Walmart to open 4 DC stores (non-supercenter w/full grocery)

[Scrabbleship]

[size=78%]http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/blog/2010/11/wal-mart-to-open-four-dc-stores.html[/size]


[/size]All 4 locations, most in or near areas with a lack of retail that could be classified as "food deserts", will have full grocery sections. This alone a) reaches out to the community and b) might quell the inevitable fit UFCW will throw on Giant and Safeway's behalf given they're in areas they've ignored for decades.[size=78%]

[79MetroExtraMD]

I wonder where they'll put these stores let alone how big they will be. I can pretty much bank on NE and SE having 2 of the 4.

[Scrabbleship]

I wonder where they'll put these stores let alone how big they will be. I can pretty much bank on NE and SE having 2 of the 4.

Half-right. Two in dissimilar parts of NW (New Jersey Ave near H St, Georgia & Missouri), one in NE (near New York Ave & Bladensburg Road), one in SE (East Capitol and 58th St). The New Jersey Ave site is on a vacant lot owned by the district and leased to a developer that would face penalties unless otherwise developed, all the others are in areas where retail and grocery are anywhere between mediocre to non-existent.

I would put money on at least one being two stories to work with limited footprints, Walmart has some newly built locations in the NYC and LA suburbs that are two stories and they tested it to make their Albany, NY location into a Supercenter via filling the former Sam's Club behind it. Those who have been to Target in Columbia Heights or Wheaton know what to expect, cart escalators and all.

[WMATAGMOAGH]

I know exactly what to expect with Walmart:  low wages and small, locally owned businesses put out of business.  Hopefully these proposals remain just proposals and not reality. 

[79MetroExtraMD]

They just approved another Wal-Mart in Baltimore to be in Remington. I can eventually see the one in South Baltimore closing when they build the one in North Baltimore.

[Scrabbleship]

I know exactly what to expect with Walmart:  low wages and small, locally owned businesses put out of business.  Hopefully these proposals remain just proposals and not reality. 

Judging by the locations picked, I don't think many people would lose save for the tiny little mini-marts that lack fresh groceries and provide insane markup on other foods. NE and SE have a lack of proper grocery stores to begin with and both the New York Ave and Capitol Heights sites are in areas that could be classified as "food deserts". The Georgia and Missouri site has a food desert to its south and a somewhat pitiful Safeway to its north. The New Jersey Ave location is just the District wanting to develop land and will anchor a mixed use development, but is in an area that has Safeway's Mid-Atlantic flagship (built 2008) and is within longer walking distance to a to-open Harris Teeter and a just-announced Giant on H Street NE.

Usually I would have pity on Mom & Pop, but in the case of these neighborhoods Mom & Pop have been practicing extortion on the vulnerable for quite some time.

[WES]

There will be protests to keep them out from various organizations (mainly labor unions), but Wal-Mart is most likely coming.  If the one in Fort Lincoln (I have an idea where that one would exactly be), might actually become a supercenter and that would be Wal-Mart's blow to PG which has a Wal-Mart  about 5 minutes away and was supposed to be a supercenter.  Actually they have talked about some retail going into that area for a while (Fort Lincoln), it has a lot of space to put a lot of retail.

[Scrabbleship]

There will be protests to keep them out from various organizations (mainly labor unions), but Wal-Mart is most likely coming.  If the one in Fort Lincoln (I have an idea where that one would exactly be), might actually become a supercenter and that would be Wal-Mart's blow to PG which has a Wal-Mart  about 5 minutes away and was supposed to be a supercenter.  Actually they have talked about some retail going into that area for a while (Fort Lincoln), it has a lot of space to put a lot of retail.

The more I think about it, the more UFCW's legs have been rotting from gangrene as of late on the grocery side. They'll protest, but it isn't like they've been doing much of a service to customers in NE, SE, and even NW east of 14th St with there being so few grocery stores, the ones being around often lacking compared to stores elsewhere. Giant, Safeway, and Shoppers could've defended their turf but chose to let it lay fallow. Non-union is better than nothing.

Looking at this from a grocery lens, how is it that non-union chains like Harris Teeter and Wegmans provide better customer service than the unionized chains? How is it that at a non-union chain I find more open registers than at unionized chains? I know Harris Teeter and Wegmans are far more similar to the unionized chains in terms of pay and do offer benefits and are a galaxy away from Walmart, but that says a lot.

[WES]

I can't speak for Harris Teeter, but from what I hear and the proof is evident that Wegmans treat their employee very well, not only in pay but in other areas.  Wegman's has been in the top 5 of "The Best Employers To Work For" for the longest time.  I am pretty sure that HarrisTeeter has the same thinking.  If you treat your employees well, number one they are most likely not to unionize and too they will enjoy coming to work.  The Wegmans up the street from me, the people there are so helpful, overly helpful.  Though it's not the same but where I used to work, they don't pay their people well, they don't really treat them that great and the result is you hear a lot of "I can't wait to leave blahblah" and "McDonalds pays more than what I am getting here".  It just boils down to how the employer treats their employees, in that the better they treat their employees, the more and better production they will get from them.  A lot of these well established businesses nowadays basically think that their brand loyalty will always make them money, so do they have to treat their employees well, no, because they will always have someone to take that employee's place if that employee decides to leave and people will always buy from them as long as that name recognition is out there.

