a new plant in Mexico.

The manufacturing-based economy has really taken a beating in Ft Smith the last few years.  With Beverly going down the better jobs in town are slipping away.

[mcheiss]

Aporkalypse, on Dec 12 2005, 03:13 PM, said:

More bad news for Ft Smith.  The Whirlpool plant is closing and will lay off 730 workers when it opens a new plant in Mexico.

The manufacturing-based economy has really taken a beating in Ft Smith the last few years.  With Beverly going down the better jobs in town are slipping away.

Oh man.

This is terrible. Jobs keep getting lost especially with the uncertainty of Beverly.

[Mith242]

Yeah I just heard about this today too.  I actually was talking to someone at work who lives in Ft Smith and asking him about how the city was down there.  I really wonder if this will eventually have any effect on the Fayetteville job market.  I don't think it's been mentioned here butthere's been talk before about busing people from Ft Smith to work some of the factory jobs in Fayetteville.  With unemployment so low up here it's hard to keep jobs filled.  But many of these people seem reluctant to move up here though.  Not sure if they just don't want to uproot their families or if houses are too expensive up here for them or what.  But anyway after talking to this guy he was acting like things aren't real great in Ft Smith.  He said there wasn't much going on, he said most people come to northwest Arkansas to do stuff.  He said if it wasn't for his job he certainly wouldn't live there.  He also said when he first moved there he was also a bit excited about seeing what historical things there were to see there.  He said it only took him a day to do that.  Just one person's opinion but he obviously didn't think much of the city.  I also had asked him about them trying to revitalize the downtown area.  He said they were trying to do some things down there but there's still not much going on there either.  But anyway things don't seem like they're looking too good down there.  He hadn't heard about them trying to build a US Marshall's Museum down there.  He also said he was really surprised they didn't try to do more with their history.  Some 'old west' themed festivals and such.  I'm wondering if the city is going to start becoming more of a Pine Bluff.  Things may not be that bad yet but it sounds like there is a possibility.  Just like Pine Bluff it sounds like Ft Smith could really use some strong leadership.  That and they better start trying to do something now so they don't risk possibly becoming another Pine Bluff in another decade or so.

[Aporkalypse]

Mith242, on Dec 12 2005, 03:31 PM, said:

Yeah I just heard about this today too.  I actually was talking to someone at work who lives in Ft Smith and asking him about how the city was down there.  I really wonder if this will eventually have any effect on the Fayetteville job market.  I don't think it's been mentioned here butthere's been talk before about busing people from Ft Smith to work some of the factory jobs in Fayetteville.  With unemployment so low up here it's hard to keep jobs filled.  But many of these people seem reluctant to move up here though.  Not sure if they just don't want to uproot their families or if houses are too expensive up here for them or what.  But anyway after talking to this guy he was acting like things aren't real great in Ft Smith.  He said there wasn't much going on, he said most people come to northwest Arkansas to do stuff.  He said if it wasn't for his job he certainly wouldn't live there.  He also said when he first moved there he was also a bit excited about seeing what historical things there were to see there.  He said it only took him a day to do that.  Just one person's opinion but he obviously didn't think much of the city.  I also had asked him about them trying to revitalize the downtown area.  He said they were trying to do some things down there but there's still not much going on there either.  But anyway things don't seem like they're looking too good down there.  He hadn't heard about them trying to build a US Marshall's Museum down there.  He also said he was really surprised they didn't try to do more with their history.  Some 'old west' themed festivals and such.  I'm wondering if the city is going to start becoming more of a Pine Bluff.  Things may not be that bad yet but it sounds like there is a possibility.  Just like Pine Bluff it sounds like Ft Smith could really use some strong leadership.  That and they better start trying to do something now so they don't risk possibly becoming another Pine Bluff in another decade or so.

I think Ft Smith has been fueling NWA's growth for some time, taking a lot of its brighter college-educated 20-somethings.  Things like this only push this trend along.

I saw today where 83% of new jobs created in Arkansas are in the Little Rock and Fayetteville MSAs, BTW.

[Mith242]

Aporkalypse, on Dec 12 2005, 03:47 PM, said:

I think Ft Smith has been fueling NWA's growth for some time, taking a lot of its brighter college-educated 20-somethings.  Things like this only push this trend along.

I saw today where 83% of new jobs created in Arkansas are in the Little Rock and Fayetteville MSAs, BTW.

Yeah in some ways it's hard to tell except in one aspect.  Now that the kids of many of the Vietnamese that settled in Ft Smith after the war are old enough to go to college.  I don't think there used to hardly be any Vietnamese up here in northwest Arkansas.  Now they are a lot more common.  Not on a Ft Smith scale of course but it's a growing trend.  It's sad to see so little being done outside of northwest and central Arkansas.  If you add a couple other areas, Jonesboro for one,  there they'd probably take up just about all the new jobs.

[mcheiss]

Some reports are now saying up to 1000 could be layed off.

[mcheiss]

It looks like Academy Sports will be building an 80,000 square foot store in Fort Smith. The Store is actually going to break ground sometime after New Years Day.

It will be along Phoenix Avenue and Adjacent to the Home Depot.

So far, both Sherwood and Little Rock have Academy Sports Stores in Arkansas.

[SoMplsGuy]

All I can say is that whoever said that nothing was going on in fort Smith and everybody goes to NWA to do stuff was right on. I guess things don't change that much in 20 years. I've been back in the Fort now for a couple of days and there's plenty of new developement and still nothing to do. Unless you dig giant chain stores and fast food,  there's just not much here. If I lived in this state again, I'd leave Back-to-the-Future like streaks of fire behind me getting up that hill to Fayettville.  Whoever else said that this place doesn't take full advantage of it's history is also spot on. This place with all it's old west history and heratige has no personality whatsoever.

