Midtown Wal-Mart (hair salon, hotels, wages)

[♥♥PRINC3Ss♥♥]

Originally Posted by FlyMIA

They would tear down the whole mall and build from the ground up. They will have plenty of security and police there. I know someone who has a store there. Theft is a big big problem there. But a store like Wal-Mart deals with stuff like that all the time and budgets it in and they would not take security lightly. The area crime has gotten better. I think a busy Wal-Mart would be good for 79th and Biscayne area.

They would have to tear up all the neighborhoods around area to get some improvement there

[doggiebus]

I agree not a good place for this.

[tallrick]

Still don't know what is wrong with a Wal-Mart in edgewater/wynwood.

[WINTERFRONT]

Me neither.

For one, it has been already established that it's going to be walmart suitable for an urban area... very pedestrian oriented.
Secondly, Midtown is not that big, and the future location of WALMART is going to benegit the people who already live there. Saying that it's going to attract poor people (people who don't live soo far away from there, and happen to be a great majority in the area or surrounding areas) is not reason enough to not want a project. That's mere classicism.
And what if other cities don't have Walmarts? Other cities don't have Walmarts because until now the notion of an urban walmart is not that well known. We are possibly the first city to have a Walmart designed by a WORLD RENOWNED architect whose goal is to create a very urban store.

[workerant]

Why not build more Walmart's? There is no where else that has such diverse colorful people!


People of Walmart RAP - YouTube

[Chelito23]

My question is this: if there is space for a Wal Mart in an urban location, what is the issue? The people that were going to walk to whatever other store that would have been there can now walk to a Wal Mart. Why is upscale Publix or Whole Foods OK, but not lower end Wal Mart?

Persoanlly, I abhore WM's methods, the exploitation of it's emplyoees and how it hurts locally owned businesses, but the truth remains that this is the way that shopping has gone. People will prefer a convenient Wal Mart over going to 5 different stores in the same area, it is about time convenience, gas and saving money (thanks for proving my point Princess). People resort to local stores as lastminute fixes when they are in a crunch, which is why so many local chains thrive, in addition to having a physcial presence before WM came to the area and the land is not available like it was when the local chains started.

Putting a WM in a poorer area west or north will REALLY hurt local, mom and pop stores in those communities. At least in Midtown, the other businesses are chains and stores with strong financial support. Also, if this store isn't "right" for the area and the people that bought into the project aren't happy, they can simply choose not to shop there and let it go bankrupt.

I don't like how people portray WM as acceptable in lower income areas, but if it is in a yuppified area it is not good enough or will bring in the poor. Those attitudes are what foment discrimination and segregation, which is what is so common in the rest of the country and why people love Miami, because people mix it up here. There is a nice area next to a ghetto next to the water near industry by the mall in the shadows of skyscrapers. We have it all, so to try to wall off certain areas as too good or too yuppie or too urban for WM don't convince me. Now, if the city had some sort of district for small business owners and encouraged that kind of activity, I would agree about keeping WM out. But a big box competing with other chains and being an anchor of a mall in disguise? Sorry that doesn't fly in my book.

[doggiebus]

My problem is if you bring in a Walmart to that area, the small local stores that are there now, or that could potentially move in, in the future will not have a chance with a Walmart close by. People like paying less for more, so when they can walk a few blocks to a Walmart and save a few bucks they will vs. supporting a small local store. I understand how shopping will be easier for residents for will use the Walmart as they could do all their shopping in one place potentially, but you are hurting the other smaller stores. Yes Walmart will bring jobs, but they are usually low paying jobs without affordable insurance from what the news said. I would rather see another hotel go in there or a water park than a Walmart, something that will support the other businesses in the area not hurt them potentially.

[Chelito23]

I see your point Doggiebus....and my thing is that I don't see the independent neighborhood business moving into Midtown. They would be priced out with the increasing rents. The other side is this: what options are there to Wal Mart for clothes, unless you use a big box store or mall chain store? What hardware stores would open up or tire stores or anything else WM sells...that wouldn't be a chain? I think in general, there aren't any mom and pop stores that substitute what WM sells because they have monopolized the market. That is pretty much the reality we live in...so I don't think that by denying WM a place, those store would magically appear. And why is Target OK but WM isn't? That sems hypocritical to me as well.

When small, locally owned businesses (not uber upscale) that lower and middle class can open and grow are supported, I will get behind a ban the WM movement. But Midtown is a huge commercial project that was built as a center that would bring big box to the city and I don't know why people forget this already?

I get the feeling that again, well to do, out of town people want more return for their overpaid investment properties and they think that they will get more money donw the road with the boutique and upscale alternatives. To that I say too bad, the working class of Miami needs a convenient place to shop for what they need too.

[Coconut1]

Originally Posted by doggiebus

My problem is if you bring in a Walmart to that area, the small local stores that are there now, or that could potentially move in, in the future will not have a chance with a Walmart close by. People like paying less for more, so when they can walk a few blocks to a Walmart and save a few bucks they will vs. supporting a small local store. I understand how shopping will be easier for residents for will use the Walmart as they could do all their shopping in one place potentially, but you are hurting the other smaller stores. Yes Walmart will bring jobs, but they are usually low paying jobs without affordable insurance from what the news said. I would rather see another hotel go in there or a water park than a Walmart, something that will support the other businesses in the area not hurt them potentially.

So then how can you support a mega-resort with over 50 restaurants, shopping, hotel, etc?

The results are the same: it's devastating to small business.

[doggiebus]

A hotel doesn't hurt the local businesses in the way a Walmart will because some of those 50 restaurants could be local restaurants, not chain restaurants. Shopping in the mega resort could also have local stores not all chain stores. So its possible for local businesses to exist in the mega resort. Where Walmart will only take business away from the local stores. Wages will also be higher most likely along with good healthcare usually compared to Walmart where most employees make on average $8.00 and hour and can't afford to pay for the Walmarts Healthcare plan.