Walmartization of the South

[monsoon]

I saw this sight a few months ago and thought that it was worth a photo This is 1/2 of a Super Walmart as I could not get it all into one shot on that hill. Why are there so many of these being approved in the South and what can and is being done to stop it?

Location - Bleedswell, NC (but could be Anyplace, USA)

Time - 10 minutes into the future

[bret15]

I hear Kansas City had some succes but up here in Des Moines the Wal-Mart growth has stopped! we had one which was built in the 80's, but unfourtunatley, we are going to get another...

[DigitalSky]

what a sight... well in today's paper there was an update about the South Charlotte (Marvin/Weddington) Wal-Mart Supercenter battle going on.

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/new...ws/11117326.htm

[ryanmckibben]

Adopting "New Urbanist" zoning code will help, at least in an aesthetic sense. Requiring build to lines instead of setback lines, and requiring parking in the rear will at least look nicer. Of course it still doesn't solve the issue of sprawl, it just dresses it up a little.

Look at all of those cars and picture all of the products in those stores and the countries all of those products were transported from and then multiply it by the number of big box retial strips across the country. The amount of energy required to make all of this possible is stagering. There is only one thing that will eventually stop this kind of development. The market will eventually make living like this too expensive. Whether it happens sooner or later, it will happen. Eventually the infrastructure we have built in order to enable this sort of lifestyle will be seen as the greatest misallocation of resources in human history.

[Noneck_08]

Yea here in Lexington, NC they have already begain construction on our new supercenter. It will replace our old Wal-mart and theres talk of putting a Target there. The supercenter was supose to have been built a few years back but got shipped over to Thomasville as no one was giving up any land. But, Lexington is town that loves them some Wal-mart. So it won't be leaving anytime soon.

[alexr15]

In Atlanta I know that at least 4 Wal-Marts have been stopped or significantly delayed. One was stopped in Avondale Estates and another in the Cascade area of Atlanta. Another was stopped in North Cobb County (of all places) and a stop-work order was issued on one in Forsyth County. It seems as if alot of Atlantan's are getting a little fed up with Wal-Mart.

[thehappysmith]

Wal Mart has managed to pick up on the downtown living trend in some cities. Here in Tampa, there are plans (yet to be approved) for a Super Wal-Mart in Ybor City, in an old warehouse on Adamo Dr.

Ybor, for those who don't know Tampa, is the old Cuban neighborhood. There are a number of old cigar factories and the like that have been or are being renovated to other uses, and there are about 10 square blocks or so of high-end locally-owned retail, restaurants, and clubs. Some residential properties are being renovated and there are plans for more to be built. I'd compare Ybor to The Fan in Richmond, or Georgetown, except without the colleges and in an earlier stage of redevelopment. Ybor still is and will likely always be rough around the edges, but that's what makes it a unique urban neighborhood.

Some folks, of course, are only too happy to have a gigantic Wal-Mart move in right around the corner--it gives them someplace to go shop for the cheap but necessary crap you can't buyin Ybor itself. Of course, the massive traffic snarls, the vast increase in huge tractor-trailers driving through narrow streets, and the fact that Wal-Mart will scare off any small local retailers from coming into Ybor to do business... well, nobody's really talked much about that.

It's interesting to note, though, the difference betweer Wal-Mart and other big box retailers. For example, at another new condo development between Ybor City and downtown (Ybor's about 12 blocks east of downtown), planners, city officials, and urban dwellers hailed the news that Kash & Karry (which I don't usually shop at because I hate deliberate misspellings like that) was going to open a grocery store. K&K already has a grocery store less than a mile west of downtown in a run-down shopping center in a bad neighborhood, and I just wonder if they're planning to close down the Willow St. store in favor of the new Grand Central at Kennedy store.

I'm no fan of Wal-Mart. If we were talking Wal-Marts and not Kash & Karry's, you can bet they'd close down the Willow St. store in a heartbeat. No question. That's how Wal-Mart does business; they're like a virus, preying on communities and then moving on once they've sucked all the life out of them. And if this was a Wal-Mart, when they closed the Willow St. store everybody would moan and berate them. I wonder if the same response will hold true for Kash & Karry? After all, Wal-Mart is outrageously successful as a business model, and what big-box super-anything retailer wouldn't want to follow in that path?

