Vermont's long battle with WalMart

[cali]

<snip>

The battles add up to what is believed to be the nation’s longest ongoing Wal-Mart fight.

The duration reflects the high stakes: Should Wal-Mart win the right to build in St. Albans, opponents fear the retailer would be poised to proliferate in rural corners of a state that has resisted its overtures. Vermont has the fewest Wal-Marts in the nation, with four stores, compared with 46 in Massachusetts, 27 in New Hampshire and 22 in Maine.

Wal-Mart officials say the push for a greater market share in Vermont reflects the realities of modern life.

“You can’t live in the past and say people should ride horses and grow their own vegetables,’’ said Keith Morris, a spokesman for Wal-Mart. “People are shopping, and if you don’t provide the opportunities, they will travel elsewhere to find those opportunities.’’

But the project’s opponents, which include Montpelier-based Vermont Natural Resources Council and Burlington’s Preservation Trust of Vermont, say that satisfying a yen for cheap goods will yield negative long-term effects. More Wal-Marts in places such as St. Albans, they say, will ruin Vermont’s essence - replacing its green fields with concrete swaths and devastating its quaint downtowns as small merchants suffer.

“If this goes, it will be a signal that sprawl will come to Vermont,’’ said Jon Groveman, an attorney for the Natural Resources Council.

The presence of Wal-Mart is a settled matter in many parts of the country - the big box stores dotting highway exits like blue-banded beacons of discount commerce.

But Vermont has been different. Big retailers have been viewed with skepticism, and the state’s unique development code - Act 250, which gives the state broad authority to shut down projects for environmental or quality of life reasons - has been harnessed to slow Wal-Mart’s arrival.Continued...

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http://www.boston.com/news/local/vermont/articles/2009/09/20/a_wal_mart_proposed_for_a_cornfield__has_long_divided_a_small_vermont_town/

[napi21]

1. Do Vermonters support this? IF they do, why not let them build the damn store, get so few customers

that they are forced to shit it down in a year? With all the people I hear complaining abou WM, I'm surprised that none that I've heard of have shut down already. I won't go unto one, simplky because of their business policies & practices.

[cali]

2. uh, obviously some Vermonters want more Walmarts and others don't

I'm in the don't contingent. There's no Walmart within 50 miles of where I live and I don't want to see one. Where I live, the landscape has changed very little in the last 30 years. It's still villages and farms. No sprawl or box stores. That has a value all its own.

[YOY]

5. You are under the assumption that people shop at Walmart because they want to.

I read a fascinating piece on Walmart in the HBR. Really a combination of evil and genious business practices. It's not a healthy entity. It feeds off misery and causes it's own.

In then end is the problem though: it's not sustainable.

[paulsby]

9. it's like mcdonald's

a lot of people spend a lot of time ragging on mcdonalds but far more people are loyal customers. heck, mcdonalds is incredibly successful in france of all places (on a per capita basis, it's one of their best worldwide markets).

there are pockets where mcdonalds hate is so extensive that they simply can't grow a hold. martha's vineyard comes to mind, with their fabled "sack the mac" campaign (yet, they have a Dairy Queen, so go figger).

[voteearlyvoteoften]

3. Shocked and Awed

When I took my Florida raised kids to visit my Dad in Vermont they were dismayed that so few convenience and fast food places were visible. The country store experience was new to them. Upon returning to Florida they ultimately agreed that having a Walgreen's or a Micky D's on every corner was not really necessary and that trees look better than neon and concrete.
Vermont is at the forefront of the locally raised food movement and the farmers markets are wonderful. Since the state has not been uglied yet,stopping Walmart and their ilk is the right idea. Truth is Walmart used to be cheap, but other than a few loss leaders they really aren't that good of a deal and the quality is questionable.

[NotThisTime]

4. Well, this is true... we live 6 miles from one Walmart in VT, however, the farmers markets and farms

themselves offer superior food, both vegetables and meats... why would I buy from Walmart what I can buy at the farm itself? It's not that much more money?

I say no to the St. Alban's store... I hope Walmart is continually turned down in the matter, and no, due to their business practices I won't step foot in the place.

[Vinca]

6. Down in the Brattleboro area they managed to keep Walmart out . . .

sort of. They built one directly across the Connecticut River in New Hampshire. Oh well. It was amusing though that Home Depot set up shop in Brattleboro and had to close last year for lack of business. All the stores that were worried about Home Depot survived, too.

[cali]

7. It's good to hear that those shops survived Walmart

I remember the fight over the first Walmart- the one in Williston. That area is just so repulsive now.

[Vinca]

8. The real problem is now that there is a Walmart in the area,

you're hard pressed to find "basic" items like underwear anyplace else. Brattleboro has a great collection of specialty shops, galleries, etc., but you have to search for the basics. I guess that's why Brattleboro survived. Rather than compete, they went "different." It's a great tourist location.