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You need to buy milk, paper towels, bananas, socks and blank CDs. Oh, and your car needs an oil change. Where do you go?
For almost all of us, the answer is the same -- Wal-Mart. It's probably the only place where you can get all of those things taken care of under one roof.
For convenience, Wal-Mart cannot be outdone, particularly in supercenter form. Consumers flock to the stores attracted by the one-stop shopping experience.
This has been extremely profitable for Wal-Mart. They each have the giant parking lot, huge white backlit letters, a squadron of carts and septuagenarian greeters. Some call this uniformity a strong business identity, while others disparage it as commercial sprawl that eliminates smaller competitors.
This sort of controversy is more and more prevalent, particularly in recent years. While most municipal governments welcome the commerce and tax revenue that comes with these 24-hour retail juggernauts, the stores have their share of detractors. In addition to allegations of work force exploitation and immigration violations, the chain has been accused of driving down property values and having large negative impacts on surrounding areas.
I always believed that last assertion to be hard to substantiate. It just seems like a far-fetched claim by people intent on keeping blue-vested employees away.
However, a chance look at a Wal-Mart construction site has made a believer of me, at least partially.
The site is located in Edmond, at Interstate 35 and 15th Street. I hadn't been in the area in some time. As I crested a hill, I found myself staring at a number of dirt piles, each several stories high.
To say it ruined the neighborhood view is putting it mildly. What had been old-tree woods sheltering a quiet neighborhood now looked like an open-pit mine from the former Soviet Union.
Everything within a few hundred feet was covered with the red dirt.
The ever-present wind carried it into the streets and neighborhoods unfortunate enough to be located close to the site. Normally immaculate cars would look like they had just run the Baja 1,000 after simply driving by the site on an especially windy day. And the construction has only just begun.
I'm not naive enough to automatically label something bad because of some dirt, but consider the forthcoming traffic issues. The parking lot of this future supercenter, like all such lots, will have spaces enough for several hundred vehicles.
During certain times of the week, that lot will be very close to full. That will likely triple the number of cars present within 1,000 feet of that intersection.
And all those cars will have to leave sometime. When this mass of vehicular insanity pours out of the lot, it'll be lively driving to avoid fender benders on those two roads.
Adding to the plate of problems is the fact that this Wal-Mart will be open 24 hours a day, meaning that nighttime will not bring respite from traffic, noise and the potential crime that exists at any major retail location.
Most of these residents fought (understandably so) for more than a year to prevent the construction of this Wal-Mart. Ultimately, however, the city authorities and Wal-Mart prevailed. Not only do the residents have to live with the store almost literally in their back yard, but they didn't really have much to say in the matter.
As much as we want to believe that democracy exists in all things, Wal-Mart didn't have to convince a majority of residents to let them build. They didn't have to ask anyone but the city council, which numbers about 10.
In the end, the promise of increased revenue and commerce won the day.
Wal-Marts bring a huge number and variety of goods at reasonable prices. However, they radically change the characteristics of the area they occupy simply through excess. The store in question will be no different.
Most shoppers probably won't care about the negatives, though. They'll just be glad it's not their neighborhood that Wal-Mart moved into.
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