Wish to have a Walmart in south

[livingssky]

I'm living in Nanaimo south. wish we would have a Walmart (a supercenter is great) someday close to the neighborhood. Or even a Canadian Tire. Hate to drive to woodgrove.......

[Wyatt Earp]

Be careful what you wish for. Walmarts are a large part of the economic problem that has caused our economy to tank. Although both of those you mention are slated for the Sandstone development you can always drive to Duncan which as I have timed (also living in the south end) is about the same time to travel to Woodgrove.

[Nostradama]

Be careful what you wish for. Walmarts are a large part of the economic problem that has caused our economy to tank. Although both of those you mention are slated for the Sandstone development you can always drive to Duncan which as I have timed (also living in the south end) is about the same time to travel to Woodgrove.

Wise words.

I know that a lot of people would like to see a more accessible WalMart, but in the States I've gone through a lot of towns smaller than downtown Nanaimo where there's basically nothing left, with stores boarded up. WalMart's opened up just beyond the city limits (lower taxes and fewer regulations) and local longer-established businesses have had two choices: follow WalMart to the edge of town, or close down. If another WalMart were to open in south Nanaimo, I think it would be the absolute end of our current downtown Nanaimo.

[sheena]

I detest Walmart - full of mostly cheap junk. Southern Nanaimo does need better shopping - it sucks that you have to drive to the North end to buy a pair of socks or a pair of jeans. Opening stores at the Sandstone development shouldn't drive business away from downtown - especially when there are no department stores there anymore. The stores downtown are basically specialty stores - boutique stores. I love to poke around the stores there myself, however if you need everyday merchandise - if they don't have it at London Drugs then you have to make that drive, or if you don't drive have to contend with buses.

[Nostradama]

I detest Walmart - full of mostly cheap junk. Southern Nanaimo does need better shopping - it sucks that you have to drive to the North end to buy a pair of socks or a pair of jeans. Opening stores at the Sandstone development shouldn't drive business away from downtown - especially when there are no department stores there anymore. The stores downtown are basically specialty stores - boutique stores. I love to poke around the stores there myself, however if you need everyday merchandise - if they don't have it at London Drugs then you have to make that drive, or if you don't drive have to contend with buses.

Cheapster that I am, I shop WalMart for some things. For example, why should I pay $1 more per pack for a tuna snack pack at "well known supermarket chain" than at WalMart? A lot of other things come from Costco--"grannie panties" , socks that are never going to be worn outside the house, etc. But I absolutely see your point. I suppose it would depend, too, on what types of stores open at Sandstone. I know that a few years ago (a manager there, former student, told me) WalMart was considering changing to a "WalMart SuperStore". I assume they would have built "up", not "out" but that was before they built the Duncan store. So I assume that's not going to happen now. I'm pretty sure that it would have sunk the Woodgrove SaveOn, or at least seriously reduced their revenue. But with the WalMart in the north end and the WalMart SuperStore in Duncan, I don't see them putting another in the south end in this economic climate.

And with even WalMart (altho' in the States, haven't heard about Canada) laying people off, and with their relatively new Duncan store, I wonder if they would build another store in the south end? Eaton's is gone, Woodward's is gone, so that leaves the Bay and Sears as possibilities for the south end. And because I'm in the Bay frequently, I suspect there are problems there, too. Example: bought a pair of black suede ankle boots there a while ago, marked down from almost $200 to $55, and then discovered that they were marked down an additional 35% off the $55 at the check-out. More jobs lost, more people living on the edge financially.

So if the large department stores are in trouble, as I suspect, who will go into a new shopping area in the south end? If it's small specialty or boutique stores, south-end people are hooped again, and that's not good.

I have a huge amount of sympathy for the growing south-end population, particularly those with no car of their own, depending upon a poorly-planned public transit system, when it comes to shopping. Has to be almost beyond difficult. I don't know how some people manage it.

[albertabluesky]

Nostra, would you be willing to pay that extra $1 if you knew the $1 would stay in the local economy and employ a neighbour? This is the problem with 'Walmart Economics'(as I call it), their advertising instills in us a sense of entitlement to pay a lower price for goods each time we purchase them...without thought of where the savings are extracted...they are extracted from employee wages/benefits, your neighbours...think the guys in the Ivory Towers are taking a paycut or getting laid off right now? No, they are well protected...it's the front line workers that face the chopping block, as the 'margins' are not big enough to support the staff levels...
The smaller businesses do not have the buying power muscle that a Walmart has; Walmart can bankrupt a supplier (ie Rubbermaid) unless said supplier can provide goods for an ever decreasing price...the cost of that? Manufacturing jobs go overseas where wages are cheaper, more locals out of work...vicious circle really, as those out of work locals now look for cheaper prices and the cycle continues...
BTW, I'm a capitalist, but with a strong social conscience...if you can believe that they can co-exist!

