Referencing my post on a possible commercial development on the corner of Drexel and Hwy. 100, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist Patrick McIlheran said:
But my only addition would be to offer an insultingly small four milligrams of sympathy toward people who, moving to an area with lots of developable land then get picky about exactly which brand of big store moves in (that is, presuming they wouldn’t complain were The Shops to host a Nordstrom). Hey, stores do their homework about whether the neighbors will shop, and Franklin may well be a Wal-Mart kind of place.
Yeah, I know I recently said there’s legitimacy to neighbors zoning to keep the ’hood from changing. And Michlig debated the point with me (though I don’t think I’m arguing with him here at all).
What I’m having a problem with is not people zoning to keep out, say, all stores, or big stores, from a neighborhood. It’s with them quibbling over the exact socioeconomic stratum of retail that’s nearby.
Well, aside from the objections that people have as a general rule against Wal-Mart's predatory practices as a virtual monopoly in any market it enters, there is the simple fact that Wal-Mart is a BLIGHT. Yes, they build ugly, asphalt-wrapped box buildings, but this is not a socioeconomic value judgment; the simple fact is that Wal-Mart "occupies and operates" in a manner that is not at all friendly for its surroundings.
Wal-Mart has, for example, no storage at its stores; it's all "Just In Time" shipping and receiving. Vendors are punished for being minutes late or early:
"Everyone from the forklift driver on up to me, the CEO, knew we had to deliver [to Wal-Mart] on time. Not 10 minutes late. And not 45 minutes early, either," says Robin Prever, who was CEO of Saratoga Beverage Group from 1992 to 2000, and made private-label water sold at Wal-Mart. "The message came through clearly: You have this 30-second delivery window. Either you're there, or you're out. With a customer like that, it changes your organization. For the better. It wakes everybody up. And all our customers benefited. We changed our whole approach to doing business." (The Wal-Mart You Don't Know, Fast Company Magazine)
While Saratoga Beverage's organization may have "improved," the no-storage precision that Wal-Mart is able to demand (extort?) means that trucks are constantly moving in and out of the area. Not a wonderful neighbor to have. A Nordstrom store would be better for that reason alone, never mind social pretentions.
People battle against Wal-Mart for many more reasons than the fact that they are ugly and target a particular socioeconomic strata. Communities are beginning to understand to a far greater extent than ever before that Wal-Mart represents an entire new species of disruption across all layers of a city. It is exactly the kind of development that residents should "quibble" over.
Moreover, I'd be interested to hear the potential upside of having a Wal-Mart move in across the street from your neighborhood.
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