The lastest battle in the Echelon Wal-Mart took place last week. PREIT has a 30-day extention to get their Wal-Mart plan approved. It approved once, than it turned out it wasn't done right so they Mall was set back yet again.
In the mean time the Mall has slipped farther into a coma. Nathans pulled out of the food court. In addittion Fredericks of HOllywood (or was it the other one?) pulled out.
The people that are against the Wal-Mart think they have a better idea. They want an a main street type place. With a place for people to walk and ride bikes with some offices, shops and resturants. Basically, they are trying to be like Collingswood. The didn't mention trying to attract a large amount of homosexuals to compete with Collingswood though.
I don't know if anyone from these protest groups have any business background at all. So, it comes off pretty comical that they tell the company with a proven track record with malls to do with their investment.
Anyway, with Mainstreet, and the Ritz and Eagle shopping centers I don't really see this being a big better plan.
Its very likely that the tug of war will end in an empty mall for many years to come. Perhaps sometime in September the Wal-Mart war will finally come to and end. ITs been over a year since the whole plan frist came to light.
Related ARticle
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
I have a feeling the assholes of Voorhees are going to get what they want. Not that I want a WalMart, but a Best Buy would be pretty cool. But whatever. It looks like a new Main Street is a-comin'.
But as far as I know PREIT is not in the business of making little down town villages. So, I dont see them just throwing their hands up in the air and saying OKAY.
Thats like asking the people who own Clementon Park to put up a grocery store, because the people need and want it.
I see what you are saying but, these people think are above a WalMart. The problem is I am sure that once built, they would shop there b/c it is convenient. I just have a feeling that Voorhees doesn't want to look 'bad' b/c it has a WalMart.
WalMart is evil. It would destroy the mall. No one is going to buy something at the mall from a 17-year old kid making $6.50 an hour when they can buy the same thing cheaper from a 35-year-old mother of two making $6.00.
If it were Target, I'd be supporting it 100%. But not WalMart. Not ever WalMart.
As for convenince... I pass a WalMart on my way to Target. I will never set foot in one of those stores in my life. They are evil.
Keith, I realize you meant it as a joke, and I'm willing to take it as such, but your homosexual line sounded really bad.
I have no problem with Gay people. Nor did it mean anything towards Drew or TL (who I think also lives there).
I do live in Collingswood and I did do a double-take on your gay reference, but that's about it. It didn't sound like gay bashing or Colls bashing at all to me.
Drew, I'm right there with you...mostly. Wal-Mart is evil, yet I do find myself shopping there once in a while, but only as a last resort. I watched a recent Frontline episode on PBS about Wal-Mart (or "Wally World", as my cousin calls it) and was appalled at the way they operate. The have completely and single-handedly reversed the traditional way in which goods are manufactured and sold. They can now dictate who manufactures what and for how much money. While that does mean lower prices for the consumer, it also means that they can drive whole companies out of business with the stroke of a pen. That kind of ruthless focus on the bottom line also helps to create deplorable working conditions for those who manufacture what Wal-Mart wants. It's a bizarre turnabout with potentially dire long-term consequences worldwide.
Then of course there's the more tangible effect of their stores quickly running local shops out of business. Add to that they fact that they usually get the kind of generous tax breaks that local business owners don't. That further erodes the local tax base, making it more and more difficult for municipalities to pay for services.
The list goes on and on. Wal-Mart is evil and I encourage everyone to minimize their exposure to it.
As for Echelon, I wonder if the Colls-like plan wouldn't just be the best option. Regrowing the mall with or without Wal-Mart would increase traffic, which appears to be something the locals don't want. Raze the mall, build housing and small local retail spaces, and keep the scale fairly small.
At least, that's the way I'm leaning today. [TL]
It seems that again Wal Mart has reached an all new low. They do offer their employees a healthcare plan but it is so outrageously expensive that with the miniscule hourly wage they get it is unaffordable. This in turn makes the employees turn to the state and get healthcare through NJ Family Care, which isn't anything to be ashamed of, but from what I heard on the radio the state of NJ is getting pissed at Wal Mart for doing this. The state is footing the bill and Wal Mart's healthcare expenses are going down.
RSS Announcer instantly and automatically submits your RSS feeds
Post a Comment