[StBernard] Wall Mart Aquires Huge Tract of Land in Eastern NO

[Westley Annis]

"jer"
 
I don't claim to know how much effort you expend researching or writing to
anyone other than Westley's column, but I sent a letter to Wal Mart last
September and received a nice telephone call and letter from the
Vice-chairman of Wal-Mart.  Yes, they are well familiar with the current St.
Bernard demographics. Their per capita research reflects a higher per capita
of $24,000 as opposed to the $18,000 you cited and  they have committed to
rebuild a Super WalMart, pharmacy and grocery included, in their prior
location once the "hospital" is removed.  They do not want to upset the
community by becoming embroiled in a back and forth argument between those
that want WalMart and those that want the hospital to remain.   When you
consider all the foolish lawsuits that are filed today, I personally can't
blame them for their position.
 
JFR
 
	-----------------------------------------------------
	
	One's best bet for a pharmacy is a Wal-Mart Pharmacy. Those $4
prescriptions
	beets the 2-3x cost of those "pawn-dealing drug stores".
	
	However, to get a Wal-Mart a community must be willing to have
something to
	"get a Wal-Mart".  That means population, support, etc. As much as a
	Wal-Mart is hated throughout the nation for sucking up smaller
mom-'n-pops,
	the consumers appear to be the winner in the outcome.
	
	With population comes traffic, even more crime (depending upon where
you get
	the population from (New Orleans/N.O. East, out of town or people
who feel
	it's safer to come back into the community). But, until "the dust
clears"
	from the horrific explosion St. Bernard parish took, it's going to
keep
	big-box businesses away and da parish will have to deal with
higher-priced
	smaller business proprietors who really cannot keep up with
	larger-name-branded stores.
	
	Once again, the parish may never get some of those stores mentioned
(Target,
	Macy's, etc., not just because the economy is in the tank), but
because they
	look at per Capita income (not the $18,000+ that's currently
demographically
	in place in SB); also, a factor is location/ingress/egress to a
super
	highway (Judge Perez, etc. won't count).
	
	Don't know if anyone's going to take a chance 20-30 years down the
road
	after recovery to vitalize Paris Rd into a "Gateway Entrance/Avenue"
with
	large big-box items and land fills turned into commercial
"beachfront or
	Lakeview" land development (as it has not sparked interest in the
past
	century.
	
	So, it's back to Walgreens for the next few years. Eventually some
stores
	will undertake part of the recovery depending upon the economy
improving and
	the Chamber/The Economic Development Commission doing their job to
attract
	new business besides a 1000 sq ft candy store or clothing biz.
	
	It's frustrating when a community who's trying to make a recovery
after a
	disaster gets smacked with a recession/depression before it has the
	opportunity to recovery. In fact, it's sad enough that many have may
have to
	make pertinent, decisions that affect the duration of their
lifetimes.
	
	--jer--