[Wyatt Earp]

Exactly!

Now, considering that the island walmart head office is the Duncan super store it isn't likely that it would move to standstone strictly for the reason of geography. Too few people. That said, shops that are supposed to be in there are things like CTire, Home Depot, Lowes, Coast Mountain Sports, Nevada Bobs, American Eagle, Old Navy and maybe even an outlet type store or two. That said, you may also see things like the Lord and Taylor (the company that owns HBC), Sears and even a few chain family eateries like Tony Roma's, Eastside Mario's, Red Devil, Olive Garden and that sort of thing - that is to say if they don't get built in front of Country Grocery first anyway.

I too am a capitalist with a conscience. Yes, Rubbermaid and another bathroom tissue company went under because of Wally World. The record companies that still exist need to chater to WM or they simply don't survive - freedom of speech etc. - only if WM says they'll sell it...

[kickidee]

They are taking shoping away from south end not adding to it. If we have to travel to Duncan or north end to get stuff it will help the city grow in a positive way.
Not too big a sacrifice is it?
I will just make do with what I can get at London Drugs, shoopers, Value village Thriftys and quality foods and how much I can get in a cart to go over the rough stuff.
Whistleing and keeping a positive attitude all the way.
Sure hope these last few shops that provide basics do not move. I will have to garden and raise rabbits for protien.
If they still deliver papers I will have to develop a tougher attitude but they used to use magazines in the out houses didnt they?
Just remember to write "One of Nanaimos Heros" on the gravestone, If you can find a rock this way to use indelible felt pen on.
A wall mart in South Nanaimo? Not on your life!

[Wyatt Earp]

Kickidee,

I don't see examples of what you are saying here? Sure the Port Mall is changing but things are happening to the old Harwood (unniversity Heights), Down Town, Chase River and that sort of thing so...

[Nostradama]

Nostra, would you be willing to pay that extra $1 if you knew the $1 would stay in the local economy and employ a neighbour? This is the problem with 'Walmart Economics'(as I call it), their advertising instills in us a sense of entitlement to pay a lower price for goods each time we purchase them...without thought of where the savings are extracted...they are extracted from employee wages/benefits, your neighbours...think the guys in the Ivory Towers are taking a paycut or getting laid off right now? No, they are well protected...it's the front line workers that face the chopping block, as the 'margins' are not big enough to support the staff levels...
The smaller businesses do not have the buying power muscle that a Walmart has; Walmart can bankrupt a supplier (ie Rubbermaid) unless said supplier can provide goods for an ever decreasing price...the cost of that? Manufacturing jobs go overseas where wages are cheaper, more locals out of work...vicious circle really, as those out of work locals now look for cheaper prices and the cycle continues...
BTW, I'm a capitalist, but with a strong social conscience...if you can believe that they can co-exist!

I'm a person with very little social conscience, I suppose, although I certainly believe that many capitalists with social consciences exist, the much-maligned (albeit for other reasons) Bill Gates, for example. OTOH, I have two family members by a long-dissolved marriage who worked for several years at the local WalMart, mother and son working to help pay for the son's education at VIU. If it had not been for those two jobs, it's possible that either son would not have graduated from VIU, or would have started his working life with a back-breaking load of student loan debt. Powered by my belief that "charity begins at home", I chipped in, too, having no children of my own to educate.

I also realize that WalMart has become such a major presence in the world markeplace that there seems to be no government capable of reining them in. This should not have happened, but it's a fact of life we have to live with. Not good. But not a problem begun with the emergence of Wally World. The importation of cheaper-made foreign goods certainly existed in England in the 1920s, when a huge source of cheaply-made goods was India. (No, I'm not that old, I'm operating on the reminiscences of my parents.) And after WW II, "Made in Japan" was another name for "cheap and shoddy." That I do remember.

On the "lack of social conscience" side, which is something I readily admit to, I see billions of dollars flowing into Haiti for earthquake relief, millions of those dollars from Canada, and I wonder why that money has never seemed to be available to help those in Canada who, equally, have nowhere to live and who are not quite sure where their next meal will come from. I will not donate to help Haiti, or any other foreign country, until I'm satisfied that the hungry and homeless of Canada are provided for. Realistic enough to understand I will never see that in my lifetime.