Abandoned Wal-Marts - national list & photos.

[paineinthearse]

There are scores of instances where Sprawl-Mart comes into a town, builds a store, devastates the local economy, then abandons the store, perhaps in favor of a larger, regional "super store", which in turn put more local businesses out of business.

In an earlier thread - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3819344 - DU's assistance was requested. Thanks to all who replied.

A list of closed/abandoned stores is at http://www.walmartmovie.com/abandoned.php


You can see where the abandoned stores are on the map by looking at the red squares. The green dots are people who have signed up on the site.

Please review the list. If you find anything wrong or missing, contact [e-mail] or 800-525-8212

On behalf of the Brave New Films, thanks for the assistance.

[losdiablosgato]

1. There is an abandoned one near my house

They closed to open a bigger one a few blocks down.

[paineinthearse]

3. Have you looked at the list?

Go to http://www.walmartmovie.com/abandoned.php for the current list. If not there, please forward to the "info@" email address.

[losdiablosgato]

8. It is on the list

[MemphisTiger]

6. We've had a few of those.

A huge building that is good for nothing else but a walmart just sits there. I feel bad for the other merchants that were in the same strip mall next to it banking on the traffic from walmart customers

[SoCalDem]

2. And every "red square" is accompanied by a host of

closed down small businesses that could not hold on long enough:(

[XemaSab]

5. So are the green dots

You even been to Crescent City, California?

Ye gods... the place got hit with a tsunami (in addition to having an actual, literal large wave hit the town).

[madrchsod]

4. sterling ill

big lots uses half of the old wal-mart building,new one down the road. an interesting thing is that there is another walmart two miles away that was one of the orignal sized stores and was built long ago..they wanted to close it but it was making to much money.

[acmejack]

7. Much like a plague of locusts

Devastate the local area and when there is no sustenance remaining, move on...

[XemaSab]

9. My bad

Ah ok, I get it, but there should be more abandoned stores in California.

[JohnnyRingo]

10. There will be a new red square in Warren Ohio this year

Wal Mart's scorched earth marketing leave a blight on every community they infest.

No retailer in their right mind will inhabit a boarded up WalMart as the chain will use their deep pockets to temporarily cut prices and drive them out of business.

I'll never set foot in a WalMart for the rest of my life.
There are alternatives.

[KT2000]

11. Too early to be red

but they are ready to abandon a store in Port Angeles WA (NW Washington) and build another one across the street. The site they are moving to is where a K Mart closed.
The store they will close had huge water problems so I can't imagine what will ever become of it.

I heard that Wal-Mart closes a set percentage of the poorest performing store every year. Abandoning communities after they have devastated them is part of the business plan as I understand it.

[hfojvt]

24. maybe, but I think most of the places on the list

simply have new Wal-marts or bigger Wal-marts.
Richland Center, Wi got a new larger Wal-mart and a Farm and Fleet moved into the old one. Of course, Farm and Fleet may have been the nail in the coffin for Keegan's, a third generation downtown business that sold supplies to farmers. The downtown hardware store folded in the mid 1990s and the Schultz's that was downtown closed when that chain went broke regionally.

Marysville and Hays, Kansas are on the list, but I saw the new Wal-mart in Hays a couple weeks ago, and Wal-mart on-line tells me there is a new one in Marysville too.

The new ones always seem to be further from the town, sprawling over former farmland and adding to the driving time and gasoline used by their shoppers. The save time part of their advertising does not work when you have the longer drive, the walk across their huge and hectic parking lot and then the long wait in their check-out lines.

[AX10]

12. Thanks for the link. I didn't know this.

I'd like to see more abandoned Mao-Marts too.

:D

[LouKYDem]

13. Don't know if it is mentioned on there...

I didn't look on that site a whole lot, so I don't know if this is mentioned there, but often times, Walmart will hold on to their lease on these old stores for years or decades after the store closes to prevent competition from coming in to those stores... of course, they don't mind allowing economy boosters like flea markets and bingo halls subleasing the stores from them...

[AUYellowDog]

14. There are

2 old Wal-Marts within 2 miles of eachother in Opelika Alabama, one maybe 2 blocks from the current location. One rents out to flea markets. I don't know if they use the other for anything anymore. I think there was a carnival in the parking lot a few weeks ago. Yay Alabama.

Brandon

[Obamanaut]

15. We're getting a Target

in an abandoned KMart super center store in my small town. Heard about it today at lunch. People talking at lunch about how nice it will be to have another choice, other than Walmart - the only other store here except for a couple of small shops barely hanging on.

[Warpy]

16. I hope they also include film of the devastation in downtown areas

so that folks will get the point that by the time they leave, they leave nothing.

This is a medium sized city with two Home Depots and half a dozen SprawlMarts. One thing you can't find in this town is a hardware store.

[paineinthearse]

18. That is an excellent idea.

I've asked the producers to monitor this thread, and even to join DU so they can post answers I do not know.

[newportdadde]

17. Does this include stores that sold but are still empty?

[paineinthearse]

19. Yes, I believe so.

[jgilliam]

22. no, doesn't include sold stores that are still empty

and it also doesn't include stores that are empty that wal-mart isn't even trying to sell. so if you know of one in your area not on this list, then please let me know.

we basically just went through wm's real estate listings, and tried to figure out the ones that were actually abandoned... a lot of the stores for sale/lease are still operating, and won't be available until the new (bigger) store is finished being built...

Jim Gilliam (the producer)

and thanks for all of your help!

You can see a flickr gallery of the photos people have been taking. pretty cool (or depressing, depending on how you look at it)..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/walmartmovie/tags/abandoned/

[cynatnite]

20. My husband parks his truck in the parking lot of this abandoned Walmart

http://www.flickr.com/photos/walmartmovie/sets/455962/

Just to add that this place is a parking lot. There are always trucks and cars using it.

[Gold Metal Flake]

21. Shocking. Think of each red square as a bomb.

Walmart is an invading horde, plundering our communal wealth and destroying our small communities. People must find a way to bring their economies local. I believe that part, just a part, of the Walmart plan is to drive the populace to cities where they can be more efficiently exploited and to prevent smaller communities from regrouping around a localized economy such as those that existed in the early 20th century.

[paineinthearse]

23. .

:kick: