Volume 7 number 10, October 2005 Something Wicked This Way Comes: © 2005 by C.R. Stice On April 20, 2004 the largest Wal-Mart store in Alaska, the Fairbanks Wal-Mart Store, encompassing more than 162,570 square feet of retail space and employing approximately 470 associates, opened its doors. The new store offered customers a wide variety of general merchandise, plus an expanded line of foods, was open seven days a week from 6:00 a.m. to midnight, and promptly put a strain on local independent businesses. The Wal-Mart Corporation currently operates six Wal-Mart discount stores and three SAM’S CLUBs in Alaska, and employs more than 2,408 associates in the state. These numbers are about to grow by one new 220,000-square-foot Walmart SuperCenter. The store will be open 24 hours a day and offer grocery and variety shopping, along with a gas station, in the same location. The corporation plans to build in the vicinity of the Mitchell Expressway and Peger Road. The new SuperCenter will occupy 37 acres of land and cost $27 million. The company responsible for designing the building site and groundwork is a civil engineering firm in Anchorage named Halburn. Though the borough’s community planning department has said that the firm has applied for building and zoning permits, Halburn itself has denied the existence of the building permits and has no comment on the presence of zoning permits. Their position seems to be that this site is tentative, and they have said that Wal-Mart is currently assessing the value of the project from an investment point of view. They have also said that Wal-Mart has yet to purchase the property. However, an opinion piece in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner published October 9, 2005 has affirmed that the permits are indeed moving their way through local government. If this store is constructed, it will not be in place until sometime after 2005. The Wal-Mart Corporation has tacitly not listed projected new stores beyond the current calendar year. Nevertheless, the impending presence of another Wal-Mart store in the Fairbanks area is something the public should not ignore. Because the site is zoned correctly for a store the construction likely won’t be subject to any official public comment as its permits move through the local government process. This also means there won't be any zoning change request that could come to the borough assembly. A local group calling itself the Fairbanks Grassroots Network is already mobilizing to prevent the establishment of this second store. Nationwide, organizations as large as the AFL-CIO have also opposed or sought to change Wal-Mart’s business practices. Community opposition has spawned networks and websites, such as www.wakeupwalmart.com and www.walmartwatch.org. In a series of articles beginning with this one, The Ester Republic will confront the issue more directly, providing updates as they come available and exploring the rationales of those opposing the chain and of those supporting it. The Republic will attempt to answer the question, “Is another Wal-Mart something wicked coming our way, or a welcome boon to our economy?”
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