[mcheiss]

^Hopefully the US Marshalls Museum can be built in Ft. Smith.

I really do like the Trolley System you guys have up there for the National Parks System. Also, the Ft. Smith NHS is pretty cool with the Hanging Gallows and ole Issac Parker.

[tim2462]

I really like Fort Smith...it has a lot of charm, and is a decent-sized city. It is growing and things are happening there...not only in Fort Smith, but Van Buren as well.  In some ways, it is better than NWA.  It has a much more urban feel to it than NWA. I do believe that the museum would make a great fit for Fort Smith.
NWA has its good qualities, but so does Fort Smith.  NWA is up in the Ozarks, still isolated in a lot of ways...Fort Smith is right there off of 2 interstates and several other major highways. It has a vibrant history.  It is situated on the banks of two rivers, and has a great Riverfront Park area.  The area has a lot of potential.

[Mith242]

Yeah it's another example of another city in Arkansas not living up to it's history and what it has.  I think at least Pine Bluff has a little more reason to not be doing too much.  I really have a hard time seeign why Ft Smith hasn't made more of an effort.  Now that Christmas is over I'm going to start thinking more about checking out some other cities nearby.  Ft Smith/Van Buren, Bentonville/Rogers and Eureka Springs are all on that list.  If things go well maybe I'll get a chance to hit them all before I take some vacation time in March and go back out west again.

[Aporkalypse]

Mith242, on Dec 26 2005, 01:14 PM, said:

Yeah it's another example of another city in Arkansas not living up to it's history and what it has.  I think at least Pine Bluff has a little more reason to not be doing too much.  I really have a hard time seeign why Ft Smith hasn't made more of an effort.  Now that Christmas is over I'm going to start thinking more about checking out some other cities nearby.  Ft Smith/Van Buren, Bentonville/Rogers and Eureka Springs are all on that list.  If things go well maybe I'll get a chance to hit them all before I take some vacation time in March and go back out west again.

The way Ft Smith has developed its downtown is impressive.  I have no criticism of that.  I agree that it is more urban and has more to offer in some ways than NWA, especially Benton Co.  Still, it's all untapped potential right now

The problem is an inability to lure desirable businesses to the area.  Its economy is almost entirely service-oriented now that manufacturing has taken a beating, especially now that Beverly will probably make an exit after it is purchased.  Meanwhile you have a thriving business zone with a corporate-dominated economy 45 min away to compete with.  I'm afraid Ft Smith is dying off.

[tim2462]

Aporkalypse, on Dec 28 2005, 12:03 PM, said:

The way Ft Smith has developed its downtown is impressive.  I have no criticism of that.  I agree that it is more urban and has more to offer in some ways than NWA, especially Benton Co.  Still, it's all untapped potential right now

The problem is an inability to lure desirable businesses to the area.  Its economy is almost entirely service-oriented now that manufacturing has taken a beating, especially now that Beverly will probably make an exit after it is purchased.  Meanwhile you have a thriving business zone with a corporate-dominated economy 45 min away to compete with.  I'm afraid Ft Smith is dying off.

First off, I would never compare Fort Smith to Pine Bluff!
I know that it seems like it is dying off because of the bad news lately...but I wouldn't count Fort Smith out just yet.  The area is getting a lot of new restaurants and is experiencing a housing boom...it just gets overshadowed by NWA.  Van Buren is really taking off as well.  The building boom in Van Buren can be compared to NWA.  I read a news story a while back that talked about the growth of the Fort Smith / Van Buren area...they are building new houses / subdivisions there and a lot of people are choosing to live there and commute to NWA to work. It said that was becoming more common than people realized.  Fort Smith has a lot to work with, they will not let themselves die off.  Being that close to NWA helps.  As far as the economy becoming more service-oriented...that is happening everywhere as other sectors consolidate or outsource.

Edited by tim2462, 28 December 2005 - 01:11 PM.

[Aporkalypse]

tim2462, on Dec 28 2005, 01:11 PM, said:

First off, I would never compare Fort Smith to Pine Bluff!
I know that it seems like it is dying off because of the bad news lately...but I wouldn't count Fort Smith out just yet.  The area is getting a lot of new restaurants and is experiencing a housing boom...it just gets overshadowed by NWA.  Van Buren is really taking off as well.  The building boom in Van Buren can be compared to NWA.  I read a news story a while back that talked about the growth of the Fort Smith / Van Buren area...they are building new houses / subdivisions there and a lot of people are choosing to live there and commute to NWA to work. It said that was becoming more common than people realized.  Fort Smith has a lot to work with, they will not let themselves die off.  Being that close to NWA helps.  As far as the economy becoming more service-oriented...that is happening everywhere as other sectors consolidate or outsource.

Houses and stores mean nothing without jobs.  In any case, it's not growing that much, not compared to other urban parts of the state.

I guess what I'm saying is our governor needs to hold some economic incentives out as a carrot to get some businesses to relocate there or carry some jobs there.

Ft Smith won't completely dry up and blow away.  Ft Smith will continue to serve as the medical, legal, retail and banking center of Western AR and Eastern OK and serves a quarter million population or more in that capacity.  However, it needs real non-service jobs for any kind of growth as these areas really aren't growing much, not enough to sustain significant job growth.