[Spartan]

Yea here in Lexington, NC they have already begain construction on our new supercenter. It will replace our old Wal-mart and theres talk of putting a Target there. The supercenter was supose to have been built a few years back but got shipped over to Thomasville as no one was giving up any land. But, Lexington is town that loves them some Wal-mart. So it won't be leaving anytime soon.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Small towns love any kind of development, so you generally don't get alot of resistance there. Walmarts beget more retail development.

I know that Spartanburg has not really don't much to stop them. They tried once to stop them in a certain location because of its proximity to residential areas and some rare redwoods that were on the site. But the end result was that walmart built there, but made it a 'nice' looking one, with plenty of landscaping and a small nature preserve around those redwoods.

[rocket9561]

Hendersonville managed to stop Wal-Mart from destroying a 100+ year old home....one of the very few historic buildings in this young city. In fact we didn't even need a historic zoning ordinance until Wal-Mart tried to buy and tear down the house. Now we have one. Unfortunately Wal-Mart decided to move to Indian Lake but like other Nashville suburbs we did manage to force them to use brick instead of the trademark grey and blue. Hendersonville was probably one of the larger cities of the south without a supercenter.

[DigitalSky]

Yea here in Lexington, NC they have already begain construction on our new supercenter. It will replace our old Wal-mart and theres talk of putting a Target there. The supercenter was supose to have been built a few years back but got shipped over to Thomasville as no one was giving up any land. But, Lexington is town that loves them some Wal-mart. So it won't be leaving anytime soon.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That would be good if Target came to the Wal-Mart once it's vacant... Has the former Ingles in that shopping center been filled by a tenant yet or is it still vacant?

[Dukeis#1]

A new Super Wal Mart recently opened here in Elizabethton, TN. I hate looking at it. It's a giant concrete box with a huge parking lot wrapped around it. The old downtown section is dead thanks to Wal Mart, and a lot of the small local stores in town are closing shop.

I'm glad a few cities are beggining to stop more Wal Mart growth.

[Noneck_08]

That would be good if Target came to the Wal-Mart once it's vacant... Has the former Ingles in that shopping center been filled by a tenant yet or is it still vacant?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Its still empty and I haven't heard what there going to do with that yet. But Dollar Tree has also moved in were Hamericks was and alot of more bussines has sprouted up on Hwy 8 since it was widen.

[RiversideGator]

A Super Walmart was denied permits here in Jacksonville on University Blvd b/c of neighborhood concerns regarding traffic. I believe they were going to pave over the last remaining open field on that street.

[afh]

Wally World hasn't quite built up out West here as it has back East but it has begun. Most of the Wal-Marts within a ten mile area of where I live are being turned into Super Wal-marts. Wal-mart also wants to build another Super Wal-mart 5 miles from where I live. Personally, I like Super Wal-mart b/c of you can get every you need on the cheap. When you buy your soap you can buy your meats. The problem for me is that when I lived in Florida there was a Super Walmart within 5 minutes of where I lived. Here in Phoenix, its about 15 minutes away.

[Urban_Legend]

Well, down here in South Florida we've had "Some Sucess", by the cities placing design guidelines on SprawlMart. Mind you, they still have large parking lots, but at least the facade is different and there are outparcels on the development.

[RiversideGator]

Those places are so large that I cant find anything anyway. I would rather pay more and have a more pleasant shopping experience in a Publix. I just hate to go in the Walmarts.

[jandar]

The one they are planning @ Brannan Field/Blanding in North Middleburg/South Orange Park has some restrictions due to the Branan Field Master Plan.

http://www.claycountygov.com/Planning_Dept...an_Planning.htm

get the Branan Field Land Development Regulation (LDR's) and goto page 78 of it. The have some nice guidelines for parking lots. at least 15% landscaped, no big open parking lots, 15 foot wide sidewalks, etc....

e.

