Something Wal-Mart This Way Comes
Sep 09, 2007
Alright…so I stole that title from South Park. 🙂 Everyone right now is up in arms over the proposed Super Wal-Mart on Anderson – in the old Northcross Mall location. It will definitely increase traffic flow, but anything in that location that’s mildly successful would increase traffic over what’s currently in there. Northcross Mall? The place is a joke – I don’t think the ice rink is even open anymore. Now I’m not the biggest fan of Wal-Mart, but the Northcross location really needs to be used for something, well, useful. And the best use of that location is something big – be it a mall, Wal-Mart, Target, or any of the other big box stores. In Austin, we like to keep it local, and the only local business that could fill a spot that large is Whole Foods – and they’re already downtown & in the Arboretum. Unfortunately, we don’t need a Whole Foods to service every 3 square miles.
So what are we left with & where are we going? The Wal-Mart, in my opinion, is inevitable. Responsible Growth for Northcross is suing, but if they win, Wal-Mart is going to sue. Trust me, Wal-Mart has much more money than RG4N and will come out on top. In order to maintain some level of decent public relations, Wal-Mart has even redesigned this store with much more focus on style.
The style of the building is really killer. They’re also incorporating a deli style restaurant on the ground level. This design is as different from a traditional Wal-Mart as Central Market stores are from H-E-B’s. The residents of Allandale (which includes my girlfriend,) Crestview, & Northtowne really don’t have to worry about this storefront devaluing the neighborhood, or about losing (much) street cred for living near a Wal-Mart. If an out-of-towner drives by this store it’s going to reinforce the fact that these are trendy ‘hoods since they built this style of store here.
Does this make me want to give Wal-Mart a big warm hug? No, absolutely not. But I do appreciate them taking into account the type of area of town where they’re building, and modifying their store design.
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