Pictures of Proposed Clarkston Wal-Mart Supercenter

As promised, first some day and night shots. The Costco across the street will look like an ugly duckling in comparison to Wal-Mart. Click on the picture for a larger
image:


Click "Read More" to see other views.

Close-up from the right:


And the left:


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"Wal-Mart unveils details of new super center planned for Clarkston"

The PARDners claim that they have saved the city of Pullman hundreds of thousands of dollars through their efforts at fighting Wal-Mart by "forcing" the retailer to pay a portion of installing traffic lights and traffic calming devices on Bishop Blvd.

Like everything else they have said, this is also a lie.

Down in Clarkston, where Wal-Mart has faced zero opposition, Wal-Mart is spending $500,000 on traffic upgrades, including two stoplights, widening a street, building a bus stop, erecting a sound barrier, and landscaping to limit vehicle light, VOLUNTARILY.

In addition, Clarkston is going to get the first Supercenter in Washington, and one of the first in the country, that incorporates a very cool new store branding. I'll have pictures later.

I'm sure much of the traffic improvements and coolness factor that could have been Pullman's was burned up along with the hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal expenses Wal-Mart likely had to pay to fight PARD's numerous frivilous and baseless legal challenges

Not to mention the fact that Clarkston will have their store and start reaping the sales tax benefits many months before the one in Pullman is built.

From today's Lewiston Tribune:

Wal-Mart officials said a new design is being considered for the Wal-Mart Supercenter to be built in Clarkston, in the Port of Clarkston area.

The super store Wal-Mart plans to build across from Costco in Clarkston will be an 180,000-square-foot building with a tire center, drive-through pharmacy and garden center.

Those services will be in addition to the groceries, clothing, toys, cosmetics, and electronics typically sold in Wal-Mart Supercenters.

A spokeswoman for the world's largest retailer shared more of the details about the store in an interview this week.

Jennifer Spall, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman in Seattle, couldn't immediately provide a date for the groundbreaking.

Construction, which Wal-Mart hopes will be finished by July, normally takes between nine and 12 months. Wal-Mart spends about another three months hiring employees and outfitting the store.

The Wal-Mart in Clarkston will be the first in Washington, and among the first in the nation, to have an updated look associated with a new branding effort, Spall said.

The front facade will have three entrances of various scale and design to break up the "mass of the building," Spall wrote in an e-mail.

Canopies will extend from the building walls over the sidewalk, according to the e-mail. "The roof line is broken up in varying roof styles and heights."

A large landscape feature, such as a mature state tree, will be placed in the vicinity of the entrance, Spall said.

Wal-Mart has promised to make upgrades of more than $500,000 to handle the 9,000 to 10,500 vehicles that will be driving to the store each day at Fifth and Fair streets.

The largest items in the package are two traffic lights, which will likely cost $250,000 each. One of the signals will be at Fifth and Fair streets. The other will be at 15th and Bridge streets.

Other improvements Wal-Mart will make include widening Port Drive adjacent to the Wal-Mart property from two to three lanes, a bus stop on Fair Street, a sound barrier on the south and western edges of the property that are closest to residential neighborhoods and landscaping to limit vehicle light from entering residences.

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Quote of the Day

"The super Wal-Mart provides Clarkston a great opportunity to enhance and expand its retail trade center," [University of Idaho economist Steve] Peterson said.

The super center will keep customers in the community and attract customers from outside the community.

"The valley is going to become a destination shopping area, a retail trade hub," he said.

The Moscow and Pullman communities haven't decided whether they want large-scale retail trade expansion, he said. "If they don't want it in those communities, then the valley can expand down here," Peterson added.

- David Cole, "Experts offer Wal-Mart survival tips; When Clarkston gets a super center, other retailers may need to re-evaluate their methods," Lewiston Tribune, May 6, 2008

Think local first, shop L-C Valley later...

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Say What?

Regarding Moscow's experience with Wal-Mart [Pullman Mayor Glenn] Johnson says, "everybody else has co-existed over there." Oh really? K-Mart didn't last long. The Emporium moved into the space that Penny's created when they left and now the Emporium is gone, leaving a major hole in the Palouse Mall (along with other mall vacancies) Winco took K-Mart's space but that did in Tidyman's. Many downtown businesses such as Myklebusts and Ken's Stationery have closed.

- Tri-State owner Gerard Connelly, "HIS VIEW: Mayor's reaction to Wal-Mart naive," Moscow-Pullman Daily News, December 16, 2004

Connelly said sales at the Tri-State in Moscow jumped 43 percent the first year Wal-Mart built its store.

- David Cole, "Experts offer Wal-Mart survival tips; When Clarkston gets a super center, other retailers may need to re-evaluate their methods," Lewiston Tribune, May 6, 2008

Gerard "The Man of a Thousand Faces" Connelly's position on Wal-Mart seems to change with regard to both the audience to whom he is speaking and the proximity of one of his stores to Wal-Mart. It does make for entertaining reading.

I'm wondering, however, why Clarkston needed a forum on Wal-Mart. There's already a Wal-Mart in the L-C Valley, as well as big boxes Costco, Home Depot, K-Mart and ShopKo and mini-box "category killers" Pier One Imports, Famous Footwear, Petco, Eddie Bauer, and Ross.

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