Bottineau Walmart opening in December

[BreaOC]

Originally Posted by chester

What town DOESN'T have one anymore?? LOL.

I hear that! LOL That's too bad for the Albertsons in Dickinson, I really like that store. Of course, I've only been to the ones here in SoCal, so the two up there may be different. I always liked Dans Supermarkets. Very clean! And (most of) the Hornbachers in Fargo were nice too. Are you sure the Williston store is 225,000 sq ft, I read it was only 203,500 sq ft, according to the Williston Herald. Regardless it is still much larger than the Bottineau or Wahpeton stores (at 100,000).

[chester]

Oops...actually I read it wrong...it is 215,000. I found this on the wal-mart site.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. - Williston Wal-Mart Supercenter Opens Wednesday; Presents $32,750 in Community Grants
WILLISTON, N.D., Sept. 13, 2006 – The new Williston Wal-Mart Supercenter is donating a total of $32,750 in grants to several local organizations, including the Salvation Army food bank, as a part of its opening celebration. Doors open to the public Wednesday, Sept. 20, at 8 a.m.

The new 215,000-square-foot Supercenter, located at 4001 Second Ave. W., is designed as a convenient one-stop family shopping center. The 7:30 a.m. grand opening ceremony will celebrate the relocated Supercenter with community leaders sharing what the store brings to the area, including every day low prices, economic impact through jobs and tax revenues and several grants to the local community.

Also...on the Dickinson Albertson store closing...I think its closing had more to do with the fact that Super Valu bought out Albertson's (but still keeping Albertson stores names for its current stores)...Dickinson has a Dan's (owned by Super Valu)...so in a way, the 2 stores were competing with each other. That is what I heard anyway.

[BreaOC]

Originally Posted by chester

Oops...actually I read it wrong...it is 215,000. I found this on the wal-mart site.

You're right, the 203,500 was what the store was proposed to be, but when completed the structure was at 215,000. Crazy Williston Herald

[paulyt23]

Many of the items in Wal-Mart are not cheaper than what's available at other stores. Wal-mart has what are called opening price point items, where they put out very cheap (less than at-cost) items to lure people into a department. However, once, they've got you in the department, you find the item you're really looking for and many times it's not the cheapest in town. The opening price points were an ingenious invention of Sam Walton because shoppers think that because the opening price point item is cheap, everything else in the department is cheap as well. But that's certainly not the case.

I have to agree with the other writers on here about the food. It's of the worst quality I've found anywhere except for Aldi's. The food is often cheap, but you're getting what you're paying for and many times it's very unhealthy food. I don't live in North Dakota anymore and I realize that Fargo doesn't even have a store like Whole Foods, but I shop there now in St. Paul, and even though the food is more expensive, I've lost 25 pounds simply because the food there is so much healthier. Because the food is of high quality, you don't have to eat as much to seem full. They also use a lot less sodium, high fructose corn syrup and other very unhealthy ingredients in their foods. Most cheap food, including the stuff at McDonalds and Burger King contains ingredients that will make people feel hungrier, and so people will keep eating and eating. Big food corporations like ConAgra and Nestle know this and they put this stuff into the foods we buy.

I know Bottineau is too small for something like a Whole Foods, but is there a farmers market in town? It really seems crazy that we've developed an economy where most of what people eat in North Dakota is shipped in and sold at places like Wal-Mart even though ND is a huge farming state. Just think how much wealthier North Dakota would be if it actually had local markets where small farmers could actually sell their own products. Right now we ship out raw materials, most of the value of the food is added somewhere else where it is packaged and processed, and then we have to buy it back from giant corporations like Wal-Mart who could care less about the people in local communities, their identity, their histories, and everything else related to local sentiment.

All I'm saying is that there's a cost to the low prices at Wal-Mart, and many of their prices aren't even that low. There's a cost to physical health, a cost to the local autonomy, a cost to local farms, and cost to workers who are not treated fairly at the Wal-Mart stores.

[BottineauResident]

I have read all the posts and thought you guys would like to hear from someone who grew up here and recently moved back. First of all, Walmart chose to build here because of the high reservation population just twenty five miles away. Lake Metigoshe is also only twelve miles away with what I would guess to be about 1500 residents during the school year and ballooning to over 5000 in the summertime. These residents are in Bottineau nearly everyday since there isn't much for businesses at the lake and the residents are in the Bottineau school district. Walmart has hurt only a hanful of businesses in town. The local Ace Hardware closed down almost immediately, but that was foreseen anyway since there was already a larger agricultural supply store which carries anything Ace would have had. Another business hurt is Pamida which everyone saw coming since they are in direct competition with each other. I don't expect them to last much longer, although locals have said their prices have come down to compete. The other businesses in town seem to be thriving since they are easily accessible to the traffic that comes to town for Walmart. This includes the restaurants, bars, gas stations and other specialty shops downtown. I think it has been a great example of how Walmart can be good for a community even though there are many examples of the opposite. Additionally, many people from this town used to travel to Minot to get everything they needed. But with the fuel prices over the last few years and the new walmart, it seems locals have opted to shop at walmart and get the things that walmart doesn't have at other places in town. It just seems like a great fit.

[MikeyToo]

Originally Posted by BottineauResident

I have read all the posts and thought you guys would like to hear from someone who grew up here and recently moved back. First of all, Walmart chose to build here because of the high reservation population just twenty five miles away. Lake Metigoshe is also only twelve miles away with what I would guess to be about 1500 residents during the school year and ballooning to over 5000 in the summertime. These residents are in Bottineau nearly everyday since there isn't much for businesses at the lake and the residents are in the Bottineau school district. Walmart has hurt only a hanful of businesses in town. The local Ace Hardware closed down almost immediately, but that was foreseen anyway since there was already a larger agricultural supply store which carries anything Ace would have had. Another business hurt is Pamida which everyone saw coming since they are in direct competition with each other. I don't expect them to last much longer, although locals have said their prices have come down to compete. The other businesses in town seem to be thriving since they are easily accessible to the traffic that comes to town for Walmart. This includes the restaurants, bars, gas stations and other specialty shops downtown. I think it has been a great example of how Walmart can be good for a community even though there are many examples of the opposite. Additionally, many people from this town used to travel to Minot to get everything they needed. But with the fuel prices over the last few years and the new walmart, it seems locals have opted to shop at walmart and get the things that walmart doesn't have at other places in town. It just seems like a great fit.

BottineauResident:

Thanks for the update on the Walmart in Bottineau. I also heard via a realtor in the Bottineau area that the closing of Ace Hardware was expected, even without Walmart comming in. Wife and I will be moving back to ND (Lake Metigoshe) this spring to semi-retire. But Yikes!! The real estate taxes on the lake have really gone UP!.....