Vineland Wal-Mart Seen as Boon and Threat

CourierPostOnline.com, January 22, 2009

For years, the vast parking lot at the former Jamesway shopping center was barren.

But empty parking spaces were hard to find on Wednesday when the state's third Wal-Mart Super center officially opened its doors.

"I had to circle for 15 minutes to get in here," Vivien Newkirk said, finally inside the store.

The Hopewell Township resident said she sees several benefits to having the new store on West Landis Avenue. She drove nearly 20 minutes to take advantage of Walmart's low prices and its enormous size.

"I've never seen such a giant place. You can find everything here," Newkirk said.

The 205,000-square-foot store offers a variety of merchandise from the fresh market to the electronics section for its customers, but the opening of the 24-hour Super center could create problems for local businesses in direct competition with the big box store, said Todd Noon, executive director for Vineland Downtown Improvement District/Main Street Vineland.

Noon said stores in the downtown area that have their own niche should be all right despite the new big box store.

However, the stores selling similar merchandise to what Wal-Mart offers may have more difficultly adjusting, he said.

"It probably will be a struggle for many," Noon said. "We hope we can carry them through."

The United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 152 of Hammonton, are also concerned the new store could hurt local businesses, union representative Gerald Chudoff said. Union workers spent four hours waving signs at the front entrance to the Wal-Mart parking lot Wednesday.

"I see major concerns with Main Street Vineland now," Chudoff said. "I see a lot of empty stores. I think there will be some major blight there now."

Steven Restivo, Wal-Mart director of corporate affairs for the Northeast region, responded to the demonstration by saying, "We are focused on serving our customers and making sure they find the merchandise they want at the best possible price."

The Wal-Mart Super center was originally scheduled to open in October 2008, but the opening was postponed, partially due to a lawsuit.

In June 2005, four ShopRite employees filed a lawsuit hoping to block the project. The plaintiffs alleged that then City Councilman James Forcinito should not have voted to amend the city's redevelopment plan to allow the plan to move forward because his son was a Walmart employee.

The legal battle ended in March 2007 after the state Supreme Court refused to hear the case. The nearly 30-acre property where the Wal-Mart Super center is based is assessed by the city at about $1.14 million, Carmen DiGiorgio, the city's tax collector, said. Wal-Mart is paying roughly $46,000 per year in property taxes for the land alone.

The store has a five-year tax abatement. Wal-Mart will start paying 20 percent of the building tax in 2010, which is when the city will first see an impact of money coming through the abatement, DiGiorgio said.

It wasn't clear Wednesday how much Walmart will pay in property taxes on the building.

Located in an Urban Enterprise Zone with a 3.5 percent sales tax, the Walmart Super center will generate roughly $8.2 million in sales tax revenue for Vineland through 2018, according to estimates from James Lelli, the city's director of economic development.

The store is the third Wal-Mart in the county -- with others in Millville and Upper Deerfield -- and it is the largest. The only other Super center stores in the state are also in South Jersey, with locations in Deptford and Turnersville.

The Millville Wal-Mart is only about five miles from the new location, but Restivo said it will remain open and he expects both stores to serve their own customer base.

Vineland resident Carol Honachi was already thankful Wednesday morning for the convenience the new store offers city residents.

"I like coming in here to go food shopping and clothes shopping. You can get everything right here," she said.

Honachi thinks the store could affect local existing businesses, but she thinks Wal-Mart will actually attract new businesses to the city because of the large number of people shopping there.

Reach Kristi Funderburk at kfunderburk@thedailyjournal.com

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