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Walmart slated to open today
Not everyone is thrilled
By Paul Crossman
Hudson-Catskill Newspapers
After some debate and a nearly a year of planning and construction, the new Super Walmart in the Greenport Commons plaza was slated to open today at 8 a.m.
According to Bridget Schultz, a spokesperson for the company, the new store will bring about 100 new jobs to the area, as well as expanding the line of merchandise available at the previous location to include a full line of groceries.
The store’s interior has been redesigned compared to older stores to make shopping easier and simpler for the consumer, with changes like locating the pharmacy adjacent to the food department, making it easier for customers to pick up prescriptions while grocery shopping, states a release.
“The layout of the store is easy to navigate, which will save our customers time as they shop for everyday necessities,” said store manager Scott Louer. “By grouping the products that our customers most often purchase including health and beauty and pet supplies, we are making one-stop shopping even easier.”
The new store will donate $15,000 in grants from the Walmart foundation during the grand-opening celebration, with seven local organizations receiving grants. These grants will go to the Catholic Charities of Columbia and Greene Counties; Columbia Opportunities Inc., the Town of Greenport Police Department, the Community Hospice Foundation, the Hudson Boys and Girls Club, and the Greenport Rescue Squad.
Unlike the old location, the new store will incorporate energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly technology to reduce energy and water consumption and minimize waste, with features like skylights and LED lighting to reduce energy consumption by up to 75 percent.
“In the last few years we’ve been pushing to be a more green company,” said Louer. “This new building we created is using a lot less electricity and energy than the one that will be vacated.”
Though Walmart strives to make a positive influence in the community, many residents remain worried the store and the plaza could negatively-affect traffic and local businesses in the area.
A big concern is that the new grocery section of Walmart and the new Lowe’s could put local grocers and hardware stores out of business, or at least hurt profit margins.
But the store manager said the new Walmart will benefit the town, and added competition to neighborhood stores will help local shoppers.
“We’ve always maintained that competition helps our business,” Louer told the Register-Star. “The competition is what maintains the best price for the buyers.”
Many people view Walmart as just a huge corporation with no local ties, but the company hires locally and also looks closely at each individual location to make sure that the products carried match the needs of local consumers, he said.
Another big concern of local citizens is that the traffic flow on Fairview Avenue. and Joslen Boulevard will only get worse.
“From my point of view, already traffic is sometimes at a standstill on Fairview Avenue,” Jennifer Arenskjold of Hudson wrote in a letter to the editor. “And 16 wheeler trucks are constantly pounding down the 800 block of Warren and rounding the corners of Park Place in Hudson on their way out to the new mall, and Lowe’s and Walmart haven’t even opened yet.”
Alexandra Anderson-Spivy of Kinderhook agreed in her letter. “The complete absence of a traffic study is reaping serious consequences, which reverberate far beyond Greenport,” she wrote.
The traffic issue on both roads has been raised frequently at Greenport Town Board meetings, with the board taking several steps, including the addition of several new stop signs at several places on the road. Joslen residents are worried because motorists who would normally take Fairview are now using Joslen as a detour to save time because of the congestion caused by the new building complex.
This worry has caused residents to campaign for an expansion of Fairview Avenue, a project which, though it has been in the planning stages for nearly 10 years, is a long way from coming to fruition.
Louer himself admits that during the initial building and stocking process of the store there has been a large increase in truck traffic bringing in supplies, which has caused some delays and some motorists seek alternate routes.
This is a temporary issue, Louer claims, as once the new store is up and running there won’t be any more truck traffic at the new location compared to what was at the old one.
The old location itself though, is another concern of the local community, many of whom don’t want the large building to sit vacant right in the center of Greenport, to be seen by any and all passing motorists.
According to Louer though, this too is an issue that the nationwide company is trying to eliminate.
“Walmart has a real-estate office,” he said, “which works to sell off the old buildings. [Walmart] works hard to make sure the buildings aren’t abandoned.” He said there was no word as of yet on whether there were any prospects to buy the old location in Greenport.
According to www.loopnet.com, a commercial real-estate agency, the asking price on the old Walmart is $3.25 million.
Town residents like Howard Brandston, a world-renowned lighting designer, have been against the plaza and the store from the very start, will not be swayed.
“I watched the process of Wal-Mart getting approval,” he told the Register-Star. “It was a very disappointing process. I thought the board had made up its mind, and no matter how many people spoke against it, the board had made up it’s mind.”
No representatives from local grocer Price Chopper, located in the same plaza as the old Walmart, were available to comment on how they expected the new store— which includes a fully stocked supermarket— to impact sales. Representatives from ShopRite in Hudson declined to comment. ***
To reach reporter Paul Crossman call 518-828-1616, ext. 2266, or e-mail pcrossman@registerstar.com. To comment directly on this story, visit our website at www.registerstar.com
According to Bridget Schultz, a spokesperson for the company, the new store will bring about 100 new jobs to the area, as well as expanding the line of merchandise available at the previous location to include a full line of groceries.
The store’s interior has been redesigned compared to older stores to make shopping easier and simpler for the consumer, with changes like locating the pharmacy adjacent to the food department, making it easier for customers to pick up prescriptions while grocery shopping, states a release.
