This Wal-Mart store almost didn't get built because of intense local
opposition. But on Wednesday, the latest addition to the retail giant's
empire finally opens in Inver Grove Heights.
As the grand opening approaches, support, opposition and ambivalence
for Wal-Mart remains.
Thousands of customers are expected. At a 7:30 a.m. pre-opening
ceremony, politicians will show, a high school choir will sing the
national anthem and a local VFW post will present the flag. That
afternoon, a Minnesota Wild player will sign autographs.
But diehard opponents won't be found buying there. Protesting, maybe,
but not buying.
"If it's the last place to shop, I wouldn't shop there," said Bernie
Hesse, organizer for United Food and Commercial Workers Local 789, a labor
union based in South St. Paul.
What if the store sells a TV for $100 cheaper than the competition?
No, said Hesse.
A shirt for $10 less?
No, said Hesse.
Wal-Mart doesn't need Hesse's business, of course, since it is getting
almost everyone else's — or so it seems.
Aggressive cost-cutting — from low wages for its non-union employees to
shelves stocked with products made cheaply overseas — has made Wal-Mart a
smash hit. The company last year reported sales of $244.5 billion and says
it employs 1.3 million people worldwide.
In Minnesota, Wal-Mart operates 13 supercenters, 32 discount stores and
13 Sam's Clubs and employs 17,504 people. More than a dozen Wal-Mart
outlets are doing business in the metropolitan area, with new stores
planned in St. Paul, West St. Paul and Woodbury.
"They are a drain, for the most part, on communities," said Hesse, who
is trying to get retail workers to join unions. "Communities are built by
strong families. You can't raise families on $7 or $8 an hour."
Despite the backlash against Wal-Mart, even critics concede the
Arkansas-based company's practices have made business more efficient. And
some of the opposition to Wal-Mart's entry into Inver Grove Heights was
based more on the size and design of the company's original plans.
In the end, critics succeeded in getting Wal-Mart to build smaller,
make design changes that improved the store's appearance and drop plans to
surround itself with traffic-intensive retail shops.
A pair of activists who helped wage the battle against Wal-Mart aren't
as adamantly opposed to the company as Hesse, the union leader.
Christopher Riess and Eric Schubert made names for themselves through a
local organization called Citizens for a Better Inver Grove Heights. Both
live near the store.
Reiss remains torn about whether to patronize Wal-Mart.
"Just the more I learned in the battle itself, I guess, the more
opposed I am to the concept of Wal-Mart," Riess said. "Will I shop there
for price? No. For normal, everyday shopping, I'll avoid it. If I buy
something there, it will be a matter of convenience: My 2-year-old needs
something now."
Schubert has no such reservations. He would have preferred Target,
which he regards as a better corporate citizen. But he said his complaints
against Wal-Mart were based more on the details of the original plan.
"I do plan to shop there. It's right in my back yard," Schubert said.
"We have one of the country's best-looking Wal-Marts. If we wouldn't have
gotten involved, we would have had just another ugly, big box. It was a
textbook case of civic involvement."
The store's neutral-brick exterior is a better blend with the
increasingly upscale homes in the neighborhood. There are also no loud
neon signs. The store is on 9165 Cahill Ave., near the intersections with
Concord Boulevard and visible from U.S. 52.
"We'll be open by 8 a.m.," said store manager John Hamm, a Texan who
came to Minnesota three years ago to manage the Wal-Mart in Eagan.
Hamm said the 137,482-square-foot store is average size. Hours are 7
a.m. to 11 p.m. daily, he said, and 250 people will be employed — 60
percent full time. Most are residents of Inver Grove Heights or West St.
Paul, Hamm said, noting that the store had no problem getting "a lot of
good applications."
Despite the initial local opposition, Hamm said, Wal-Mart has "been
well received."
He said the store looks snappier than other Wal-Marts. "The front of it
is different — the way they have the roof alcove and canopies, it is
completely different," Hamm said.
How Wal-Mart fits into the growing Dakota County suburb, now with
30,000 residents, could affect the shape of future development there.
Some want to preserve the image of a rural, bedroom community. Others
argue the city, whose population could reach 40,000 people, needs more
places to shop.
State Rep. Joe Atkins, DFL-Inver Grove Heights, was mayor when he and
the rest of the City Council voted in 2002 to approve Wal-Mart's modified
plans. Atkins recalled contentious negotiations, during which the company
even threatened not to build.
"The end result was the best anybody could have hoped for," Atkins
said. "I thought it was a great exercise and a great community
builder."
Like it or not, he said, there's not much city governments can do to
stop Wal-Marts. "Our hands were somewhat tied, legally, in terms of what
we had to do."
Plus, Atkins said, "The argument heard over and over was: We need more
places to buy — you name it, from shoes and clothes to sporting goods.
Wal-Mart certainly fits that bill."
