No Cleveland Walmart
I have a million reasons for not shopping at Walmart and for not supporting a Walmart (or any other lame, we've-already-got-a-dozen-in-a-10-mile-radius big-box store) at Steelyard Commons. Some of those reasons are based on things I know about the company (working conditions, censorship, squeezing suppliers, the politics they underwrite), some are physical (my eyes cannot deal with the cheap fluorescent lights they use — same reason I avoid Sears), and some are visceral (weird vibe, that creepy smiley thing, the scent of cheapness wafting through the air, especially from the clothing department).

But I think that Bill Callahan in his 1800 Jobs? puts forth the best argument so far for opposing this development. Somewhere along the line the powers that be are missing the fact that people can buy only so much stuff, especially in our recently dubbed poorest big city in the nation. Building another Home Depot doesn't mean that people will start buying more rototillers overall. More of the same just spreads the same sales out over more stores.

(There's an interesting line of inquiry to follow up on another time. "Same-store sales" is considered to be such a key measure of chain retail growth but chains shoot themselves in the foot by splitting their own markets through building too close together.)

I can almost buy the argument that at least the taxes would be going to Cleveland rather than the suburbs — if I thought that a screw-your-neighbor policy would be productive. But while there are pockets of Cleveland near that site that are doing very well for themselves and have plenty of discretionary cash to spend there, the majority aren't and don't. And you're not going to draw suburban shoppers to Steelyard Commons as currently proposed, with the same old boring stores we all have within a seven-minute drive of our houses and our workplaces, not to mention several places in between. You want retail? Bring on something interesting, something that isn't a cookie-cutter version of every other shopping center done in the last ten years. Legacy Village and Crocker Park are major draws in part because there are stores there that you don't find elsewhere in the area. Bring an Ikea to Steelyard Commons and we can talk. Or better yet, a local flagship store, whatever it may be. But as it stands? Yawn. Double yawn.

But I have a better idea. Let's use the many brains that haven't drained away and come up with something better for that site. Tech park? Business incubator? The world's largest skatepark? Distribution center? Computer school? Nascar track/driving school? (I'm too much of a snob to fully get behind the latter, but at least Tim is thinking outside the box.) Lure some businesses back from the suburbs. Encourage local businesses to think big. Build something cool.

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- posted by Lori @ 8:43:00 PM | permanent link | |