“The layout of the store is easy to navigate, which will save our customers time as they shop for everyday necessities,” said store manager Scott Louer. “By grouping the products that our customers most often purchase including health and beauty and pet supplies, we are making one-stop shopping even easier.”
The new store will donate $15,000 in grants from the Walmart foundation during the grand-opening celebration, with seven local organizations receiving grants. These grants will go to the Catholic Charities of Columbia and Greene Counties; Columbia Opportunities Inc., the Town of Greenport Police Department, the Community Hospice Foundation, the Hudson Boys and Girls Club, and the Greenport Rescue Squad.
Unlike the old location, the new store will incorporate energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly technology to reduce energy and water consumption and minimize waste, with features like skylights and LED lighting to reduce energy consumption by up to 75 percent.
“In the last few years we’ve been pushing to be a more green company,” said Louer. “This new building we created is using a lot less electricity and energy than the one that will be vacated.”
Though Walmart strives to make a positive influence in the community, many residents remain worried the store and the plaza could negatively-affect traffic and local businesses in the area.
A big concern is that the new grocery section of Walmart and the new Lowe’s could put local grocers and hardware stores out of business, or at least hurt profit margins.
But the store manager said the new Walmart will benefit the town, and added competition to neighborhood stores will help local shoppers.
“We’ve always maintained that competition helps our business,” Louer told the Register-Star. “The competition is what maintains the best price for the buyers.”
Many people view Walmart as just a huge corporation with no local ties, but the company hires locally and also looks closely at each individual location to make sure that the products carried match the needs of local consumers, he said.
Another big concern of local citizens is that the traffic flow on Fairview Avenue. and Joslen Boulevard will only get worse.
“From my point of view, already traffic is sometimes at a standstill on Fairview Avenue,” Jennifer Arenskjold of Hudson wrote in a letter to the editor. “And 16 wheeler trucks are constantly pounding down the 800 block of Warren and rounding the corners of Park Place in Hudson on their way out to the new mall, and Lowe’s and Walmart haven’t even opened yet.”
Alexandra Anderson-Spivy of Kinderhook agreed in her letter. “The complete absence of a traffic study is reaping serious consequences, which reverberate far beyond Greenport,” she wrote.
The traffic issue on both roads has been raised frequently at Greenport Town Board meetings, with the board taking several steps, including the addition of several new stop signs at several places on the road. Joslen residents are worried because motorists who would normally take Fairview are now using Joslen as a detour to save time because of the congestion caused by the new building complex.
This worry has caused residents to campaign for an expansion of Fairview Avenue, a project which, though it has been in the planning stages for nearly 10 years, is a long way from coming to fruition.
Louer himself admits that during the initial building and stocking process of the store there has been a large increase in truck traffic bringing in supplies, which has caused some delays and some motorists seek alternate routes.
This is a temporary issue, Louer claims, as once the new store is up and running there won’t be any more truck traffic at the new location compared to what was at the old one.
The old location itself though, is another concern of the local community, many of whom don’t want the large building to sit vacant right in the center of Greenport, to be seen by any and all passing motorists.
According to Louer though, this too is an issue that the nationwide company is trying to eliminate.
“Walmart has a real-estate office,” he said, “which works to sell off the old buildings. [Walmart] works hard to make sure the buildings aren’t abandoned.” He said there was no word as of yet on whether there were any prospects to buy the old location in Greenport.
According to www.loopnet.com, a commercial real-estate agency, the asking price on the old Walmart is $3.25 million.
Town residents like Howard Brandston, a world-renowned lighting designer, have been against the plaza and the store from the very start, will not be swayed.
“I watched the process of Wal-Mart getting approval,” he told the Register-Star. “It was a very disappointing process. I thought the board had made up its mind, and no matter how many people spoke against it, the board had made up it’s mind.”
No representatives from local grocer Price Chopper, located in the same plaza as the old Walmart, were available to comment on how they expected the new store— which includes a fully stocked supermarket— to impact sales. Representatives from ShopRite in Hudson declined to comment. ***
To reach reporter Paul Crossman call 518-828-1616, ext. 2266, or e-mail pcrossman@registerstar.com. To comment directly on this story, visit our website at www.registerstar.com
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The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of registerstar.com.
gavdar wrote on Sep 16, 2009 7:58 AM:
" Thats great that the new Walmart will be more energy efficent, but give it 6 months and it will be just like the same old Walmart that you are used to now. Flithy and run down.
Will they hire more employees so there will be more that 2 or 3 registers open? Will the self checkout registers be open?
What about the old builidng? - just what Greenport needs a vacant builiding!
And speaking of competition - remember Ames and Jamesway? Now you have no choice but Walmart!
Thanks Walmart for coming to Greenport and sucking the life out of Greenport! "
Will they hire more employees so there will be more that 2 or 3 registers open? Will the self checkout registers be open?
What about the old builidng? - just what Greenport needs a vacant builiding!
And speaking of competition - remember Ames and Jamesway? Now you have no choice but Walmart!
Thanks Walmart for coming to Greenport and sucking the life out of Greenport! "
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terryfoutch wrote on Sep 16, 2009 7:41 AM: