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Wal Mart looks to expand
07 August 2010
A month after council was told by a consultant doing a community economic overview that Collingwood had too much retail space for its size, Wal Mart is pitching to expand.
In fact, the analysis said the region already has four more supermarkets than the provincial average for the population. But Wal Mart wants to almost triple the floor space of its grocery section. Monday's public meeting will hear arguments about expanding the grocery section from 6,000 sq. ft. to over 15,000 sq. ft. I am looking forward to seeing their commercial analysis that justifies an expansion in direct opposition to that our town's consultant told us.
Collingwood alone already has six grocery stores for a population of under 18,000: Loblaws, Sobey's, Metro, Price Chopper, Zeller's and Wal Mart. The latter two are not grocery stores per se, but rather department stores with extensive grocery sections. Wal Mart's grocery section is already 6,000 sq. ft. They want it to be 15,070 sq. ft. and be able to sell "fresh meat, fish, poultry, and produce."
Fifteen thousand sq. ft. is fifteen times the size of my former store and twice as large as the entire mini-mall in which it was housed. Yes, that's small compared to one of the stand-alone grocery stores, but go visit Wal Mart and walk the grocery section. It's pretty big already. Would it be wise to allow it to expand two-and-a-half times that size? Keep in mind, too, that sections like pet foods are not counted in the grocery department, although they do count for the floor space of the grocery stores.
If I recall, OPA 10 clearly stated that a grocery store was not permitted in that area. I would argue that it is merely semantics to say this is a department store with a grocery section. Something that large is clearly more than a mere "section" or department. It's a significant component and should be considered on its own merit, not disguised under the semantic mantle of a "department".
I have been told that most of the big commercial retaillers in the west end are not meeting sales predictions - one, I've been told, by a shortfall of $1,000,000 a month! The market in this region - and particularly in this town - can't support all of the existing retail space, let alone more of it. We're still a small town. If we allow this expansion, we won't be creating new business, just slicing each section of the pie a little thinner for everyone.
That will have ramifications if sales in other grocery stores go down - layoffs, or cut backs in time for workers who are often already stressed by 20-hour weeks. Lower family incomes means less money to spend in local stores and restaurants. It's a domino effect. And if prices lower because of competition, it means less profit. It's always the workers who suffer when management is cutting costs to balance the lower prices.
Keep in mind, too, that a Giant Tiger will open soon downtown, and will also sell a selection of canned and packaged foods. How many food sellers can this small town support? Studies have shown that too many choices causes sales to suffer. Shoppers get overloaded with options, not merely in which store to use, but which of a dozen to a hundred or more products on a shelf to buy.
The other concern I have is that Zeller's will want a tit-for-tat reciprocal expansion of its grocery section if Wal Mart gets granted this expansion. We could see requests for not just another 9,000 sq. ft. but fairly soon for another 18-20,000 sq. ft. That could really hurt the downtown even more.
And to be fair, if we allow a department store to so greatly expand its grocery section, how could we say no if a grocery store requests an expansion of its non-food section? Would we allow Loblaws or Sobey's to add another 9,000 sq. ft. of space for furniture, clothing and toys?
Earlier in this term, this council made the - in my mind - irresponsible decision to permit another 500,000 sq. ft. of commercial space in the west end. Now we've being told that we can't support all the retail businesses we already have, let alone expand. We already have more retail space per capita than all but the largest Canadian cities. In that light, it seems crazy to me to permit this sort of expansion until we have the population to support it.
In fact, the analysis said the region already has four more supermarkets than the provincial average for the population. But Wal Mart wants to almost triple the floor space of its grocery section. Monday's public meeting will hear arguments about expanding the grocery section from 6,000 sq. ft. to over 15,000 sq. ft. I am looking forward to seeing their commercial analysis that justifies an expansion in direct opposition to that our town's consultant told us.
Fifteen thousand sq. ft. is fifteen times the size of my former store and twice as large as the entire mini-mall in which it was housed. Yes, that's small compared to one of the stand-alone grocery stores, but go visit Wal Mart and walk the grocery section. It's pretty big already. Would it be wise to allow it to expand two-and-a-half times that size? Keep in mind, too, that sections like pet foods are not counted in the grocery department, although they do count for the floor space of the grocery stores.
If I recall, OPA 10 clearly stated that a grocery store was not permitted in that area. I would argue that it is merely semantics to say this is a department store with a grocery section. Something that large is clearly more than a mere "section" or department. It's a significant component and should be considered on its own merit, not disguised under the semantic mantle of a "department".
I have been told that most of the big commercial retaillers in the west end are not meeting sales predictions - one, I've been told, by a shortfall of $1,000,000 a month! The market in this region - and particularly in this town - can't support all of the existing retail space, let alone more of it. We're still a small town. If we allow this expansion, we won't be creating new business, just slicing each section of the pie a little thinner for everyone.
That will have ramifications if sales in other grocery stores go down - layoffs, or cut backs in time for workers who are often already stressed by 20-hour weeks. Lower family incomes means less money to spend in local stores and restaurants. It's a domino effect. And if prices lower because of competition, it means less profit. It's always the workers who suffer when management is cutting costs to balance the lower prices.
Keep in mind, too, that a Giant Tiger will open soon downtown, and will also sell a selection of canned and packaged foods. How many food sellers can this small town support? Studies have shown that too many choices causes sales to suffer. Shoppers get overloaded with options, not merely in which store to use, but which of a dozen to a hundred or more products on a shelf to buy.
The other concern I have is that Zeller's will want a tit-for-tat reciprocal expansion of its grocery section if Wal Mart gets granted this expansion. We could see requests for not just another 9,000 sq. ft. but fairly soon for another 18-20,000 sq. ft. That could really hurt the downtown even more.
And to be fair, if we allow a department store to so greatly expand its grocery section, how could we say no if a grocery store requests an expansion of its non-food section? Would we allow Loblaws or Sobey's to add another 9,000 sq. ft. of space for furniture, clothing and toys?
Earlier in this term, this council made the - in my mind - irresponsible decision to permit another 500,000 sq. ft. of commercial space in the west end. Now we've being told that we can't support all the retail businesses we already have, let alone expand. We already have more retail space per capita than all but the largest Canadian cities. In that light, it seems crazy to me to permit this sort of expansion until we have the population to support it.
