The effects of the new Wal-Mart that will soon be opening have already been felt in Maumelle, Arkansas. The Harvest Foods on the boulevard now stands empty, a sign reading “Closed” (written on cardboard) taped to the sliding doors, a mere 8 years after the building that housed it had first been bought.
Word from an ex-employee is that Wal-Mart bought it. (Read the article from the Maumelle Monitor Online Website)
The interesting side note to this is:
The store employed about 40 people, none of whom will be laid off, said Chad Evans, director of retail operations for Supermarket Investors Inc., the parent company of Harvest Foods.
“If they want to work with us, they all have a job with us,” Evans said.
As of Monday, about 90 percent of the employees had agreed to work at other stores, said Michael Woods, district manager for the Harvest Foods store.
That even though they were offered a job with the new Wal-Mart opened market, 90% took jobs at other Harvest Foods locations. The new market (Neighborhood Market) will open some-time in 2008 (meaning, at the least, 3 months of another business in Maumelle being abandoned and un-open, while at the most, could be 8 months.)
And the bad part is that Wal-Mart isn’t even within city limits. The good part is that Kroger announced a new building to go right across the street. Fuck you, Wal-Mart.
The Quizno’s just a few stores down has been closed now for a few weeks with no real explanation as to why. Could be un-related.
I’m going to speak frankly for a few moments. Ten years ago, Maumelle was a great place to live. A good place to raise a family, and just generally live in. Now, that’s all changed.
And it’s not just Wal-Mart - public housing is partly to blame. It’s a double-sided coin. On one side, you have housing that’s affordable (if you can survive somewhere long enough to wait out the waiting list you’ll be put on). On the other side, you have increased crime in that area.
Maumelle used to be a friendly town - now, it’s filled with nothing but dopers and wanna-be gang bangers who feel it necessary to turn a small community into a small crime stop.
An interesting side note to Wal-Mart:
The Center for Responsive Politics reports that Wal-Mart is currently the second-highest contributor to 2004 federal election campaigns, with 85% of the money flowing into Republican campaigns. In 2000, Wal-Mart ranked below 100 in election contributions.
Some say that the things happening to Maumelle are merely natural. Growing pains as the town is becoming larger. However, the paths that it has taken could have lead to several different places had they been taken much sooner and with more finesse.
Personally, I’d get out of the country if I could move anywhere at this point. But since I can’t go anywhere just yet, I’ll have to sit and wait this out.
And what will be will be.