<div id="RTEContent">Jeff,<br> <br> Very good points no doubt. Something else to consider as well; is it possible that the current Wal-mart already does the volume in sales to support two Wal-Marts and that is why they want to expand?<br> <br> That parking lot has many cars. The aisles are crowded and the checkers very busy. It seems like the stock boys cannot keep up with items leaving the shelves. Could they see the operation of two super centers as still being profitable even if the income remains the same? Might the current store be operating at levels beyond its capacity to kept up? Based on my observations, the answer may very well be yes.<br> <br> The creation of two stores might be worth the trouble for the two basic reasons of taxes and operations alone, much less the reasons of increased revenue. I also do agree that a SUPERCENTER will increase traffic to the area from surrounding areas, and even Lewiston, which only has a regular Wal-mart and not a
Supercenter. <br> <br> Another point which you touched on briefly, but I think should have been more greatly attended to, was the idea of a global economy. We cannot protect local businesses from a global economy on the Internet. And that the profits of Wal-Mart go to PERSI. While Wal-Mart does take money out the community, it also brings money and wealth into the community. <br> <br> Take Care,<br> <br> _DJA<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br><br> <br><b><i>Jeff Harkins <jeffh@moscow.com></i></b> wrote:<blockquote class="replbq" style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"> Quite the contrary Andreas - <br><br> Whitman County has moved considerably ahead of Latah County in economic terms - driven primarily by the higher levels of funding at WSU versus UI and the growth of Schweitzer Engineering. And, their ag sector is larger than ours. This provides a catalyst for Walmart to view Whitman !
as a
separate market. It would seem reasonable to me that Walmart expects the Pullman store to draw business from Colfax, Palouse, Uniontown, Albion and Johnson. That would appear to be a sufficient population base to support a supercenter in Pullman.<br><br> In Latah, the Walmart Store draws from Moscow, Genessee, Potlatch, Troy, Elk River, Bovill, Deary, Harvard and Princeton - a slightly lower population base - and at the current time, from Pullman. Could Moscow support its own Supercenter without Pullman shoppers? Seemingly yes, but that is the real question. Walmart seems positioned to take the gamble that the two stores would make it. At the same time, the economic consequences to Pullman having a store and Moscow not are also very real. <br><br> I find it odd that in the convenient analysis of our local market - no one seems to question the viability or appropriateness of having two building centers owned by the same!
folks 9
miles apart. But Moscow Building Supply and Pullman Building Supply both seem to do well - and the Moscow store has to compete with JJ Building Supply and Spence Hardware.<br><br> The fundamental issue for me is not on the retail side - candidly, we have a very diverse consumer population here on the Palouse and it requires a considerable range of product to satiate their demands. Who would have ever thought 5 years ago that Moscow could support more than one Espresso Stand?<br><br> No - our real challenge is to provide for value-added export - businesses and jobs that produce goods and services for sale to customers outside of our economic zone. If we can do that, we will not only want more retail outlets, we will need them. Grow or die - that is our choice.<br><br> At 02:22 PM 1/9/2006, you wrote:<br><br><blockquote type="cite" class="cite" cite=""> <dl> <dd>I guess you would have to discuss the "two stores model" with Walma!
rt
corporate strategists to know why they think two stores is the best way for them to proceed. But it does seem rather clear that they have identified two markets. And there are significant differences in the two markets (Moscow vs Pullman). Pullman does appear to have awakened to the realities of the need for growth and economic development to support their infrastructure and planned infrastructure. <br><br> </dd></dl><br> You can't possibly plead ignorance about the purpose of the two Wal-Mart SuperCenters, Jeff. There's almost certainly an insufficient market for two SuperCenters in the Moscow-Pullman area; comparable populations are sufficiently served by one. This is a long-term investment. WalMart can afford to eat losses from one or both stores -- losses insufficient to trigger an antitrust suit -- for basically eternity. Local businesses that compete with WalMart cannot. <br><br> What we are talking about is not the healthy compe!
tition of
a well-regulated market, and you know this. This is attrition. As soon as local retail (and whatever national competitors aren't able to keep up with WalMart's spend rate) is entirely choked out, they can feel free to close one of the two WalMarts -- but before they do, they can entice Moscow and Pullman into a bidding war to keep this albatross hung around our neck. <br><br> -- ACS</blockquote>_____________________________________________________<br> List services made available by First Step Internet, <br> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994. <br> http://www.fsr.net <br> mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com<br>ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ<br></blockquote><br></div><p>
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