Friend or foe, Salt Lake City's second Wal-Mart is coming — but not for at least another three years.
Although the retail giant recently purchased the Kmart on 2705 E. Parleys Way, Wal-Mart says it will let its competitor stay on the property until the end of the lease in 2008. The extra time, Wal-Mart community affairs manager Ryan Horn said, will give the store time to work with the community on "different options besides moving into that store."
"While we simply could move in and turn it into a Wal-Mart Supercenter, we feel like Salt Lake City and the surrounding neighborhood deserve something a little better than that," he said. Possibilities include a redesign of the store or a smaller-scale Wal-Mart version, like a neighborhood market.
The city is planning to work with Wal-Mart to create a more aesthetically pleasing store, outside of the typical, so-called big box. Alison McFarland, Salt Lake's economic development director, said the city hopes it can be a mixed-use project or even broader.
"That's kind of a gateway to the city, so we want to make sure designs are compatible with the area," she said.
The location is off the I-80 freeway in a large shopping center near the mouth of the canyon. The city has requested an appointment to meet with Wal-Mart and discuss a new design option for the store. For example, the Wal-Mart in Park City has a copper roof and architectural towers depicting mine shafts.
Although the store has a reputation of wiping out local small businesses, officials from Sugar House, a primarily independent business district of Salt Lake, say it's too early to speculate what kind of impact Wal-Mart would have on the local stores.
A November 2004 PBS documentary titled "Is Wal-Mart good for America?" found that Wal-Marts get 84 percent of their business from existing stores. But because the Parleys Way Wal-Mart would replace an existing large retailer in an area already zoned for commercial use, the store probably won't wipe out smaller competition, some officials say.
"With all the problems that Kmart has had, we're probably very relieved that Wal-Mart would step up and make it a win-win situation," said Lane Beattie, president and CEO of the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce.
In 2002, Kmart filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, which led to the closing of 600 stores. "Hopefully, they'll have a more stable company at this point in time. It should end up being a positive edition. It's hard for us to see how that cannot be an advantage."
But Mark Holland, chairman of the Sugar House community council, said: "There's a world of difference between Wal-Mart and Kmart."
But he is "noncommittal" on his support or opposition, for now.
"I think the overall view is, at this point, there's just not enough information that's out there to really make any kind of informed response. We can talk hypotheticals. But I just don't know. It's way early in the game. Three years? That's a lifetime."
Despite opposition by residents in Sandy, Riverton, Ogden and Centerville, eight Wal-Mart Supercenter's and one neighborhood market opened last year in Utah. Currently, there are 24 Wal-Mart Supercenters, four discount stores, five neighborhood markets, seven Sam's Clubs and three distribution centers in Utah, bringing the total number of state Wal-Mart employees to approximately 17,747.
Wal-Mart has just one store in Salt Lake City, located on the southeast corner of 300 West and 1300 South.
In his 2005 State of the City speech, Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson chided Wal-Mart for depleting local businesses and paying employees low wages.
"We will do all we can to support the interests of our local businesses, working people and taxpayers, now and into the future, rather than spend public money on Wal-Marts," he said. "We must all understand the damage the Wal-Marts of our nation have done to local communities and their locally owned businesses — and the ways in which taxpayers often end up subsidizing their low wages and lack of decent benefits, including health-care coverage."
McFarland said she is excited for the open discussion with Wal-Mart. During the spring International Council of Shopping Centers convention in Las Vegas, McFarland said she was particularly impressed with Wal-Mart's plan to reach out to the communities they build in. When asked during a panel discussion about taking over small communities, she said Wal-Mart had the best answer.
"Wal-Mart was probably the most encouraging as far as talking about how they want to work project-by-project, city-by-city and work with the community to create something for everybody," she said. "I think there's a bit more sensitivity now to what goes into communities."
Although Kmart does not release sales records for individual stores, spokesman Stephen Pagnani said the store was not underperforming, because all of the stores in that category were closed when the corporation filed for bankruptcy.
As for the next three years, "Most of our properties are leased and sometimes they do sell, but that does not affect the store."
In 2003, Kmart exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as Kmart Holding Corp. And in 2004, Kmart combined with Sears, Roebuck and Co. in an $11 billion deal.
Contributing: Associated Press
E-mail: astowell@desnews.com