[WES]

And actually what PG and Montgomgery did (passing a law limiting the size of "big box" stores) won't really help, in that Target and now Wal-Mart got smart to put groceries in their smaller stores.  Target realized that ok they are going to limit the size of our stores so we don't compete with Giant and Safeway, so we will put groceries in our smaller stores, we might have less product in other areas, but we'll make that up with the food we have.

There were definitely other reasons why both passed those laws but I am not going to go into all the reasons why PG and Montgomery did it.  I am kind of surprised that PG passed a law like that..........maybe Wal-Mart and Target didn't pay enough, if you know what I mean

[WMATAGMOAGH]

I've shopped at Giant and Wegmans plenty of times, I see no noticeable differences between the stores in terms of interactions I have with their employees.

[SchuminWeb]

A lot of these well established businesses nowadays basically think that their brand loyalty will always make them money, so do they have to treat their employees well, no, because they will always have someone to take that employee's place if that employee decides to leave and people will always buy from them as long as that name recognition is out there.

Bingo.

I used to work at Walmart some years ago, and I heard multiple times that the customers would complain but they would be back (i.e. "whatever" on what they think), and the employees were told many times how expendable they were.  Not a fun place to work.

[Scrabbleship]

And actually what PG and Montgomgery did (passing a law limiting the size of "big box" stores) won't really help, in that Target and now Wal-Mart got smart to put groceries in their smaller stores. 

PG has a law on the books on that? I thought the only reason why the Landover Walmart wasn't a supercenter was because there's a Safeway on the other side of the parking lot and that Walmart by principle won't go Supercenter if a grocery store is within a half-mile's radius. If there was one, how did IKEA and Wegmans get stores approved?

Arlington also has one on the books (Wegmans wanted in there too). The Montgomery one was pretty much Doug Duncan posturing to UFCW and backfired as Fairfax, Frederick, and even Loudoun counties began to get business from MoCo people let alone how the "Woodmore" Wegmans is getting a decent amount of MoCo business which is why they approved one for Germantown.

[WES]

  I think Wal-Mart knew there was a Safeway not too far from them, not to mention a Giant down the street.  I don't know the real reason why they didn't make it a supercenter, but it sounds like PG passing a law to limit the size of said "big box" stores.  I can't remember if it was passed or not.  There was also outcry from the community about the store being too big also.  I don't think the location of a supermarket was the reason why Wal-Mart decided to make it a regular Wal-Mart as opposed to a Wal-mart supercenter.   There is a Wal-Mart supercenter right across from a Weis supermarket in Harrisburg and also there is another Weis about 5 minutes away from that one. 

Looking at the Wegman's it looks like the size of a normal Target, maybe a little bigger and also PG might have wanted upscale shopping stores so bad that Wegman's got a waiver from PG County.  PG is trying to get upscale stores big time and Woodmore is basically their prayers answered.

Also  Fairfax is smart to never get one passed, as they building a Wal-Mart supercenter along route 1, north of an existing Wal-Mart and north of Mount Vernon.  Also a Wegman's is planned not too far from that Wal-Mart, in  Alexandria.  Those will drive in more business, some from PG County, especially the Southern part.

I can understand Arlington keeping the size of a Wal-Mart small, there is not much land left in Arlington to build anything.

[Scrabbleship]

  I think Wal-Mart knew there was a Safeway not too far from them, not to mention a Giant down the street.  I don't know the real reason why they didn't make it a supercenter, but it sounds like PG passing a law to limit the size of said "big box" stores.  I can't remember if it was passed or not.  There was also outcry from the community about the store being too big also.

I'm surprised they didn't make an outcry about how massive the parking lot-to-store size ratio is over in Landover. They could've built out towards the highway and still have had decent parking since they more than had the room since a Walmart doesn't need the parking the old Capital Plaza had on hand. I've been to many Walmarts and never have I seen a parking lot that HUGE.

From the looks of that Safeway, it looks like it preceeded the Walmart. Walmart probably knew to get rid of them would mean having to deal with UFCW and everything and wasn't worth the battle.

In the case of the   I don't think the location of a supermarket was the reason why Wal-Mart decided to make it a regular Wal-Mart as opposed to a Wal-mart supercenter.   There is a Wal-Mart supercenter right across from a Weis supermarket in Harrisburg and also there is another Weis about 5 minutes away from that one.

Was the Weis there first or was the Walmart a smaller store that expanded to a Supercenter? From my own experience, they base it on what exists when it was built vs. what the status quo is and, knowing Weis, I wouldn't be shocked if they wanted to save their own turf. They built a Supercenter in Glenmont, NY (just south of Albany) a half-mile from a Price Chopper (which is just dreadful) and both have peacefully coexisted for a decade.

A good local case is in Leesburg where the Walmart there refuses to go Supercenter with a Super Target right across the US 15 bypass and a Shoppers right across Edwards Ferry Rd from said Super Target.