[Charleston native]

Just got this article from my hometown's newspaper:

Retail developers around Lowcountry have shifted into high gear

BY CAROLINE FOSSI

Of The Post and Courier Staff

If it has escaped your attention, big-box development is bigger than ever around these parts. According to a just-released 2004 year-end report from commercial real estate firm Colliers-Keenan, the Charleston area has more than 15 million square feet of retail space, of which about 9 percent is vacant. Big-box projects represent a growing share of that total.

More of these projects are in the works, including new Wal-Mart Supercenters in North Charleston, West Ashley and Moncks Corner. These stores tend to attract other strip shopping centers nearby, said Erin England of Colliers-Keenan's retail group.

Other retail happenings noted in the report (as well as in these pages over the past year or so):

-- Downtown Charleston continues to attract national chains, with clothing retailers Brooks Brothers, Jos. A. Bank and Urban Outfitters announcing plans to open stores on King Street.

-- On Johns Island, the Johns Island Shopping Center at the busy Maybank Highway and Main Road intersection is being expanded. The area around Maybank continues to be a target for residential and commercial development. Several miles away, the 175,000-square-foot Freshfields Village shopping center is under way near Kiawah and Seabrook islands.

-- On James Island, a new 45,000-square-foot shopping center off Folly Road is under construction and is to open this spring, anchored by a Piggly Wiggly supermarket.

-- In West Ashley, a new Wal-Mart Supercenter is under construction at the corner of Glen McConnell Parkway and Bees Ferry Road. It's scheduled to open this year.

-- In North Charleston, a Sam's Club membership warehouse vacated a 155,000-square-foot building on Rivers Avenue to open a new store in the growing Centre Pointe development. A Wal-Mart Supercenter also is set to open there this year...

Check this post in Charleston developments

[waccamatt]

The way to defeat Walmart is to stop shopping there and to encourage our friends and family to stop shopping there, also.

[dexxtreme]

Personally, I'm not really a fan of WalMart. (They have some fairly interesting pricing tactics with their suppliers...) I would rather shop at a SuperTarget. Unfortunately, there are two obstacles for me: 1) SuperTarget does not stay open late enough for me (I work odd hours and sometimes have a need to go shopping at 3am), and 2) There aren't any SuperTargets near where I live (I'd have to pass a SuperWalmart, a regular WalMart, a regular Target, and at least 3 other grocery stores to get to the nearest one, and the only other one in this area is on the other side of Tampa Bay).

In other bad news to WalMart detractors, my home town recently approved tearing down a JCPenny's and in its place Walmart will build a 183k sq. ft. supercenter that will be attached to a mall. I didn't think that Walmart built stores attached to malls, but apparently I was mistaken.

[Charleston native]

In other bad news to WalMart detractors, my home town recently approved tearing down a JCPenny's and in its place Walmart will build a 183k sq. ft. supercenter that will be attached to a mall. I didn't think that Walmart built stores attached to malls, but apparently I was mistaken.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That seems to be happening more and more. In my hometown, the JCPenny was torn down at Citadel Mall and a Target was built in its place. I always thought that malls were built to have more upscale stores. In this case, Citadel Mall made a poor decision, IMO. There is plenty of room around the mall, across the street, and other areas in that section of Charleston to build the Target. It would have been better to get a more upscale anchor tenant such as Macy's or even attach a Best Buy which is sorely needed in that part of town.

[Spartan]

Target is more upscale than Walmart. It is a much more enjoyable shopping experience to me.

[Charleston native]

Target is more upscale than Walmart. It is a much more enjoyable shopping experience to me.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What are the big differences? Is it the size of the store being smaller than WalMart? Is it the products that Target sells? I've been told that Target is considered upscale because they sell higher priced things. What are some other things that make Target a more pleasant shopping experience than WalMart?

[RiversideGator]

I dont think it is that Target is "upscale", I think it is just more upscale than Walmart. I think the products at Target are a little more refined as is the crowd which shops at Target. Now, I cant stand either one, but my wife loves to shop at Target and not Walmart. I can only just run in the local Publix. Those big box stores make me nervous to be in. I dont like to shop.

[miamistreets]

I kind of dont understand why you guys hate walmart.I kind of like it.

I go there to buy things like food.Mostly food.But others stuff too.

I havnt seen bad development by Walmart around here(in Hialeah, Miami).I only know of 2 Walmart Supercenters.